Animal rights activists gathered in the Spanish town on Las Ventas, for a very original protest against the famous bull fights held there.

Organized by Equanimal, the protest had the participants strip to their underwear, lie down and cover themselves with fake blood, and corrida spears. It took place at the end of May and hoped to convince authorities that the Spanish people no longer support such a cruel and barbaric tradition as bullfighting.

The anti-bullfighting protest took place in Las Ventas because that’s where a large number of bulffighting events take place. Most bull fights are not even profitable anymore, they are sustain themselves through public grants.
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Spanish people really have a thing for bulls, don’t they. Bullfighting, the festival of Pamplona, they’re all centered around the bull.

During the Bous a la Mar Festival, in Denia, near the city of Alicante, people get chased by bulls through the streets and into the Mediterranean Sea. The brave participants plunge into the waters just before the bulls are about to catch them. The animals often fall into the sea as well, where they are taunted some more. Eventually, the bulls are caught with a lasso and towed back to shore by a boat.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Sharing your bed with common pets like cats or dogs is so last year. Right now it’s all about big cats, and lots of them.

Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen thought she should do her part in saving cheetahs from extinction, so she bought one back in 2006. The 46-year-old South African left her job at the department of justice and found some temporary employment on a game ranch, where she could raise Fiela.

Now, Riana runs Fiela Funds Cheetah Breeding Project, a non-profit that fights to ensure the survival of cheetahs in their own ecosystem. Along the way, she also took in another 10 big cats, with which she often shares her bed.

Her four cheetahs, five white lions and two tigers are a handful, but Riana loves every one of them and puts up with all their naughtiness. Her 2 dogs have also grown quite fond of the felines and don’t mind snuggling up to them.

Photos by John Liebenberg/BARCROFT MEDIA

via Daily Mail

Some of the ugliest dogs in the world gathered at the Sonoma-Marin Fair, California to compete for the title of World’s Ugliest Pedigree Dog.

Just like last year. the contest was dominated by a pure breed Chinese crested hairless. 15-year-old Miss Ellie has only a few of her back teeth left, cataracts in both eyes and her hairless body is covered with moles and pimples. Her dream is to travel the world and prove that ‘ugly’ is just a word and says nothing about her great personality.

Having been rescued herself, Miss Ellie hopes she can be a spokesmodel for not-so-cute rescue dogs. Along with the title of World’s Ugliest Pedigree Dog, Miss Ellie also received a big trophy and $1,000.

I wonder if, Gus, World’s Ugliest Dog 2008 competed this year, he was a great deal uglier than Miss Ellie.

via Daily Mail

Dogs show-off surfing skills at the 4th Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competion in Imperial Beach, California.

Well after seeing the surfing mice, these photos of dogs mastering the surfboard just don’t seem that impressive anymore. But, I guess they deserve some credit, after all, surfing’s certainly not an easy sport. Still…surfing mice, now that’s impressive.

via Telegraph.co.uk

BEFORE YOU SCROLL DOWN TO THE PHOTOS, BE WARNED, THEY ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!

Welcome to the village of Salba, 610 km southeast of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. This is where 600 Siberian Marals (a subspecies of Red-Deer) lose their antlers every year. These photos, taken June 15 2009, at a private ranch, in Salba, show the marals held in special devices, in order to have their antlers removed with a hand saw.

The antlers are sold to markets in Russia and East Asia, where antler velvet is used as a holistic medicine. Some people consume the antlers themselves, grinding and consuming them in small quantities.

Marals go through this brutal process every year and, even though some say it doesn’t cause them too much pain because they have no nerves in the antlers, I still call it animal cruelty.

Photos by REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

via Drugoi

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Another unusual animal love story shocks the world. An 18-months-old dog and an 8-weeks-old wolf cub become best friends.

Ulrok, a fully grown Rottweiler was more than happy to become the father figure in young Beldaran’s life, after the poor baby was rejected by her natural mother. Kahlani, the wolf who gave birth to this little furry treasure, was too young herself and her maternal instincts didn’t kick in.

Caretakers at the Krisma Preserve, in Mt. Desert, Maine, tried to find another surogate parent for Beldaran, but Ulrok was the only one who accepted the young cub, when she was just four days old. Now they spend all their time together, playing in the sun, howling at the full moon and even sleeping together.

It’s nice to see them getting along so well and, no matter how down you are, just one look at them will put a big smile on your face. But, once Beldaran is old enough to take care of herself, she will be introduced to a pack of wolves, to make sure she grows up to be a wolf and not something else.

Photos by Bary Bland/ BARCROFT MEDIA

via Daily Mail

While other two-year-olds are just learning to walk and talk, the children of the nomad Vadi Tribe are introduced to the centuries-old art of snake charming.

All the children of the Vadi Tribe come face to face with a poisonous cobra at age two, and go through a ten-year ritual, in which they learn all the secrets of snake charming. Both boys and girls must learn to handle snakes. While men must be able to manipulate cobras by playing the flute, the women must know how to take care of the reptiles when their husbands or brothers are away.

The Vadi treat snakes like their own children, never keeping them away from their natural habitat for more than seven months. Any longer than that would be disrespectful to the snakes, according to Babanath Mithunath Madari, the 60-year-old Vadi chief-charmer. In fact, the only time a snake actually bit his charmer, was when he kept it for more than seven months.

Vadi snake-charmers don’t cut the fangs of their snakes, instead they feed them an herbal mixture which, they say,  makes their deadly poison harmless.

Unfortunately, in 1991, the thousand-year-old tradition of snake-charming was banned in India, and the Vadi tribe are stripped of their snakes whenever they are confronted by the police. They never spend more than six months in the same place.

Photos by BARCROFT MEDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk

This weird cat with wings was spotted in Chonqing, China.

Although you might think the angel-cat of Chonqing is unique, there have been other cats with wings in Russia and the United States. Her owner says she wasn’t born like this, her wings started growing when she was one year old.

A worker from the Chonqing Museum of Natural History says this kind of oddities are becoming quite common and are the results of pollution in the area. This particular angel cat will be adopted by the Chonqing Museum.

via China.org.cn

Well, it’s not exactly the blonde we’re used to, but it’s as blonde as a black bear can get.

Known as a Spirit Bear or Kermode Bear, this polar-bear look-alike was thought to exist only in Indian mythology. Brave photographer Steven Kazlowski took some photos of a Spirit Bear, an achievement considered impossible among wildlife photographers. 39-year-old Steven went through a one-one-one encounter with one of these great white beasts, but managed to escape with his life.

It’s important to mention that Spirit Bears are not albino animals, they’re what you can call a blonde black bear. They are extremely rare creatures and because of extensive logging around coastal temperate rainforests, their habitat has shrunk even more.

Photos by Steven Kazlowski, BARCROFT MEDIA

via Daily Mail

What would your reaction be if you woke-up one morning and found an alligator swimming in your pool?

That’s what happened to Larry Bland, from Texas, who found a 5-foot-alligator cooling-in his backyard pool. Apparently the burning sun was too much for this reptile and Bland’s pool was the perfect getaway.

The uninvited guest was removed by Gary Saurage, a very brave trapper who went into the pool, brought it up to the surface and then pushed it out. That takes some serious “cojones”, I’ll tell you…

Photos by [CFP]

via China.org.cn

A pride of rare white lions was released into the South African wilds, in an attempt to re-establish the species in their natural habitat.

This was the second pride released in the last three years. The white lions were fitted with radio tracking devices, used to monitor their hunting behavior and growth. They may look like albinos, but their unusual color is the result of a unique gene. They are seen as the most sacred animals by many tribes, but, because of poaching, only three white lion prides roam free today.

Photos by BARCROFT Media

via Telegraph.co.uk

The Margay is a solitary wildcat with some very unique characteristics. Its look alone make it stand-out although it is very solitary people rarely have the chance to see it. The Margay is one of the few animals in the world that can climb trees with their heads facing down, thanks to their very special joints, able to turn up to 180 degrees.

The Margay is on the endangered animals list, but no one really knows how large their population really is  between Mexico and Argentina.Margays don’t take well to humans invading their habitats and sacientists say they are so well adapted to life in trees that they can go their entire lives without touching the ground.

Like all cats, Margay see very well at night and have no problem feeding of birds, reptiles and squirrels, if they can catch them.

Edit: Guys I apologize for the grammar and spelling mistakes but I only do this as a hobby and most of the time I write and post the photos in a hurry. Hope you understand and thanks for stopping by. I posted a link to where I found the photos, it’s a Russian photo site, but I doubt they can take credit for them.

Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9

I’ve seen dogs pull off amazing tricks but one that can actually balance tea cups on its paws is definitely something new. Sindi is an 8 year old Cocker Spaniel from England that could easily be working in a bar or caffe, she could carry the coffees on its paws and the spoons in her mouth.

I remember a time when everyone of my friends wanted to get a pitbull as a pet, just so they can look cooler, and brag about how dog their dogs were. Now staring at these pictures I realize Africans are at whole other level, anyone of those pets, be it the hyenas, baboons or the python would make a pitbull beg for mercy.

Still it looks very cruel, taking wild animals, slapping a huge chain on them and using them as pets, it doesn’t look at all natural.

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