california abuse laws

california is leading the pack again when it comes to animal welfare legislation. remember the city-wide bans on declawing? now the state legislature is considering enacting an online state-registry of convicted animal abusers, similar to those already in use for sex offenders.

ethics

last week's animal welfare charges at the uw have led to more discussion on animal testing. this week it's the university's all animal care and use committee finding on campus primate research to be ethical.

"we currently allow research that causes harm and premature death."

not everyone in madison agrees.

more on uw-madison's animal welfare charges

we mentioned the university's run-in with the u.s. department of agriculture and resulting 20 charges on tuesday.

now the national institutes of health is chiming in with mixed reviews. they praise the department for certain things, like primate socialization, but also found 12 areas in which the u. needs to fix their programs and increase oversight.

lucy iz not hooman grayd 'gredient!

nora, the piano-playing cat, gets her own pitch-purrfect concerto.

woman framed by police just wanted to catch her cat.

the greatest show in bolivia just got a whole lot greater. is this the first step toward cruelty-free circuses everywhere? we hope so.

kitty gets new eyelids - a perfect example of how no kill rescue groups can harness the power of the internet to save lives.

a young woman risks her life to save kittens left to die on a busy roadway. what would you have done?

yo quiero fooooood

the beloved taco bell mascot, chihuahua "gidget", has sadly passed on. we hope she gets to eat all the tacos she wants up in heaven.

shockingly, we agree with peta on this - why animals don't belong at the circus. imgaine the press and praise a cruelty-free big top would get.

fraud in the name of rescue? how dare she. as if rescues don't have a hard enough time already.

interesting lost-dog story; "thanks to a search effort that involved the metlife blimp, a pizza delivery car, a cell phone call to utah and the 61 drive-in in maquoketa, this story has a happy ending."

prepare yourself for a dose of adorable - asian bear cats!