Wildlife

"The pounding on my door jolts me awake. 'Get up!' a voice booms. 'They caught a jaguar!'

It's 2 a.m. I stumble into my clothes, grab my gear and slip into the full-moon-lit night. Within minutes, I'm in a boat with three biologists blasting up the wide Cuiabá River in southwestern Brazil's vast Pantanal wetlands, the boatman pushing the 115-horsepower engine full throttle. We disembark, climb into a pickup truck and bump through scrubby pastureland.

"PRESIDIO, Texas (AP) — Unofficially, the state of Texas celebrates donkeys and their historical and cultural significance in shaping the American West. Officially? The policy on wild burros out here is shoot to kill."

"Coyotes howling into the night are as much a part of Calabasas as the aspiring screenwriters, retired moguls and stay-at-home mothers who crowd the coffee shops in the city's well-manicured mall."

"SAN DIEGO -- In the first case to apply the slavery amendment of the U.S. Constitution to non-human creatures, animal rights and marine mammal advocates today asked a federal court to declare that five orcas are being held as slaves by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment."

"LINCOLN, Neb. -- The closing of the country’s last meat processing plant that slaughtered horses for human consumption was hailed as a victory for equine welfare. But five years later just as many American horses are destined for dinner plates to satisfy the still robust appetites for their meat in Europe and Asia."

"SALT LAKE CITY -- Nighttime deer poachers beware – that shadowy creature on the side of the road may just be remote-controlled."

"U.S. prosecutors charge a man who said he was protecting his family. State residents and officials are outraged."

"Four people on average are killed in unprovoked attacks a year, yet humans kill 100 million sharks annually, say marine biologists."