WARNING: Graphic image below

Their cuteness has made them an internet sensation. But ther popularity is now threatening their very survival.

Thanks to millions of hits on YouTube slow lorises have become a must-have pet - and are being plucked from their natural habitat in the rainforests of south-east Asia and traded for up to £3,500.

But what happens to them before they are 'customer ready' makes their plight even more distressing.

They have to have their teeth ripped out with nail clippers so that they don't cause an injury to their new owners.

There is a global high protection order under endangered species conventions meaning they can't be transported to the UK but the black market is rife and it is feared that many are smuggled in.

The population of slow lorises has declined to the point that there are now fears over their survival and they could soon become extinct.

Two of the endangered primates were smuggled aboard a Brisbane-bound flight from Singapore but had to be put down by quarantine officers.

The crew on the Emirates flight found them in the cabin during the filght and when the plane landed in Australia customs officials took the animals.

A spokesman said: 'Slow lorises can carry several diseases... including rabies and they also have a bite that is toxic.' Read More

Record flooding along the Mississippi River is killing some fish and other animals, but wildlife officials said that was anticipated and no reason for alarm.

Ron Garavelli, the director of fisheries for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said a small fish kill was confirmed in Wolf Lake north of Yazoo City in recent weeks.

He said chemicals and decaying debris take oxygen out of the water, which is expected to cause more fish kills. Garavelli said the flooding also kills other animals.

He urged Mississippi residents to report dead animals and fish kills to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality or the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Source

WARNING - Some people in Batangas province are reportedly eating double-dead fish instead of disposing them.

DOH said people who eat such fish, even if cooked, will cause illnesses or even death.

The department said symptoms of illnesses related to eating double-dead fish include vomiting, dizziness, and parts of the body becoming swollen.

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MEMBERS of Dagupan City police intercepted five 10-wheeler trucks loaded with fish believed taken from Pangasinan towns where fish kill occurred recently.

Police said they set up a checkpoint along De Venecia Road after receiving reports about a delivery of “double dead fish” to Magsaysay Market in Dagupan.

A fish examiner confirmed that the seized milk fish were already rotten.

Fish kill was reported in Anda and Bolinao towns in Pangasinan over a week ago.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Regional Office 1 said at least 30 to 50 metric tons of milk fish worth over P3 million were affected.

Last Friday, fish kill also struck fish pens at Taal Lake. Source

BATANGAS, Philippines – Another 200 tons of fish have died in Talisay, Batangas Tuesday night after a sharp decrease in oxygen levels in Taal Lake, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said.

A BFAR study showed that the oxygen level in Taal was depleted in half due to the transition to rainy season.

BFAR said it may take several more days before conditions at the lake normalize.

BFAR is now advising the harvesting of the remaining milkfish in Taal Lake.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Health Office is studying if the illnesses acquired by residents in the area are caused by the foul smell emitted by the dead fish or merely due to the change in weather.

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier warned the public against eating "double dead" fish.

Some people in Batangas province are reportedly eating double-dead fish instead of disposing them.

DOH said people who eat such fish, even if cooked, will cause illnesses or even death.

The department said symptoms of illnesses related to eating double-dead fish include vomiting, dizziness, and parts of the body becoming swollen. Source

Some of the first potentially chronic effects from last year's BP oil disaster — including diseased fish — may be starting to unfold as scientists review their first year of research.

Studies analyzing reef fish, such as snapper and grouper, off the Florida Panhandle indicate that some fish now have grayish-brown lesions, strange parasitic boils and fin rot. Some fish documented on reefs a year before the oil disaster have disappeared.

It is too early to say that oil is the cause or that the number of diseased fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico is higher this year compared with the past. But the problems, noticed months ago by fishermen, prompted state scientists to investigate.

Florida scientists, funded by the Florida Institute of Oceanography last year through a $10 million BP grant, met at the University of Central Florida Wednesday for the first of a two-day session to discuss their studies so far. Scientists from across the state, including Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, are involved in the research to learn how the spill changed the Gulf and strategies for preventing future problems.

Fishermen have reported snapper lesions for months. Will Patterson, an associate professor of biology at the University of West Florida, is among the first scientists to document and report the problem. His research team also has documented diseased fish with remote underwater cameras. (read more)

The Australian government has suspended the live export of cattle to 11 abattoirs in Indonesia, after a TV documentary showed brutal treatment of animals at the facilities.

The footage, broadcast on ABC, showed cattle being flogged and taking minutes to die after their necks were slashed.

Some MPs have called for a total ban on the trade with Indonesia, worth more than A$300m (£200m; $320m) a year.

But Indonesian officials have asked Australia not to rush into a decision.

The head of animal welfare at Indonesia's agriculture ministry, Sri Mukartini, said: "Animal welfare is a relatively new issue in Indonesia. We're still developing regulations."

'Systemic problem'

Australia's Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said he had found the images in ABC's Four Corners programme "shocking in the extreme". (read more)

Hundreds of endangered antelopes have been found dead in western Kazakhstan, dealing another blow to conservation efforts to save these long-nosed creatures, Kazakhstan Today reports.

A desperate rescue mission to save a beached whale on the northern coast of England has failed.

The stricken mammal, which was around 30ft long, was found on the beach in Redcar early on Tuesday.

Cleveland Police were alerted and marine experts rushed to the scene to try and help the creature.

It was partially submerged on the beach and in distress. Firefighters used their jets to spray it in a bid to keep it alive.

However, a Cleveland Fire Brigade spokesman confirmed later that the whale had died.

Hundreds of people had stopped at the beach on their way to work after realising the whale had been beached.

Many had posted pictures of the mammal on Twitter.

Police confirmed it was a sperm whale and asked people to stay away from the beach until the mammal was removed by environmental health officers.

The local tourist office said: "Despite efforts by RSPCA, RNLI and the fire brigade, the rescue bid to save the whale stranded on Redcar Beach has been unsuccessful." Source

A Saudi farmer who went into his barn to take his 300 sheep on their daily pasturing was shocked when he found them all dead, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom said on Saturday.

Police have launched a probe to investigate a rural footpath after 13 dogs were mysteriously poisoned to death over the course of just a few days.

The horrifying series of deaths in Cross Hills, North Yorkshire, occurred within an hour of owners talking their pets for a walk along the path, which has now been cordoned off.

The RSPCA say they are unsure whether the fatalities have been caused
deliberately but have appealed for dog owners to stay away from the path.

Eileen Johnson's Jack Russell Diesel was one of the first dogs to mysteriously die when he collapsed just ten minutes after returning home from a walk.

Devastated Mrs Johnson 71, had put the kettle on after the walk when she heard a thump and when she turned round she saw her six-year-old pet having a fit.

She said: 'We walk the fields five days a week and I can't believe this has
happened. He was a lovely, lively little thing.

'He'd never been ill and then he died so suddenly as if someone just came in and shot him in front of my eyes.

'We took him to the vets but by the time we got there he was already dead.

'The vet initially thought it was a heart attack, because Diesel was one of the first dogs to die, but now we're waiting for post-mortem results.'

RSPCA animal welfare officer Sally Ramsden said: 'We are extremely concerned about this situation.

'People are taking their dogs out along this footpath and within less than 20 minutes, the dogs are suffering convulsions and dying.

'We don't know what could be causing this but we strongly suspect that the dogs may have been poisoned.

'We also cannot rule out the possibility that this is being done deliberately.

'These dogs have suffered horrendously and we desperately need to hear from anyone who has information about these incidents. Read More

'We desperately want to hear from anybody who knows anything that might be able to help us with our enquiries.

'They can either contact us on 0300 1234 999, North Yorkshire Police on 0845 6060247 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.'

Wildlife experts have been baffled by the sudden death of more than 800 tons of fish which have rotted on farms in a lake near Taal volcano south of Manila.

Residents were stunned when the milkfish, a widespread local dish, began dying and floating of the surface late last week.

Officials have banned the sale of the rotting fish, which are being buried by the truckload in Talisay and four other towns in Batangas province.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources official Rose del Mundo said today that the number of dying fish has now eased off slightly.

The deaths are believed to be unrelated to recent signs of restiveness in Taal volcano, which is surrounded by the lake where many villagers have grown milkfish and tilapia - staple food for many Filipinos.

The volcano and lake are a popular tourist draw.

Experts believe that a sudden drop in temperature may have been responsible for the millions of fish deaths.

Talisay agricultural officer Zenaida Mendoza said an initial investigation showed the deaths may have been caused by the temperature change as the rainy season set in last week after a scorching summer, which also depleted the lake's oxygen levels.

Schools of fish were seen swimming in circles before they floated dead to the surface in huge numbers.

The deaths have occurred in the past at summer's end but in much smaller numbers, Mendoza said.

Some Taal lake areas turned white due to the massive numbers of dead milk-colored fish. Read More

About 40 houses had their roofs blown off and hundreds of acres of crops destroyed when a hailstorm hit Namutumba District. The two-hour hailstorm on Thursday hit 20 villages including Isegero A and B, Ndikitwamaila, Namukoge, Busene, Nabikenge, Bakudumira, Nawampiti, Kibaale and Kivule. Domestic animals and birds were also killed. Eight hours after the downpour, ice blocks were still visible on the ground.

African swine fever (ASF), a viral disease harmless to people but lethal to pigs, is likely to spread beyond Russia and the Caucasus region into Europe, the United Nations' food agency said on Thursday.

ASF, for which there is no vaccine, is now established in Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia, with an increasing number of long-distance jump outbreaks in northern areas this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Long-distance jumps are food-borne, with virus surviving in pig meat products carried by travelers and setting off a new outbreak at the destination where food scraps may be fed to pigs, the FAO said.

"African swine fever is fast becoming a global issue," Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer, said in a statement.

"It now poses an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. Countries need to be on the alert and to strengthen their preparedness and contingency plans," he said.

ASF was introduced into Georgia from southern Africa in 2006 entering through the Black Sea port of Poti, where garbage from a ship was taken to a dump where pigs came to feed, FAO said.

Currently, ASF is spreading northwards at the rate of roughly 350 km a year. Usually, ASF has distinct seasonal outbreaks in the summer and autumn. But long-distance jumps have also occurred as the ASF wave travels northwards.

The frequency of such jumps is increasing as the originally infected territory enlarges, while the ASF virus strain now spreading is a very aggressive one, the Rome-based FAO said. (read more)

MADRID - AUTHORITIES in the Spanish tourist hotspot of Benidorm said on Friday they have reopened its beaches to tourists after removing more than a tonne of dangerous jellyfish.

The authorities posted red flags on the beaches on Wednesday after strong currents brought shoals of the creatures close to the shore of the Mediterranean resort.

The head of the city's department of the environment, Mariola Fluvia, said the beaches were reopened after workers removed the jellyfish on Thursday.

'Currents are pushing the jellyfish away from our shores' and municipal authorities 'want to reassure bathers and users of our beaches because we hope that during the day (the jellyfish) will move away completely from our shores,' the municipality said in a statement. Shoals of jellyfish drift close to Spanish Mediterranean shores every year.

Experts say increasing numbers can be a sign of rising water temperatures but that overfishing of their natural predators also plays a part. Source

Galahs dropping dead and falling from trees in Oxley Park remain a mystery but the possibility of poisoning seems unlikely following an autopsy by a veterinarian.

The vet from Central West Livestock Health and Pest Authority is investigating the deaths of a large number of birds that were found dead under trees throughout the park on Sunday morning. Some were also seen in the grounds of TAFE. The birds did not have any obvious injuries or wounds and were all lying in a spread wing position. Some of the birds will now be sent off to the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute at Menangle for further testing in case any exotic, notifiable disease is the culprit.

Senior LHPA ranger based in Dubbo Lisa Thomas said the bird deaths were a concern, with an autopsy carried out by the vet, who retrieved some of the birds that had been recovered from the scene on Sunday morning. The vet found no evidence of poisoning by mouse baits and no dye discolouration in the crops or stomachs of the birds.

The LHPA works in conjunction with landholders to protect crops from mice but the management includes prevention of poisoning of non-target animals, such as grain-eating birds.

“Perimeter baits are brightly coloured which are not attractive to birds, and the grey-coloured grain used on broadacre crops is applied later in the evening after birds have gone in to roost,” Ms Thomas said.

Warren Shire Council and National Parks and Wildlife were also contacted regarding the deaths. Source

Affected: up to 100,000 fish are dying a day due to nitrogen poisoning.

Fish are dying in their hundreds of thousands after authorities increased the water flow at a Washington state dam.

The fish are being poisoned by an excess of nitrogen gas in the Columbia river, down stream from the Grand Coulee Dam.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which runs the dam, has been forced to increase the flow rate after a large winter snow melt swelled water levels.

The increase in water flow has resulted in a 130 per cent rise in nitrogen down stream of the dam, causing the fish to die of the bends.

The painful condition can occur when scuba divers surface too quickly, causing the air they breathe from tanks to form painful and sometimes fatal bubbles in the blood.

Speaking to the Seattle Times, fish farmer Bill Clark said: 'We've easily got hundreds of thousands of dead fish.'

Pacific Seafood, a parent company of Mr Clark's employers, says it is losing 100,000 fish a day from the poisoning.

John Bielka, who works for partner firm Pacific Aquaculture, said: 'They're basically sterilising this entire stretch of river.

'That's going to wipe out not only the fish in our farm, but also the bull trout, the lamprey, the sturgeon and every other wild thing.'

Bosses at the firm are now concerned for the remaining 2.7 million fish still alive 20 miles south of the Grand Coulee dam.

Despite knowing about the issue, bureau officials have confirmed the problem will get worse.

Officials added that wild fish should not suffer as much as the farmed varieties because they can dive deeper to avoid the excess gasses.

Speaking to the paper, Charles Hudson of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, said: 'In a normal year, this wouldn't be a big problem. But Mother Nature is running the Columbia River right now.' Source

MANILA, Philippines - More than 370 metric tons of milkfish (bangus) have been floating in Taal Lake since Thursday, a local official said today.

Talisay town Mayor Zenaida Mendoza said that the tons of milkfish were from 84 fish cages in the lake located in Barangay Sampaloc.

Mendoza said more milkfish have turned up dead Saturday morning.

Municipal agriculturist Zenaida Macatangay said that the sudden change in the weather brought about by typhoon "Chedeng" could have been the reason behind the fishkill.

The town mayor, meanwhile, said that they have yet to think of a way to dispose off the thousands of dead milkfish in the town.

Local officials in four more municipalities around Taal Lake have reported fishkill incidents in their area. The fishkill's damage has been pegged at more than P30 million.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said it is already checking the extent of damage of the fishkill, which, it said, may continue until Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported that six volcanic earthquakes were recorded in Taal Volcano in the past 24 hours. Source

UPDATE: Talisay Mayor Zenaida Mendoza said, however, that several more have appeared as early as Thursday. About 500 metric tons of milk fish have died, she estimated. Source

Thousands of fish in Muthannan Kulam in the city were found dead on Thursday morning, leaving 73 families that depend on the fish in the lake in a state of despair.

Fishermen say that effluents from factories in the adjacent locality of Poosaripalayam were let into the lake killing the fish. "We plan to give a petition to the collector soon," said M Muruganandam, leader of the fishermen's association. "The fish were fine on Wednesday night. About three lakh fish died overnight causing us a huge loss," he added.

Dyeing units in Telungupalayam and Poosaripalayam have been letting effluents into the lake constantly. Recently, most of the dyeing units in Telungupalayam were shut down as they were found to be polluting the area. Source

While the state has yet to officially cancel any events involving horses that might have been exposed to a local recent equine herpes outbreak, owners and arenas are taking precautions.

Because of the outbreak, contestants at the Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest had to cowgirl up Thursday night without their mares.

Instead of competing on horses, as is typically the case, contestants were asked to trot around the arena with stick horses as their show ponies.

"It's kind of weird, but you can't really help that the disease is going around," said former queen Savanna Steed. She said the stick horses will test the riders' knowledge of whether they know the routine, rather than letting the horse do all the work.

Utah has 13 suspected and seven confirmed cases of equine herpes virus after horses at a regional cutting horse competition at the Golden Spike Arena in Ogden first showed symptoms of the illness.

Horse herpes is not sexually transmitted and is not considered a danger for humans, but it is highly contagious among horses and other animals of the equine family. The most common way for the virus to spread is by direct horse-to-horse contact, but it can also spread through the air, contaminated equipment, clothing and hands.

The disease can be fatal to horses and is incurable. (read more)

The discovery of a dog that was buried alive up to its nose after being shot in the head 40 times has led to calls for Malta to reform its animal welfare laws.

The crossbreed mongrel, which was named Star by her rescuers, was found near the city of Birzebbuga by animal welfare officers investigating an unrelated case.

After hearing whimpering coming from beneath a wooden board with a tree stump placed on top of it to weigh it down, officers were confronted with the distressing sight of a dog's face buried in the dirt.

But worse was to follow. When Star was dug out of the ground they discovered all four limbs had all been tied together and that she had been repeatedly shot with a pellet gun.

Miraculously, after doctors removed 40 pellets from her skull during emergency surgery at the Ta' Qali hospital, Star survived.

The case has caused outrage in Malta where, regardless of the nature of the act, the maximum sentence one can face for animal cruelty is a one-year jail sentence, or a maximum fine of 46,500 euros.

A pending change in legislation will raise the maximum fine to 50,000 euros but the one-year jail maximum will remain.

Animal lovers are holding a silent protest in Valetta next week to express their disgust. Read More