This photo of giraffes sheltering from the rain at Sydney's Taronga Zoo by NZ amateur photographer Cory Kipa has been selected for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards.

The familiar black dog with the white chest and white front paws starred in past Christmases in US President Barack Obama's White House, but the first pooch had to let someone else in the picture this holiday season: his little sister, Sunny.

Campaigners convinced NZ's set-net fishing restrictions are a death sentence for the Maui's dolphin have laid cardboard coffins and fishing nets full of plastic junk outside Parliament.

Two West Coast men have denied starving 150 cows and 30 calves to the point where they have to be euthanised.

A 'funeral procession' for New Zealand's endangered Maui's dolphin species is currently winding though Wellington's inner city streets.

Dogs which provide vital assistance to people with disabilities will be fitted with identification tags so they can easily be reunited with their owners in emergencies.

Orca swimming in Pukerua Bay are causing traffic chaos as drivers pull over to watch.

A brazen bird snatched a video camera that was recording crocodiles in northwest Australia and captured fascinating footage of its 110-kilometre journey.

The most popular giant panda in US-China relations finally was given an identity as the Smithsonian's National Zoo named its female 100-day-old cub Bao Bao after receiving more than 123,000 votes online from the public.

Gourmet-isation of pet food is on the rise. Owners of pets, like parents of babies, are made to feel guilty if they don't buy the right foods.

Gun in hand, Kiwi millionaire Mark Gunton stands proudly over the corpse of a fallen African elephant.

Three endangered karearea (NZ falcon) chicks hatched this week at Wingspan, the National Bird of Prey Centre in Rotorua.

New Zealand's cute pukeko, known for its colour both in plumage and personality, has been shown to have a power-hungry, aggressive streak - quite literally.

India's planning a new tiger sanctuary inside the world's largest mangrove forest.

In a bid to manage the Sumatran tiger breed, Auckland and Hamilton zoos are swapping tigers.

A teen accused of firing a crossbow bolt through the head of a cat has been granted name suppression in a brief court appearance.

A claimed sighting of the South Island kokako, a bird declared extinct six years ago, has fuelled hopes the species could still be alive.

A man has been attacked by a tiger at a Queensland zoo.

The Auckland elephant that killed its keeper has found a new home at San Diego Zoo.

As beads of sweat slithered down his temples, Andrew Hamblin stared in wide-eyed wonder at the 1m timber rattlesnake he had thrust towards his congregation.

When Melissa Bachman posted a photo of herself posing with an assault rifle and a very dead lion, she must have known she was being deliberately provocative.

Our national bird may be shy and retiring, but here's a handful of places where you might be able to get close to them.

The DoC could be facing one of its worst possum infestations in decades, partly because workers who helped with pest control were sent to fight bushfires in Australia.

A gun woman watched over a three-hour dental procedure in Auckland yesterday in case the patient woke early from his anaesthetic.

A new Game Animal Council is to be set up to take a leading role in the management of game animals - deer, tahr, chamois and wild pigs.

Auckland Zoo's 11-year-old African Lion, Ngala undergoes a root canal on a tooth at Auckland Zoo.