Vet’s suicide raises questions of easy access to deadly drugs

A well-regarded young veterinarian in Winchester, England, took his own life with a drug used to euthanize pets at least partly because he was disturbed by wealthy customers asking him to put down their animals unnecessarily, The Independent newspaper reported. The vet’s suicide has prompted a coroner to warn about the easy access to dangerous drugs in the veterinary profession. The Winchester Coroner’s Court in Hampshire was told John Ellis, 35, tricked a veterinary nurse...

Cockroaches and lizards as therapy animals? Apparently, it works

The use of animals as therapy partners to help people recover from various physical and mental illnesses is not a new concept. What might be unusual is the use of insects and reptiles. We are not referring to butterflies and turtles here, but others in their genera that usually tend to make people jump in fright or disgust. Sure, El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) in Sergio Leone’s classic For a Few Dollars More (1965) used...

Study suggests leprosy was carried by red squirrels in mediaeval England

A growing body of evidence suggests leprosy may have had zoonotic origins and spread to human beings from some species of animals. In The British Isles in mediæval times, the disease may have spread to humans from Eurasian red squirrels, a new study published in the journal Current Biology suggested, the British Broadcasting Corporation and The Hindu newspaper reported. The researchers studied human and red squirrel bones from archaeological sites in Winchester, southern England, and...

Paul Watson’s team to stop hunting of fin whales in Iceland

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation is launching Operation Ice Storm from Albert Dock in Yorkshire to oppose Iceland’s last whaling company, Hvalur hf, the organization said in a press release. Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace and founder of Sea Shepherd, has a history of intervening in Icelandic whaling operations. In 1986, members of his group successfully reduced the whaling fleet of Hvalur hf by half. “Time is up for the world’s most notorious hunter of...