The 7-year-old mauled by dogs in Murupara has had a 10-hour operation to begin to repair the facial wounds she received during the attack.

The familiar scent of its owner lingers like perfume in a dog's brain, US scientists claim.

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

The bizarre use of insects, fish and animals to help cure various ailments has a long history. Here are six of the most popular treatments – some are still in use today.

A rampaging elephant smashed a house to bits in an Indian village, but turned back and rescued a baby trapped in the rubble, a couple have claimed.

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.

The man accused of spraying oven cleaner into a dog's face has been found guilty by a jury in the Wellington District Court.

A man has been jailed for a year and banned from owning animals for a decade after beating and drowning a dog in an attempt to euthanise it, the SPCA said.

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.

An otter has been photographed attacking and eating an alligator at a US wildlife sanctuary.

The Green Party has called for a moratorium on the use of trawl nets around the Auckland Islands, following the Government's announcement this morning of a new threat management plan for the endangered New Zealand sea lion.

Trout, deer, pigs and other exotic species would have to be culled from the Ureweras under a law change before Parliament, fishers and hunters are warning Government.

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.

The four bull terrier crosses which attacked a 7-year-old girl in Murupara yesterday, leaving her in a critical condition, had no history of aggression.

The Japanese girl attacked by four dogs at a Murupara home was due to fly home with her family to Japan tomorrow.

Forest & Bird says an endangered New Zealand sea lion has been killed in a squid fishing net, the second since the squid fishing season began five weeks ago.

A 7-year-old Japanese girl is in a critical condition after being savaged by four dogs in Murupara this afternoon.

Great white shark tourism operators will be need to have a permit in the same way as for whale, dolphin and seal watching, the Government has announced.

A woman is in a serious condition and ten children have been taken to hospital after an attack by bees or wasps on Nelson's Tahunanui Beach.

A family in Texas claim to have shot and killed a chupacabra, a mythical creature with a reputation for sucking blood from live-stock across America.

Dog owners are being advised to ignore the puppy eyes, the tail-between-legs and the apparent guilt the animals appear to show when they have done something wrong – canines do not feel shame, according to animal behaviour experts.

A bacterial disease is unlikely to be the main cause of endangered New Zealand sea lion deaths in the Auckland Islands, scientists say.