Free Republic

(Reuters/REUTERS - An orangutan named Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, in this December 8, 2010 file photo. An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed) BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognized the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported on Sunday. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in...

Outbreaks of a parasitic infection linked to swimming pools and water playgrounds are increasingly being reported to CDC, with twice as many outbreaks in 2016 as in 2014. At least 32 outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium (also known as “Crypto”) linked to swimming pools or water playgrounds in the United States were reported in 2016, compared with 16 outbreaks in 2014, according to preliminary data published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The parasite can spread when people swallow something that has come into contact with the feces (poop) of a sick person, such as pool water contaminated with...

Back in July, it was announced that waterpark company Schlitterbahn had their sights set on putting the "biggest, baddest" water park ever in Fort Lauderdale. But now the people who operate Rapids Waterpark is suing the city to stop that from happening. In an 11-page complaint filed on Wednesday, Premier Parks LLC — who own and operate Rapids — say that Fort Lauderdale is violating a competitive bid process by giving Schlitterbahn Waterparks & Resorts a long-term lease without allowing any other developers to bid and submit their own ideas for a water park. According to that lease, Schlitterbahn Waterparks...