Much hangs on whether the Japanese Government sides with its future-focused Foreign Ministry or its inwards-looking pro-whaling fisheries agency, writes John Armstrong.

We're all a kaleidoscope of contradictions about our treatment and consumption of living creatures, writes Bob Jones.

Many's the time the dubious claim "sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind" has been used to justify some act of petty tyranny, writes Paul Thomas.

Dame Vivienne Westwood has admitted she shares bathwater with her husband.

Chickens starved to death, dead and decaying bobby calves and the carcasses of four goats were found by SPCA inspectors at a rural West Auckland property.

A lifestyle block farmer who bashed two pigs with a heavy steel bar in a "prolonged and violent attack" in front of an upset teenage boy has been jailed today.

A man sprayed oven cleaner into a dog's face several times while walking in an off-lead area of a park, a jury at Wellington District Court has been told.

Parents of dog-attack victims say they relive the nightmare each time they hear of another child suffering horrific injuries when they are mauled by a dog.

The "right to enjoy owning dogs" has to be protected, even at the cost of 20,000 human victims, writes Brian Rudman.

Condemned to death at the hands of a private extermination company, around 150 of the stray dogs from Sochi's Olympic Park have been saved after the intervention of a Russian billionaire.

Pet owners are paying hundreds of dollars every year for insurance to ward off expensive vet bills.

A young cockatiel named "Lucky" had a 10cm blow dart removed from its head following what was described by SPCA staff as a "malicious" attack.

It is not illegal to kill an animal in New Zealand as long as it is done humanely, which includes bludgeoning bobby calves with hefty objects, Mid Canterbury SPCA inspector John Keeley says.

A Kingston man is "frustrated" police gave the Canterbury woman who took his husky a pre-charge warning.

A New Zealand dairy company is reportedly being investigated by Chilean authorities over allegations it inhumanely slaughtered thousands of calves it couldn't use for milk production.

The picturesque bay at Taiji, 420km south of Tokyo, is the site of the world's largest annual dolphin slaughter.

Canterbury SPCA welfare investigators are run off their feet trying to catch up after a record month for complaints in December.

Department of Conservation rangers are checking beaches at Farewell Spit this morning for any signs that a pod of whales restranded overnight.

'These whales have to get out today if they want to make it.' There's a dire warning for a pod of 50 whales stranded at Farewell Spit, as three more die.

Shark fin remains on the dinner menu at Auckland's SkyCity casino, at $70 for a small serving, despite assurances to the contrary.

A large number of pilot whales refloated after beaching at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay are in danger once again.

More whales have stranded themselves at the top of the South Island days after nine were put down due to being beached at the same spot.