A man has been jailed for a year and banned from owning animals for a decade after beating and drowning a dog in an attempt to euthanise it, the SPCA said.

A man sprayed oven cleaner into a dog's face several times while walking in an off-lead area of a park, a jury at Wellington District Court has been told.

An otter has been photographed attacking and eating an alligator at a US wildlife sanctuary.

The Green Party has called for a moratorium on the use of trawl nets around the Auckland Islands, following the Government's announcement this morning of a new threat management plan for the endangered New Zealand sea lion.

Stacey the endangered green turtle, found washed up and emaciated on a New Zealand beach, has been released back into the wild.

Parents of dog-attack victims say they relive the nightmare each time they hear of another child suffering horrific injuries when they are mauled by a dog.

Trout, deer, pigs and other exotic species would have to be culled from the Ureweras under a law change before Parliament, fishers and hunters are warning Government.

A teenager savaged by a dog 11 years ago has spoken out about the frightening attack in Murupara, telling the 7-year-old Japanese victim to "just hold on".

The four bull terrier crosses which attacked a 7-year-old girl in Murupara yesterday, leaving her in a critical condition, had no history of aggression.

The Japanese girl attacked by four dogs at a Murupara home was due to fly home with her family to Japan tomorrow.

Forest & Bird says an endangered New Zealand sea lion has been killed in a squid fishing net, the second since the squid fishing season began five weeks ago.

A 7-year-old Japanese girl is in a critical condition after being savaged by four dogs in Murupara this afternoon.

Great white shark tourism operators will be need to have a permit in the same way as for whale, dolphin and seal watching, the Government has announced.

A woman is in a serious condition and ten children have been taken to hospital after an attack by bees or wasps on Nelson's Tahunanui Beach.

A family in Texas claim to have shot and killed a chupacabra, a mythical creature with a reputation for sucking blood from live-stock across America.

Dog owners are being advised to ignore the puppy eyes, the tail-between-legs and the apparent guilt the animals appear to show when they have done something wrong – canines do not feel shame, according to animal behaviour experts.

A leopard sparked panic in a north Indian city when it strayed inside a hospital, a cinema and an apartment block while evading captors and injured at least two people.

A rare, salamander-like amphibian has been spotted in its only known natural habitat, after researchers feared the creature had disappeared from the wild.

A man charged with dangerous driving in relation to the death of a pet dog on Haumoana Beach has pleaded not guilty.

A flock of 500 sheep has been found smothered to death in a narrow gully on a Southland farm.

Seals, moles, hedgehogs, badgers, mice, earthworms, insects and seabirds are among the unseen casualties of the British floods, storms and torrential rains of the past few weeks.

Ben Crawford says choose your colours from your artwork.

There has been some excitement for Department of Conservation staff trying to save endangered kakapo.

Lemurs could "very soon" be extinct, some of the world's leading experts on the primates warned as they unveiled a three-year plan to save them, this week.

An increase in the number of giant squid being caught along the Sea of Japan coast is leading fisherman to fear it may be some kind of omen.

A group of penguin chicks have taken their first swimming lessons at Auckland's Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium.