Party pills will be tested on animals before they are allowed to be sold because "human safety is ... paramount", Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says.

Pro-surfer Dave Rastovich was here to help save the threatened Maui's dolphin, but in the end it was them who helped him.

No charges will be laid against a man who horrified dozens of drivers by carrying his dog like a huge handbag while walking on a main road.

Wild birds including ducks, geese and pheasants are being poached from public parks in Auckland and being turned into dinner.

The volcanoes of Mordor are erupting right on cue for the Hobbit premiere, but animals have been the problem.

New Zealand has joined Australia in questioning the validity of Japan's whaling for scientific purposes in the Southern Ocean, says MP Murray McCully.

A wrangler at the centre of claims animals were mistreated during filming of The Hobbit stands by his allegations, but says he never intended to tarnish the movie.

Sir Peter Jackson says accusations of animal cruelty are distressing to dedicated staff.

An Eketahuna woman is singing the praises of her english cocker spaniel Izzy after it sniffed out another dog that had been trapped for four days on a sheer cliff face.

A necropsy on a Bryde's whale found dead on Motuihe Island in Hauraki Gulf has confirmed that the whale was hit by a vessel, the Department of Conservation says.

Endangered albatrosses which nest in New Zealand are under increasing threat as they compete with commercial fishing operations in the same waters, University of Canterbury researcher Lorna Deppe says.

A family cat cut into pieces and a carabiner threaded through the neck of a dog are among the most inhumane treatment of animals on the SPCA's annual list of shame.

Sniffer dogs were used to check predator-free islands off Northland's coast after a boat broke a mooring and drifted onto rocks, sparking a conservation scare.

A neglected dog was left with scabies over his entire body, lost most of his fur and suffered damage to his eyes after his owner failed to get treatment for him.