Traffic mayhem ensued when the pod of about six or seven orcas were spotted between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, north of Wellington.Video source: Mark Mitchell

Selfies with animals are all the rage these days - even celebrities trying their luck to get the perfect angle with wild animals.

The slaughterhouse featured on TV One's Sunday programme has insisted that the worker accused of abusing calves was fired well before the show went to air.

A woman who bound her dog's mouth to stop it barking is facing police investigation.

Two Canadian brothers were out hunting when they came across a bald eagle caught in a hunter's trap.

It's not just gym junkies getting in shape for summer - our beloved four-legged mates are also embracing the never-ending fitness craze.

It’s not just gym jumkies getting in shape for summer – our beloved four-legged mates are also embracing the never-ending fitness craze. Photographer Michael Craig spent a morning at Muriwai Beach capturing the antics of some very active pooches.

A man is offering a hefty reward for the return of his furry friend.

Residents of Timaru are turning out for a glimpse of young giraffe Shira, who arrived by ship at its port at about 2pm en route from Auckland Zoo to her new home in Christchurch.

A tiny New Zealand snail is threatening a multi-billion dollar sport fishing economy after it was found in the Great Lakes of North America.

Sometimes looking at videos of kittens on YouTube on your boss's time is just not enough to get you through the day. So the SPCA and Uber have banded together to deliver kittens across Auckland and Wellington. Today, they are visiting The Hits radio station offices.

A University of Otago student came to the rescue of a Jack Russell left in a hot car.

SPCA and Uber are teaming up to deliver kittens across New Zealand.

Police responding to calls of a domestic violence incident arrive to find an unexpected victim - a spider.

Shira, who was born at the zoo in 2013, is being transferred to Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park

Supplied/Uber

Timaru has a tall order coming its way - as Auckland Zoo's two-year-old giraffe Shira begins a three-day sea voyage south this morning.

Cat pictures are funny and harmless - but there's a sinister undercurrent and a serious point to be made.

A request by authorities has sparked a humorous response from Belgian citizens.

A child at Wellington zoo managed to put their hand through fencing mesh and pat one of the cheetahs. The child was unhurt.

Grant Bradley goes on a late summer training ride with huskies high above the Arctic Circle.

A common pesticide could hinder bumblebees' ability to pollinate plants, says a new study - and that could be a big problem for both agriculture and the natural ecosystems that depend on the bees for....

Cat owners in Germany may soon have to keep their pets on a leash, under new government proposals.

Michelle Olbricht assumed her cats Ash and Ellie were home bodies, with little appetite for exploring the world but boy was she wrong.

The death of police dog Diesel in the Paris raids has inspired hundreds of tributes from pets around the world - with a little help from their owners.

Jimbo's try their hand at producing a TV advertisement with 18 dogs and six cats. Watch the cute and cuddly video here.

One of New Zealand's rarest penguin has left Wellington Zoo and returned to her hometown in the West Coast after receiving treatment for an infected wound.

Trying to identify which deerstalkers fired the fatal shots and dragging them off for a show trial is hardly the point, writes Brian Rudman. DoC was entrusted with the safety of the critically endangered birds, and it was DoC who invited the shooters in.