Free Republic

“We have no right to distress any of God’s creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”These are the words of Black Beauty, the eponymous horse from Anna Sewell’s novel, Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse.The book, published by Norwich based Jarrold & Sons in 1877, was transformative. Sewell’s stated objective, “to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses”, is credited with the abolition of the checkrein...

Catalina Island conservationists are moving forward with an extensive plan to preserve the island’s native habitat after the state recently approved the lethal shooting of the invasive mule deer on the island. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the Catalina Island Conservancy’s restoration management permit in late January. […] Mule deer were introduced to the island in the early 1920s as a game species for hunting by the state. Island conservationists say the deer, which fluctuate in numbers between 500 and 1,800, have no natural predators and are destroying native vegetation found only on the island. They also...

A convicted felon from Watts has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and 12 months of probation for posting video of himself pouring alcohol into a hawk’s mouth, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday. CDFW officers began investigating after a YouTube video surfaced showing 25-year-old Cesar Gustavo Diaz feeding a BuzzBallz mixed cocktail to the bird. Investigators later determined that Diaz captured the young Cooper’s hawk at Amelia Mayberry Park in Whittier in June 2025. “Hanging out with the homie,” read one still image from the video, according to the CDFW. “Hawk loves him some buzz...

LAGO DI TESERO, ITALY — Before he became the most famous dog at the Olympics, Nazgul was not known as an escape artist. Still, his owners, Enrico and Alice Varesco, were not taking chances when they left him alone at their apartment alongside the Olympic cross-country ski trails this week. The Varescos were headed out to watch an Olympic biathlon race at another competition venue, a couple hours away over the mountains. Nazgul, a two-year-old, 65-pound Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, was secured inside his spacious kennel, inside the house — with an eight-foot-tall fence separating the Varescos' backyard from the trails where...

ABBEVILLE COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) -- A farmer in Abbeville County is feeling immense gratitude towards first responders who helped rescue one of her farm animals, Jake the donkey. Traditionally, Jake is able to roam across more than 20 acres of land. Because of the rain, he got caught in mud on Sunday and slipped down a ravine, nowhere to be found. Not knowing what to do to help find Jake, his owner, Kaye Acton, called the Abbeville County Fire Department, requesting that drones be used to help find her farm animal. The fire department then answered the call to...

Enjoy hunting, fishing, and eating meat while you can. None of these things is to be permitted as progressives progress toward utopia. Moonbattery-addled Oregon shows the way. KPTV reports: Animal rights advocates are close to having enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure in Oregon that would dramatically change how animals are treated under state law, including banning most hunting, fishing, livestock farming and animal research. The proposed measure Initiative Petition 28, would remove many long-standing exemptions in Oregon’s animal cruelty laws. Under the initiative, most activities that hurt or kill animals would become criminal offenses. No doubt many who...

Islamists try to show dominance, and the left is going along, except that they picked the wrong issue. ell, that escalated quickly. Islamists are trying to show dominance, and the left is going along, except that they picked the wrong issue. These days, events happen so quickly, it's hard to keep up, but you would have to be living under a rock not to have heard of the left in their red/green alliance stumble into one of the worst 90/10 issues of all time. Along with blaring the call to prayer (noise ordinances, what noise ordinances?), one of New York...

During the opening night of the famous Carnaval del Toro in Ciudad Rodrigo, a 65-year-old local suffered fatal injuries from a bull’s horn, sparking concern about safety at traditional Spanish events. A beloved participant in one of Spain’s most iconic winter festivals has died after being fatally gored by a bull, in a tragic accident that underscores the risks of traditional bull-related celebrations. The incident occurred in the early hours of February 14 during the Carnaval del Toro (Carnival of the Bull) in Ciudad Rodrigo, a historic town near Salamanca in north-west Spain. The man was participating in a nighttime...

Cat music

The story of Punch, the baby macaque, has captivated the world. Punch-kun, as he is affectionately known, was reportedly born in July 2025 but was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth. Caretakers at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan stepped in to rescue and hand-raise him, closely monitoring his growth while gradually introducing him to other macaques. However, when caretakers moved him into an enclosure with other monkeys, they noticed he was struggling to integrate into the group.

BRACKETTVILLE, Texas—The chaos caused by millions of illegal immigrants flooding across the southwest border under the Biden administration left scars on this border town. The constant high-speed chases, buzzing helicopters, screaming emergency sirens, hurried school lockdowns, torn barbed-wire fences, and decomposing bodies on ranches and along the Rio Grande all took their toll on Texas towns near the Mexican border. The border crisis drained resources and changed the lifestyle of Brackettville, a little town with two traffic light intersections in Kinney County. Residents of the county and beyond said the madness stopped almost overnight after President Donald Trump took office....

Louisiana Wildlife agents arrested a man early Friday morning after they spotted him walking down Bourbon Street carrying a live alligator. Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents helping with security during Mardi Gras were patrolling the French Quarter around 1:30 a.m. when they saw a man, later identified as Eurell D. Johnson, walking in the 400 block of Bourbon Street with a 3- to 4-foot alligator. When agents stopped Johnson, they also found him with a gun and marijuana. Agents learned Johnson is a convicted felon and cannot legally possess a firearm. Agents arrested Johnson, 25, of New Roads, on charges...

Live Action News has found that the owner of a veterinary pharmacy in California is also the apparent owner of an online, mail-order pharmacy listed as dispensing the abortion pill. "Dr. Jaspreet Lalli DVM" is shown as the president as the owner of the California Pet Pharmacy (CPP Health). Lalli is also listed as the owner of Arlo Health (aka Arlo Rx), a national, online mail-order pharmacy currently listed by generic abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro (GBP) as a dispensary for the abortion pill. Though Lalli is listed in the NPI registry as a DVM (doctor of veterinary medicine), Live Action...

What’s that, boy? Timmy is stuck in a car? A four-legged hero lent Kentucky police a paw during a search for a missing child in his neighborhood, with the pooch grabbing their attention and guiding them to the boy, new bodycam footage shows. Louisville Metropolitan Police officer Josh Thompson and his fellow cops were searching for a missing 3-year-old boy on Jan. 7 when an unnamed collie mix appeared and began barking at them, the police video shows. Thompson said he was a “little leery” of the dog, who he did not recognize despite his usual patrols, but the dog...

Immigrant groups have a message for their mostly White allies: Quit blowing the whistle on ICE. They also pointed to disproportionate impacts on "Black and Brown communities" that are already "overexposed to chronic noise pollution," which they linked to PTSD, anxiety, sleep disruption and heart disease.

Three adult dogs and seven puppies found abandoned near the Gaza border will be flown to the US for adoption by American soldiers who served in the area during the Gaza war. The soldiers discovered the animals and decided they couldn’t leave them behind, according to Israel’s Let the Animals Live association. Let the Animals Live said it was caring for the canines in kennels before they are flown out, while also dealing with the export bureaucracy and ensuring that all shots are up to date. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (International) is funding most of...

The clip begins with Wu, who was born in China, saying, 'I always tell people, the day the Latino, African American, Asian and other communities realize that they share the same oppressor, is the day we start winning.' 'Because we are the majority in this country now,' the congressman continued. 'We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone, and to make things fair, but the problem is our communities are divided - they're completely divided.'

A lone gray wolf padded quietly into Los Angeles County before dawn on Saturday — and made history. State biologists say the female wolf may be the first documented in Southern California in 100 years, after the apex predators were wiped out across the state by eradication campaigns aimed at protecting livestock. The last known wild wolf in California was shot on June 12, 1924, by federal trapper Frank W. Koehler in Lassen County. The three-year-old female, known as BEY03F, was spotted on a trail camera in the mountains north of Santa Clarita.

From a tender moment between a crane and her chick to a heartbreaking image of a polar bear cub’s final moments, the finalists for the Nuveen People’s Choice Award of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest stun. Photographers from 113 countries and territories submitted more than 60,000 images for consideration. A judging panel of photography, wildlife, conservation and science experts whittled the finalists list down to 24 photographs that are now competing for votes from the public. “No matter where you are in the world, it’s time to join the jury and vote in the Nuveen People’s Choice Award...

A North Carolina veterinary technician has been charged and fired from her job after she rescued a dog that was abandoned in the cold winter weather — but failed to hand the pooch over to animal control. Dason Garner has been left “completely broken” as she faces charges for keeping a stray animal, failure to surrender and interfering with law enforcement over her deed, according to WRAL. Garner says she was punished for her act of compassion in rescuing the pooch from the brutal conditions after a harsh snowstorm barreled across Wilson, NC, over the weekend.