Credit Crunch Or Free Lunch?

Are people using the credit crunch as a good guilt free excuse to get rid of their unwanted pets? 

Teckels Animal Sanctuary in Whitminster has been inundated with abandoned animals from Christmas, leaving the centre with no choice but to turn away unwanted pets.

Teckels boss says that many people are handing over their animals saying that they can’t afford food: ‘But when I offer them free food, they make up another excuse’.

She also said that some people don’t want their dogs over Christmas as they want ‘peace and quiet’; others hand in their dogs to Teckles, only to pick them back up six days later (they can only be re-homed after 7 days), so that their dog has had free board and lodgings!

Read more: This Is Gloucestershire

Dogs up for adoption: Teckels

Conservationists Search For Escaped Beaver

Conservationists are searching for a six-stone beaver who escaped from a farm in Lifton, Devon and has been felling trees up to twenty miles away on the banks of the river Tamar. 

The beaver’s originally scarpered in October with two others who have since been caught.

Full story: BBC News

Prince Edward Faces Possible RSPCA Probe

Telegraph:

The Earl of Wessex faces a possible criminal investigation for animal cruelty after photographs showed him appearing to beat two gundogs with a stick during a royal pheasant shoot…

British Wildlife Struggle To Survive Due To Erratic Weather

The National Trust says that British wildlife is struggling to survive due to erratic and unseasonal weather, they warn that another wet summer in 2009 could spell disaster for our insects.

Full article: BBC News

Katherine Jenkins Ignores Anti-Fur Protest

Worthing Herald:

Katherine Jenkins has ignored boos from animal rights campaigners as she joined thousands of bargain-hunters at Harrods’ winter sale in London…

Isn’t Fox Hunting Supposed To Be Banned?

Today, the biggest day of the hunt calender, saw around 300 hunts blasting horns and setting off with their hounds to seek out and rip apart foxes; The Independent asks:

‘Has the hunting ban really changed anything, or should the law be redrawn?’

500 Dancing Bears Rescued

UK Charity International Animal Rescue who recently rescued it 500th ‘Dancing Bear’ from the streets of India, has named 2009 as its ‘Year of the Bear’.

Read more: Wildlife Extra: 

Strong Willed Pig Wins Title

A pig named ‘strong-willed pig’ that survived being trapped beneath rubble for 36 days after this year’s Sichuan earthquake has been named China’s most inspirational animal of 2008, beating dogs, cats, birds and even a turtle to snatch the title.

Now the pig is living out his days in a museum set up to commemorate the Sichuan earthquake. He has unfortunately become so fat his keepers have put him on a diet.

Full story: The Times

Purple Squirrel Baffles Pupils And Staff

BBC: 

Pupils and staff at a Hampshire school have been baffled over sightings of a purple-coloured squirrel…

New Frog Species Discovered In Cambodia

Wildlife Extra:

A new species of frog, with green blood and turquoise-coloured bones, has been found in Cambodia’s remote Cardamom Mountains by international conservation organisation Fauna & Flora International (FFI)…