Could a Child Really be Raised by Animals?

I recently became a first-time mother. In addition to my daughter, Myrtle, I share my home with a motley collection of rescued animals including dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and pigs. This multi-species, multi-generational co-habitation—along with the release of a new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book—left me thinking about the phenomena of feral children, a topic I had considered in my book about human-animal interactions more generally. Certainly in some exceptional circumstances I can now appreciate how it might be possible for a human child to be cared for by a non-human surrogate.

http://tinyurl.com/hf2v6df

Call for End to Military Trauma Training on Animals

When an American lies wounded on a battlefield, the training of emergency medical personnel can be the difference between life and death.  However, some are disputing what the training should consist of and how important the use of live tissue trauma training is in preparing physicians and paramedical personnel.  Tissue training is when live animals -- mainly pigs and goats -- are cut, shot or have limbs severed while euthanized as medics try to keep the animal alive. The object is to simulate real world conditions of responding to trauma injuries as closely as possible.

http://tinyurl.com/jmj3e8o

Pigs, Pythons, and Other Animals People Call Their Pets

The dog may be a man’s best friend, but pot-bellied pigs, alpacas and pythons make fine companions, too. So do turtles and lizards and even sugar gliders. Areca Roe photographed all of these and more for Housebroken, her engaging look at unusual pets.

http://tinyurl.com/jlvgym7

Lawmakers Aim to Protect Farm Animals in U.S. Research

Farm animals used in federal experiments to help the meat industry would receive new protections against mistreatment and neglect under legislation introduced on Thursday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both houses of Congress.  The bill aims to extend the federal Animal Welfare Act to shield cows, pigs, sheep and other animals used for agricultural research at federal facilities, including the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., a unit of the Department of Agriculture. The act, which became law in 1966, excluded those animals, focusing largely on cats and dogs used in laboratory research.

http://tinyurl.com/qcpcc9m

National Farm Animals Awareness Week

Every year, billions of intelligent, gentle animals are raised and killed just so they can be eaten. Crazy, isn’t it? Cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys and other animals in the farmed-animal industry are deprived of all that is natural and important to them. They live in horrible, extremely crowded conditions and suffer terribly before they reach someone’s dinner table.

http://tinyurl.com/mc7ohdp

Video: Puppy Bowl 2012: Kittens, Pigs And Birds Play Supporting Roles

What do puppies, piggies and birds that use Twitter have in common? They're all going to be a part of the Puppy Bowl, a Super Bowl alternative which celebrates cuteness over gridiron prowess. With Super Bowl XLVI barely a week away, some fans are already asking, "Are you ready for some football?" If you aren't, then get ready for some puppies. Puppy Bowl VIII, which will air on Super Bowl Sunday on Animal Planet, is the cutest bowl you've seen since, well, Puppy Bowl VII.

http://tinyurl.com/82msmao

Video: Pigs Escape on Chinese Highway

A group of pigs created may-ham in China recently after they escaped from a flipped lorry. The police made a pig's-ear of the recovery attempt after the incident in China's Sichuan Province.

http://tinyurl.com/78hcluh

Meet Mudslinger the Amazing Pig

Amazing video that shows just how intelligent pigs really are.

http://tinyurl.com/bpm5u5