When a farmer sued a hot air balloon firm for causing a pig stampede, he needed trigonometry, a lucky photograph and a laser rangefinder to prove he wasn't telling porkies.

New homes being built on the Otago Peninsula could soon come with a strict new planning rule - no cats. But what would a cat ban involve?

Sally Hibbard spoke to a leading dog trainer and behavior expert who made it very clear that there is no definitive way to stop an attack, but offers these tips.

I was once at a party where a child was attacked by one of the host's two rottweilers. Fortunately, there were many people nearby so the dog's teeth and the child's throat were soon parted and the boy suffered no grievous harm.

Last year Craig Bullock brought us a book hailing the canine heroes and victims of Christchurch’s earthquakes. Now it’s the turn of the felines.

Trout taken from catchments where 1080 poison has been dumped are safe to eat, the Ministry of Primary Industries says.

A Hamilton woman who was mauled by her own dog is praising the bravery of a passing stranger who she says saved her life.

The father of a woman mauled to death by a pair of notoriously aggressive rottweilers told a court he has been "deeply wounded and changed forever".

The Department of Conservation says it is still searching for the owner of a dog that killed a baby fur seal on an Auckland Beach last week.

Were you shocked at the revelations of cruelty in the New Zealand pork industry earlier this year? I wasn't. I've seen it so many times before, writes Mandy Carter.

Photos from the 60th Eukanuba National Dog Show

New research, which measures the positive and negative emotional states in dogs, shows that man’s best friend can now be defined as a ‘pessimist’ or as an ‘optimist’.

If spending hot summer days in a fur coat doesn't appeal, then spare a thought for the cats, dogs and other furry creatures that don't have any option as temperatures rise.

Images are extracted from Crap Taxidermy by Kat Su, RRP $19.99, available 30 September where all good books are sold.

Graphic content warning: A 22-year old man has admitted to animal cruelty charges in the Greymouth District Court.

A foal is turning heads not because of its lineage but for its rare white colour.

An inquiry is underway how it took zoo staff more than 15 minutes to reach the scene of an incident where a young man was killed by a white tiger.

Live slow, die old and leave a controversial corpse. That could have been a suitable motto for Lonesome George, the celebrated, centenarian giant tortoise who died in the Galapagos Islands.

The Department of Conservation and other pest management bodies will have an extra tool to battle rats, stoats and possums with Ohiti - a new trap sensor system.

Tauranga has been put on the celebrity-pooch map after global superstar Lady Gaga bought a month's worth of dog food from a Tauranga company.

A live scorpion has been destroyed after being found in the tent of a traveller returning to Auckland from Mexico.

Stories about lizards hidden in underpants and monkeys strapped to midriffs may cause some amusement, but is a much more serious issue.

A scorpion has been destroyed after being found inside the tent of a traveller coming back into Auckland from Mexico at Auckland Airport.

Two Reefton women who were caught in the bush as 1080 poison rained from the sky last summer are now both reporting ill health.