Animal rights activists are up in arms after learning live pigs were shot in the head at the University of Otago as part of scientific research.

Seal jumped on board kayak and just sat there sunning itself before hopping off.

A hunter who endured a night trapped down a ravine near Tongariro National Park has spent his 43rd birthday today searching for his dogs that are still missing.

Pet food companies enlist veterinarians to actually sell, and thereby endorse commercially produced pet food, but is this best?

A critically endangered turtle found in a bad way in the Bay of Islands is now recovering at Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium in Auckland.

Spot the pigeon - that's the aim of a survey that will harness "citizen science" to grasp whether our colourful kereru is becoming rarer or more common.

Colorado's Waterton Canyon park has bears, and those bears have a problem: hikers wielding selfie sticks.

A man was out hunting with three of his dogs when he fell down a steep ravine and ended up getting trapped near a stream in the central North Island.

From Tongariro, the chick's dad is called "Little Moa", and its sibling is still in the incubation room and getting close to hatching as well.

His species are the ultimate survivors, the solitary legacy of an order of reptiles that thrived in the age of the dinosaur. But one tuatara needed a little extra help.

A farmer says he was powerless to stop a man who cut the teats off of around 20 of his milking cows.

They call him Braveheart - and it's a name he wears every bit of.

An animal rights advocate wants to live in a Miami bathtub for four weeks to protest an orca's captivity.

An elderly endangered bird from Zealandia is receiving treatment at Wellington Zoo after being found lame in the left leg.

A young goat rescued from his muddy grave by a kind-hearted kayak guide is almost ready to join his rescuer on the water.

Eight new detector dog teams are beginning their jobs in Auckland this week as the international travel season kicks off.

Babies living with dogs were 26 per cent more likely to snore in their sleep when they grew up.

INCREDIBLE PHOTOS: Woman saves two-metre-long sevengill shark after it became stranded while fleeing hungry orcas.

Christchurch Police have helped a mother duck and her ducklings cross a busy intersection near Christchurch Hospital.

Scientists discover new species of deadly spider burrowed in rotting log in NSW.

Action man Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson turned real-life hero when he dived into a family swimming pool fully clothed to rescue his new French bulldog.

A chimpanzee at Wellington Zoo has found a way to foil the ground-breaking surgery vets carried out in a last ditch effort to save her remaining ear.

Nobody really knows the reason for the popularity of cats, and if they do know they find it difficult to express it in words, writes Bob Kerridge.

Above a road through a forest hangs a long, thin suspension bridge resembling a power line.

Man blind in one eye and 85 per cent deaf may have to return his hearing dog because he can't find a new place to live that will let him have a dog.

A dog handler who is being sued by one angry owner has already lost a case over her 'boot-camp' methods .

Johnny Depp has poked fun at the immigration furore surrounding his dogs' recent visit to Australia.

A 65-year-old man has been attacked by a shark while surf skiing off the New South Wales coast today.