1 DAY AGO - In a project for the Lady Freethinker NGO, photographer Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski has teamed up with Ashley Fruno, founder of Pasay Pups, to document the impact of poverty and the Covid-19 pandemic on people and pets living in public cemeteries in Pasay, the PhilippinesIn the photograph, a skeletal white dog stands on top of a tomb, his spiky vertebrae sharply visible through his ghostly fur. His jutting ribs and pelvic bones match the monotone of grey cemetery aisles and a prominent white cross in the background.An emaciated dog stands among the tombstones.Auring Cura, 65, with puppy on a chain sit in the cemetery. She has five dogs and takes care of one of the graves in the cemetery. Eventually, she wants to leave the cemetery and transfer to another province to find a better living.Some children and families in the cemetery resort to eating from bins to survive.Honey, 18, a graduating senior high student of Pasay East. She has eight dogs in her care and currently lives with her mom Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Exclusive: Brachycephalic breeds prone to health issues and may fuel crime, experts say as registrations soarExperts have urged would-be dog owners to reconsider buying squashed-faced animals such as French bulldogs, warning they are prone to life-limiting health conditions, and that buying such breeds could fuel criminal activity.The pandemic has triggered a boom in dog ownership with Kennel Club figures revealing there has been a 12% rise in puppy registrations in the past year alone. Related: 'Problems from head to tail': craze for pedigree pugs raises health concerns Related: Popularity of pug-like dogs 'could be fuelling rise in canine fertility clinics' Continue reading... Collapse

09/05/2021 - From dogs and cats to parrots and rabbits, our pets have got used to having us around 24/7 during lockdown. As life gets back to normal, here’s how to save them from loneliness and stressLike an apocryphal butterfly flapping its wings and unleashing untold chaos thousands of miles away, one miscreant virus particle is all it took to alter the human-pet dynamic across the globe.In this lockdown era, many animals initially thrived, like my own cat, Junior. Although he had always known me as a commuter who frequently spent nights away from home, he took to my newfound permanence like a duckling following its mother to water. He loved it so much that, when restrictions eased after the first lockdown last summer, he developed a suite of anxiety-related behaviours. Continue reading... Collapse

08/05/2021 - Body will look into what is contributing to surge in thefts and recommend solutions to tackle problemA taskforce has been set up by the government to look into tackling the “deplorable” crime of pet theft, which has soared during the Covid-19 pandemic.In March, DogLost, a UK charity that helps victims of dog theft, recorded a 170% increase in the crime, from 172 dogs reported stolen in 2019 to 465 in 2020. Continue reading... Collapse

01/05/2021 - Turning vegan ... a series of investigations, presented with humour and humility, into our contradictory relationships with pets, livestock and wildlifeWhile researching this book, Henry Mance worked briefly in an abattoir, or “a disassembly line”, as he aptly terms it. As he watched sheep being stunned, their throats slit and then hung up, still twitching, from metal hooks on a motorised track, Mance asked himself: “How did humans come to this?”His book is an attempt to answer that question, as well as an exploration of how our attitudes to pets, livestock and wild animals have changed through history: “I wanted to know whether my love for animals was reflected in how I behaved, or whether – like my love for arthouse films – it was mainly theoretical.”Meat eating is shaped by culture, as children start eating it before they are old enough to question the practice Related: Can our passion for pets help reset our relationship with nature? How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Collapse

29/04/2021 - This heartfelt documentary focuses on free-ranging dogs and the people on the fringes of Indian society who care for themThe street dogs that feature in this lyrically-shot documentary aren’t strays, exactly; they are the indigenous, free-ranging “pye dogs” that have colonised India in large numbers and live fundamentally independently from humans. But interaction is not unknown, and this film turns its focus on a disparate set of individuals, all scraping by somehow, who take it on themselves to feed and minister to the animals.The most dramatic figure is the autocratic and argumentative Milly, getting by on dreams of former glory and always ready for a scrap, it seems, with the locals who she suggests are squatting on land she owns. (Part of her rage is directed at her “helper”, Kajal, who she would like to treat as a maid, but has no money to pay her. We also meet Pinaki, an artist who mourns the dead dogs he tried to help, and Subrata – seemingly the most emotional and committed Collapse

24/04/2021 - As lockdown puppy sales soar and the cats of Instagram are liked by millions, endangered species are vanishing from the planet. Can pets teach us how to care about all animals?It was the carefree summer of 2019, and I was on a beach in San Francisco – surrounded by a thousand corgis. Sand is not the natural environment for dogs whose legs are only as long as ice lollies. But this was Corgi Con, possibly the world’s largest gathering of corgis. It was weird. It was glorious.There were corgis in baby harnesses and corgis under parasols. There were corgis dressed as a shark, a lifeguard, a snowman, a piñata and Chewbacca from Star Wars (the latter two were overweight). There were stalls selling sunglasses and socks for dogs. I overheard two people considering whether to buy a corgi-emblazoned cushion, but decide against it on the basis that they already had one.We have a perception that being owned is an inherently positive experience. I am not convinced it isWe regard eugenics as Collapse

21/04/2021 - Vet says one in 15 animals at the clinic presents with haemorrhagic shock after being exposed to the toxin Mouse bait is proving lethal not only for the biblical number of rodents sweeping through northern New South Wales and southern Queensland but also other animals, including domestic pets, in the affected area.Jason Salier, a cattle farmer from the north-west slopes and plains region of NSW, said his golden retriever, Poppet, “was on death row” after eating a mouse that had been baited. Related: 'You can't escape the smell': mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia Continue reading... Collapse

17/04/2021 - ‘Why are you looking in that mirror?’ my wife says. ‘Never look in that mirror’About four years ago, my wife bought a cheap full-length mirror and left me to put it up. The frame had four fixing points which, when screwed into place, caused the thin glass to buckle and warp slightly. The peculiar geometry of its surface makes it, by some margin, the most unflattering mirror I have ever looked into.Our bedroom is a converted attic, with not much wall space to accommodate a 4ft mirror. It went the only place it could go: next to the window on my side of the bed. Every morning as my feet touch the floor, I am greeted by a full seated portrait of myself as a misshapen monster: stubby-legged, hollow-chested, with puffy eyes and a runaway beard dotted in white, like a hawthorn bush coming into bloom. Related: There’s a cold snap forecast. The tortoise is in peril | Tim Dowling Continue reading... Collapse