Animal welfare

Amazon will no longer sell donkey-skin gelatin to California residents. A report published Wednesday by Wired states the online retailer settled with a nonprofit that filed a complaint, alleging the products violated state animal welfare laws protecting horses. Amazon denied any wrongdoing and disputed the allegations. Still, it agreed to block sales of ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey hide, in the Golden State.The Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, an organization devoted to protecting horses,…

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.“Even AI Rappers are Harassed by Police” | AI UnlockedHumans eat a stunning amount of meat every year — some 800 billion pounds of it, enough flesh to fill roughly 28 million dump trucks. Our carnivorous cravings, particularly in industrialized, beef-guzzling countries like the United States, are one reason the planet is warming as fast as it is. Raising animals consumes a lot of land that could otherwise soak up carbon. Cows, sheep,…

The head of the U.S. agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk's Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported.Officials with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a "focused" inspection in response to a complaint about the company's handling of animal experiments, but identified no compliance breaches, the agency's secretary Thomas Vilsack wrote to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in a July 14…

Like the orcas before them, the bottlenose dolphins have had enough. This past weekend, local reports from Japan noted several incidents of dolphins attacking and injuring swimmers, even in shallow waters.Threads Needs These Five Missing Features to Be a Twitter KillerJapanese outlet The Asahi Shimbun reported this weekend that one swimmer in his 60s was rammed by a dolphin swimming in the shallows on a beach in Fukui Prefecture. The incident happened in the early morning on Sunday, and the man received bites to his hands…

An older cat.Image: Lubo Ivanko (Shutterstock)Is your precious cat unable to move as gracefully as it once did? Then scientists in California might want to hear from you. They’re looking to interview owners of cats with chronic mobility problems or arthritis in hopes of finding the best way to address their particular health needs.Finding Uhura’s Confidence in Strange New Worlds | io9 InterviewThe study is being conducted by scientists from the Animal Welfare Epidemiology Lab at the University of California, Davis. In…

Scientists in France might have just found the most effective way to catcall an unfamiliar cat. The team discoveredthat cats living at a cat cafe responded most quickly to a human stranger when the stranger used both vocal and visual cues to get their attention. The cats also appeared to be more stressed out when the human ignored them completely.Octopuses Caught on Camera Throwing Shells at Each OtherThe study was conducted by researchers at Paris Nanterre University’s Laboratory of Compared Ethology and Cognition, led…

Sometimes the movies are loosely based on true events. Sometimes reality seems to mimic fictional film. In the story of Amiry the serval, both are true at once.Before its February release, trailers and other ads for the cinematic masterpiece Cocaine Bear were circulating widely on the internet. The film, inspired by the true story of a black bear that ingested cocaine in a Georgia forest decades ago, doesn’t hold sosteadfast to its source material. Yet while Cocaine Bear was reaching peak online-virality, a Cincinnati,…

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s medical implant company, is facing a federal probe over possible animal welfare violations, according to a report from Reuters. The investigation, reportedly opened by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General, focuses on Neuralink’s practices when it comes to animal testing and treatment, said Reuters—attributing the information to two unnamed sources. Musk’s stated goal with Neuralink is to create a device that can help people with disabilities regain motor control or…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)New research suggests that cats can distinguish their owner’s voice from that of a stranger’s, while also being able to identify when their owner is specifically talking to them. The findings are the latest to indicate that cats can indeed form strong social bonds with humans.For years now, lead author Charlotte de Mouzon and her team at Paris Nanterre University’s Laboratory of Compared Ethology and Cognition have been studying the intricacies of cat-human relationships. Earlier this…

A cat dropped off at the Animal Health Technology Center at Kirkwood Community College in June 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The center was set up for pets that were either found or abandoned after the Cedar River flooded the city. Photo: Joe Raedle (Getty Images)When a wildfire, flood, or storm strikes a community, the damage is far-reaching: Homes and infrastructure may be destroyed, people are forced to evacuate, and pets are sometimes lost or left behind.A study published this week in PLOS Climate found that the number…