Rats To Cats And Dogs, Rodents Are A Furry Favourite

JAIMEY Unwin's four rats are more than pets to the 21-year-old university animal technician. She considers them her children, which means that when Ms Unwin goes somewhere, the rats sometimes go too.

In The Steps Of Happy Feet, Thanks To Tax Offset

THE Sydney visual effects company Animal Logic has become the second film company to take advantage of the tax offset for Australian filmmakers, announcing that it is producing a major animated feature film. Following its success with Happy Feet, the company has won the contract for Guardians Of Ga'Hoole, an animated adventure based on children's books by the American writer Kathryn Lasky. It will be directed by Zack Snyder, director of 300, and produced by Animal Logic's managing director, Zareh ...

Tax Breaks Take Happy Feet Producers To The Next Step

VISUAL effects company Animal Logic has become the second company to take advantage of the tax offset for Australian filmmakers, announcing that it is producing a major animated feature film.

Call To Alter Labels For Animals' Sake

FOOD labels should be overhauled to include information on the treatment of animals, says the country's chief law reform commissioner, David Weisbrot, who believes a push for animal rights could be the next great progressive movement in Australia.

Our Big Appetite For Eggs Means Rspca Can Live With This Picture

THE RSPCA is endorsing a range of eggs which Animal Liberation says are laid by chickens kept in inhumane conditions.

Keeper Alleges Elephants Were Cold, Neglected For Years

AN AMERICAN elephant-care specialist head-hunted by the Zoological Parks Board little more than a year ago has resigned, citing animal neglect as the reason. Jason Kauntze-Cockburn has terminated his four-year contract after only one year at Western Plains Zoo, saying inadequate staffing was putting the elephants' health and well-being at risk.

Humble Or Princely, Spring's In Their Step

IT'S dawn and the horse being led down the gravel driveway of Arrowfield Stud - the most valuable animal in Australia - lets out a loud, sustained whinny and strains at the bridle. Spring has sprung and Redoute's Choice has his first mare of the season waiting for him.

Fears Over Egg Fakes

ALLEGATIONS that shoppers are being duped into buying barn-laid eggs falsely labelled as free range should be urgently investigated by the State Government.

Rustic Bliss Is A Posh Car And A Barn

Expressways have a speed limit, but the locals double it and then add a bit The internet led Rick Allen to an unforgettable Italian holiday.

But The Rspca Jury Is Divided

The pros and cons of various farming methods have the animal welfare body at odds.

Battery Hens To Stay Until 2015

Animal welfare groups are outraged that an agriculture ministers' review of battery hens has recommended the practice not be reconsidered again until 2015. The RSPCA has warned of a public backlash if the system, which they say is inhumane, is not changed. It warned there had been a consumer shif

Town & Country / Zookeepers

Town: Cathy Saunders, 34 works on the Kodak Free Flight Bird Show at Taringa Zoo. I worked with carnivores for five years then I moved to the bird show about two years ago to pick up some new skills. We have about 40 birds in the show and hundreds more in exhibits. We've got birds of prey - barn

Bringing Up Babe A Challenge

HOLLYWOOD: It had the makings of a nightmare: Corralling, calming, cajoling and ultimately coaxing top-flight performances from 48 pigs, 37 mice, 30 ducks, eight dogs, four cats, two horses and a cow. Not to mention a supporting cast of nearly 800 sheep. But veteran animal trainer Karl Lewis Mill

Mr Ed

OF ALL the American animal shows in the '60s - and there were some beauties - Mr Ed has to be both the craziest and most conservative. Let's take the crazy first. It's one of only three that I can remember when an animal is actually treated as a human being. There was Green Acres, in which

Beautiful Bedrooms

RULERS in ancient times used to retire at night in style on beds of gold or silver which were sometimes set with semi-precious stones. The Egyptians slept on beds with carved animal legs but without headboards for maximum benefit for the soul. Instead, they had elaborate footboards in the