BUCHAREST, Romania - A news agency says a man was rearing a lion in his back garden in Romania until neighbors decided they had heard enough roaring and called police.
Rompres state news agency says police found a caged 3-year-old lioness, as well as two deer, a stag and two peacocks roaming the garden of the […]

BOSTON - A widow is suing Petsmart Inc, saying that her husband died after a liver transplant that was contaminated by a sick hamster sold by the largest U.S. specialty pet retailer to the organ donor.
The suit, filed in Massachusetts Superior Court in February, seeking unspecified damages, moved up to U.S. District Court in Boston […]

SHELBURNE FALLS, Mass. - When Gary Mikus learned that an incurable nerve disease was starting to paralyze the hind legs of his German shepherd, he immediately dismissed the idea of putting the dog to sleep.
Then he spotted an ad in a pet food store: “Eddie’s Wheels For Pets. Help for Handicapped Pets.” Now the dog […]

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Zoo workers should have believed two brothers who said a tiger was loose and had mauled their friend, but overall reacted well to the fatal Christmas Day attacks, according to a new report.
Inspectors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the organization that accredits the nation’s zoos, called the actions […]

Shocking but true: Earlier this week, 800 small dogs were seized from a filthy triple-wide trailer in Tucson, Ariz., where the elderly residents were overwhelmed trying to care for the animals. Also this week, Kentucky police found 117 starving and diseased dogs during a raid of a local animal shelter.
What explains behavior like this? […]

(WCCO) More than 80 million Americans are pet owners. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, we spent nearly $25 billion on veterinary care for our pets in 2006. Just for vet care!
At one point, animals served a largely utilitarian purpose. People had a horse to pull the cart, dogs protected the farm and […]

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Two Chinese businesses and a U.S. company were indicted Wednesday for their roles in making and importing a pet food ingredient that resulted in animal deaths last year.
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co., and Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. were […]

NEW YORK - At a time when employers are scaling back on costly health benefits, pet insurance is gaining popularity as an employee benefit.
Veterinary Pet Insurance, the nation’s largest pet insurer, saw its corporate accounts balloon from 15 to 1,600 in the past six years. About 15 percent of Veterinary Pet Insurance’s policies, or […]

The healing power of music has long been established in people. Now a handful of harpists throughout the country are harnessing that power for animals.
Alianna Boone is one of those musicians.
“The structure of the harp is considered to be the most healing instruments next to human voice,” said Boone, an Oregonian who plays […]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ― Two men were sentenced to two years of probation for freeing a red-tailed hawk from his enclosure at a Springfield zoo.
Sean Coleman, 21, of Glenarm, and Adam Loper, 22, of St. Paul, Minn., were sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor stemming from the 2005 caper.
The hawk named Mani had […]