Conservation groups say a new government proposal to help the world's rarest marine dolphin, Maui's dolphin, is inadequate and will not save the species from extinction.

A change of heart by Parliament on testing recreational drugs on animals has been hailed as a "great day for beagle puppies".

I've always classified those horse-drawn carriages in Central Park alongside Venice's gondolas.

A dog owner who starved a puppy to death today "narrowly" escaped jail, but has been banned form owning animals for four years.

Three young people could be heard urging a terrified man to come outside and talk to them before they smashed their way into his home and killed a 12-week-old puppy.

Fat cat Hazel is a pet with a plan. And she needs an owner willing to help her stick to it.

In the foothills of the Himalayas, a war is being waged. Soldiers with M16 assault rifles patrol the grasslands and forests and surveillance drones buzz overhead.

Four days after a pet dog disappeared, its skinned and mutilated body was dumped on a family's South Auckland lawn.

About 60 "flat cats" came a step closer to domestic bliss at a clinic in Dunedin for the cats of tertiary students.

Derek Cheng challenges himself and sets a new personal best for culinary repugnancy.

Auckland SPCA is overrun with rabbits. The organisation is hunting for homes for more than 40 rabbits - and staff say it's a great time to adopt.

A total ban on animal testing in legislation to regulate legal highs has been voted down by MPs despite an emotional speech by Act leader John Banks.

Wanted: people to adopt a growing gaggle of white Embden geese.

Act Party leader John Banks will make a rare vote against his coalition partner National this week to maintain his passionate defence of animal rights.

A farmer who left his herd of calves without food and water for months at his leased Papamoa farm neglected the animals so he could attend to his sick wife and newborn child.

The world's top dolphin scientists have urged the New Zealand government to act now to protect the Maui's dolphin marine environment or risk the species being extinct in 20 years.

A Bay of Plenty man charged with animal cruelty after black swans were allegedly mowed down by a jet boat is also accused of filming a juvenile goat being thrown into the air and shot.

A man who told police he thought "lamb chops on the barbecue would be nice" has been convicted of wilfully ill-treating two sheep he killed at a farm on Christmas Day.