Latest fromPets & Animals

Gift to Key elephant in the courtroom
A diplomatic gift of an elephant risks becoming a nightmare for the NZ Government as groups take legal action to stop the animal coming to Auckland Zoo.

Rare turtle that washed up on beach dies
An olive ridley turtle that washed up on a Hawke's Bay beach last week has died at Auckland Zoo.

Boar killed in harbour - SPCA inquiry
Video of a boar being killed during a fishing trip has stoked controversy after being posted on social media.

Five cat emergencies you should never ignore
Being a good cat owner means getting to know them well enough to pick up on signs that something might be wrong.

Video: Manatee chills with boarders
Two Florida girls got a surprise this summer when they went out paddleboarding - and made a new friend.

Half-price puppies need loving homes
Thinking about getting a new family pet? Auckland SPCA is offering 50 dogs and puppies for adoption at half their normal price for the next two weeks.

Catty McCatface - NZTA's new recruit
The Waikato Expressway team has adopted a wayward kitten found at its Huntly project office.

Watch: Auckland couple spend $20,000 on pixiebob cats
It's no longer enough for an Auckland house deposit, but the cost of Marius and Lizel Koekemoer's two cats is still a sum to wince over. The Auckland couple spent more than $20,000 importing a breeding pair of pixiebob cats into New Zealand, and now the female is expecting her first litter.

Is this the cutest project delay ever?
Auckland Council planned to install a sculpture in a suburban park, but mother nature had other ideas.

Massive boost for kakapo survival
A record breeding season for New Zealand and the world's population of lovable but critically endangered kakapo has seen their numbers shoot up by an amazing 28 per cent to 157 individuals.

Watch: Hand-reared kakapo chick
Hand-reared kakapo chicks put in outdoor pens for a month to wean them. Here's Wendy2 being "begged" after feeding. Source: Dr Andrew Digby, DOC

Dog with cancer on trip of a lifetime
Rob Kugler is documenting his and Bella's adventures on his website and on Instagram.

Huskies excite tourists in Thailand
Located in downtown Bangkok, Neverland cafe hosts a wide pen area where visitors can play with 29 dogs during the cafe's service hours.

Why you shouldn't take selfies with loris
Tourists visiting Thailand are urged not to take selfies with slow loris animals after one was found with his teeth ripped out.

Couple find koala squatting in home
What do you do when you have an intruder in your home that won't budge?

Monks buy lobsters to return them to sea
A group of Buddhist monks from Canada have saved the lives of a large number of lobsters, buying them from various vendors and returning them to the ocean.

Man swarmed by monkeys now a meme
This hapless man learnt the hard way when he attempted to hand out snacks to local primates.

How sea otters help save the planet
New research into the complex links of the food chain suggest that the lovable mammals play a key role in managing carbon dioxide levels.

Watch: Black cat invades Panthers NRL game
Source: Facebook/NRL A black cat appeared on the pitch during an NRL game between the Panthers and the Sharks.

Sailing cat acts as deaf owner's 'ears at sea'
Auckland sailor Paul Thompson can't always hear everything around him. That's where his cat comes in.

Five tips for looking after your pets in winter
Everybody likes to rug up in winter - for some of us, the colder months make it much harder to leave the house and stay active. This

Kittens are pride of the mountains
WATCH: America's favourite big-city big cats have welcomed five kittens to their crew.

Eleven puppies found dumped in Porirua
A litter of 11 young puppies has been found soaking wet and cold on a pathway after being dumped in Porirua.

Aquariums reinvented in Tokyo exhibit
An exhibition in the Japanese capital is reinventing traditional aquariums of the Edo period

Watch: Spot the tree-climbing alligator
A Florida man has spotted what he believes to be an alligator in a tree.

Hamilton Zoo welcomes baby white rhino
Hamilton Zoo has welcomed a male white rhino calf following his mother's 16-month pregnancy.

Watch: Male Southern White Rhinoceros born at Hamilton Zoo
A male southern white rhinoceros calf has been born at Hamilton Zoo. Arriving in late June after his mother's 16-month pregnancy, the calf brings the total number of white rhinos at Hamilton Zoo to six. The male calf joins his mother Kito, father Kruger, and females Imani, Moesha and her daughter Jamila.

Watch: Mother rat takes on baby-stealing snake - and wins
Source: Facebook/Rojas Montecinos Evy While walking through Naples, Italy, a girl came across a snake that was attacking a mother rat and her baby, but in an act of love, the mother rat vehemently attacked back at the snake until it retreated away.