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Pets & Wildlife

Ridgewood: Union Ridge Elementary School first-grader Rick Alanis reads to therapy dog Bruno and Jason Winters, who visited the school each week with the dog through Columbia River Pet Partners.

Therapy dog helps first-graders learn to read

Ridgewood: Union Ridge Elementary School first-grader Rick Alanis reads to therapy dog Bruno and Jason Winters, who visited the school each week with the dog through Columbia River Pet Partners.

July 8, 2015, 12:00am Pets & Wildlife

Ridgefield — Stephanie Frasier's first grade students at Union Ridge Elementary School had a rather attentive and furry visitor to help them practice reading: Bruno, a Munsterlander dog who participates in the Columbia River Pet Partners program. The program is a Vancouver-based organization that uses therapy animals to enrich people's… Read story

Science finally tells us how our cats really want to be petted

July 5, 2015, 12:00am Life

How should you pet your cat? It's a question that's stumped pet owners for centuries, but science now has an answer. Here's what a team of researchers from the University of Lincoln in the UK found. Read story

Ibrahim Al-Jamal, 17, carries Mona, the female lion cub, as Max the male lion cub is petted by people on the beach of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Lion cubs stuck at Gaza border en route to Jordan shelter

Ibrahim Al-Jamal, 17, carries Mona, the female lion cub, as Max the male lion cub is petted by people on the beach of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip.

July 3, 2015, 12:00am Nation & World

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — A pair of lion cubs en route to a wildlife sanctuary in Jordan got stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing on Friday, after being kept as pets for almost a year by a family in the crowded coastal strip. Read story

In this March 3, 2015, photo, Lolo searches for truffles at the Robert Sinskey Vineyards Truffle Orchard in Napa, Calif. America?s growing appetite for truffles is feeding demand for dogs trained to sniff out the prized fungi beneath the ground. Most truffles, known as the diamonds of the culinary world, come from Italy and France and have to be imported for as much as $2,500 per pound. Now a small but growing truffle industry is taking root in Napa Valley and other U.S. regions where farmers are cultivating them or foragers seek them in the wild.

Work of hunting for truffles goes to the dogs

In this March 3, 2015, photo, Lolo searches for truffles at the Robert Sinskey Vineyards Truffle Orchard in Napa, Calif. America?s growing appetite for truffles is feeding demand for dogs trained to sniff out the prized fungi beneath the ground. Most truffles, known as the diamonds of the culinary world, come from Italy and France and have to be imported for as much as $2,500 per pound. Now a small but growing truffle industry is taking root in Napa Valley and other U.S. regions where farmers are cultivating them or foragers seek them in the wild.

July 3, 2015, 12:00am Life

CARNEROS, Calif. — The growing appetite for truffles is feeding demand for dogs trained to sniff out the pungent fungus prized by chefs and foodies. Read story

A girl lays bouquets of flowers Sunday at an altar especially set up for a funeral of Tama, a cat stationmaster, in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan.

Cat stationmaster mourned, made goddess

A girl lays bouquets of flowers Sunday at an altar especially set up for a funeral of Tama, a cat stationmaster, in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan.

July 3, 2015, 12:00am Life

TOKYO — Tama the stationmaster, Japan's feline star of a struggling local railway, was mourned by company officials and fans and elevated into a goddess at a funeral Sunday. Read story

Pepsi, left, and Maya take part in the #Lost4Dogs campaign in New York City. The hashtag #Lost4Dogs aims to raise awareness about lost pets with a selfie challenge. It turns the idea of going missing onto people, urging them to post photos of themselves wearing signs that say they should be returned to their pets in case of emergency.

Keep pets safe for the 4th

Pepsi, left, and Maya take part in the #Lost4Dogs campaign in New York City. The hashtag #Lost4Dogs aims to raise awareness about lost pets with a selfie challenge. It turns the idea of going missing onto people, urging them to post photos of themselves wearing signs that say they should be returned to their pets in case of emergency.

July 3, 2015, 12:00am Life

To us, fireworks are the sparkling embodiment of July Fourth. But to dogs, they truly are bombs bursting in air. Read story

A polar bear mother gathers with her two cubs in Wapusk National Park near Churchill, Manitoba, in 2007.

Study: Polar bears may soon feel warming’s sting

A polar bear mother gathers with her two cubs in Wapusk National Park near Churchill, Manitoba, in 2007.

July 2, 2015, 12:00am Nation & World

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- About a third of the world's polar bears could be in imminent danger from greenhouse gas emissions in as soon as a decade, a U.S. government report shows. Read story

Babbler bird arranges sounds, gets meaning

July 2, 2015, 12:00am Life

Move over, parrots. There's another bird with some impressive "language" skills: the chestnut-crowned babbler. Scientists studying the social birds have discovered that they can rearrange meaningless sounds in their calls to form different, meaningful messages. Read story

Quasi Modo, an 8-year-old mixed breed from Florida, walks across the stage June 20, 2014, during the World's Ugliest Dog Contest, at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif.

Homely hounds compete to be crowned World’s Ugliest Dog

Quasi Modo, an 8-year-old mixed breed from Florida, walks across the stage June 20, 2014, during the World's Ugliest Dog Contest, at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif.

June 26, 2015, 12:00am Nation & World

PETALUMA, Calif. — He's overweight and has a birth defect that left him a bit hunchbacked. Read story

Take sensitive dog to a pro for nail clipping

June 26, 2015, 12:00am Life

We have a 2-year-old mini-dachshund. He is the best dog in the world except when we try to cut his nails. As soon as he sees the clippers in our hands, he runs. If we confront him, he turns into an 8-pound snarling wolf and has no hesitation in biting… Read story