Jude Nickolls was brought to tears again yesterday - this time by the kindness and generosity of strangers.

Three weeks ago Col Sheehan was enjoying a few holes at the Tinwald Golf Course before his pet very likely saved his life.

One of Queenstown's top horsewomen was reduced to tears yesterday after discovering her two horses had their tail hair hacked off.

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

Hundreds of protesters rallied around New Zealand today opposing a law that allows testing of party pills on animals.

Rallies against a new law allowing legal highs to be tested on animals were being held around the country today. The marches were protesting against the Psychoactive Substances Act, passed this month, which restricts the sale of legal highs but also allows new substances to be tested on animals if necessary.

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

A dead cow found floating near the Auckland harbour bridge today either fell from a farm bank further up the harbour, or it was swept away during a high tide, the Harbourmaster believes.

A mental health worker was savaged about the head and neck during an attack by two dogs while she visited a client in Whangarei.

The death of Adam Strange who was killed in a shark attack at Muriwai beach earlier this year could not have been prevented, a coroner has ruled.

A woman out for her morning walk was left with deep bites on her forearm and thighs after being rushed by a dog which dragged her to the ground.

The owner of a lamb which was bashed and killed on Saturday says he has been blown away by one Central Otago sheep farmer's kindness.

A Methven couple whose dangerous dogs attacked five people have been convicted and ordered to pay two of their victims a total of $4000 for medical help and counselling.

A 9-year-boy who died when a horse bolted had tied himself to the animal with a rope around his waist, police say.

Animal lovers will be sickened by the details given in No conviction for pair who chopped off puppies' tails with knife.

A breeding programme has had its first successful wild-to-wild egg transfer, and in turn, led to a 20 per cent rise in the number of breeding pairs.

Police have released the name of the 9-year-old boy who died after being dragged by a bolting horse in Northland on Saturday.

With the survival of a species on the line, Cincinnati Zoo scientists are hoping to mate their lone female Sumatran rhino with her little brother.

Two New Zealand fur seals have been shot dead on the South Island's east coast, a "grotesque" act which has outraged the Department of Conservation.

A beloved pet lamb was stolen and later dumped with a smashed head and set on fire outside its Dunedin home early yesterday, police say.