In NZ animals are afforded basic rights - including freedom and suffering. Except the 3 million made to take part in experiments, writes Sally Hibbard.

A band of foreign snakes that are said to be capable of crushing small children to death are on the loose in North London.

A critically ill baby kakapo has been nursed back to health at Auckland Zoo. "Heather One", one of only six kakapo bred this season, was 10 days old and severely underweight when she was found on Little Barrier Island in late March.

A Whangarei man was sent for the barbaric torture of at least 10 possums, including nailing them to trees and chopping off their limbs.

A dog has killed a male kiwi that was living in the wild just north of Wellington.

Experts have flown in from all over the world. Samples have been taken. And now the waiting begins... Will Tian Tian, Edinburgh Zoo's giant panda, deliver?

An extremely rare female deep-water megamouth shark has been caught off the coast of Shizuoka in Japan, in what is believed to be only the 58th known sighting of the animal on record.

More than 170 sharks have been caught and 50 destroyed as part of Australia's controversial culling policy, government figures have revealed.

Defenders of dogs, cats and rats are starting to feel that this could be their year. They've joined forces to make animal welfare an election issue for the first time.

Animal expert Sally Hibbard spends the day with our very clever sniffer dogs, protecting New Zealand from anything that could put our agriculture at risk.

Prime Minister John Key has ruled out any animal testing on legal high products.

A Whitianga woman is considering taking the fight for her beloved dog to the High Court after it was sentenced to death.

The little blue penguin that washed up on the streets of a landlocked upmarket Auckland suburb last weekend has died from starvation.

If the research produces essential results of value to humanity that cannot be produced in any other way, despite its cruelty, it should be permissible, writes Alexander Gillespie.

Three suspects will appear in court in Kenya today after six elephants, including four juveniles, were found shot dead in a private reserve, in one of the worst poaching incidents for several years.

The owner of two rottweilers which mauled an 8-year-old Christchurch boy has pleaded guilty.

A disoriented little blue penguin which was taken to safety after being found wandering along the road in suburban Auckland is recovering well at a bird rescue centre.

Jerry Starr thought he was taking the safe approach when a twister was reported heading towards his suburban neighbourhood outside Oklahoma City last May.

An animal rights group is disgusted to hear of the fatal pummelling of a pomeranian dog and a deadly attack on a pitbull in two separate cases before the court.

Stressed at work? Not getting along with your colleagues? The answer is simple. Take your pooch into the office - and many Kiwis are doing just that.