White Tiger attack

In New Zealand a white tiger attacked and killed a zoo keeper at the Zion Wildlife Gardens near Auckland. Apparently two zoo keepers were in the cage cleaning when the large cat attacked one of the keepers. The other keeper and more staff tried to pull the cat off but it was to no avail as the keeper later died from injuries. A group of tourists was watching the cat when it attacked. In keeping with some sort of barbaric us vs. the animals theme, the zoo killed the wild predator that it had caged for the bulk of its life. Seems cruel to keep one of Earths most raw killing machines in a cage, sending men in, then killing it when it does what comes natural. I suppose it couldn't survive on its own in the wild, plus with like 300 left, who cares about one more dead tiger, right? To top it off, local agencies had already shined the media light on the zoo for cramped and unsanitary conditions. Good job Zion Wildlife Gardens.

California K-9 Officer dies in backseat of warm SUV.

Nothing kills me more than animals suffering at the hands of people. Although this was an accident, and I understand these K-9 handlers are VERY attached to their dogs, it is still very sad. Apparently the Alameda officer was in a training course for about 3 hours when he returned and discovered his partner "distressed" and not breathing and without heartbeat. The handler had left the back window cracked in about 70 degree heat. As sad and beat up as this officer must be today, he is a professional dog handler and should have thought about that dog sitting out in an SUV for 3 hours.

Pygmy Killer Whales show empathy for old friend

Marine biologists in Hawaii today had to euthanize an adult male pygmy killer whale that had beached itself near Maui. Scientists had observed an entire pod of the rarely seen pygmy whales. It seemed one member of the pod was the focus of the action. An elderly male, with sores around his mouth, had been escorted to the beach by his pod. Eventually the pod swam out to sea, leaving the old guy to his inevitable fate. Scientists were forced to put him down, but were excited to see the obvious empathy exhibited by his family...

"So we think this was just a very old man whale and it was his time and he was coming to shore to check out," said NOAA mammal expert David Schofield.

To assume animals are these automatons is a naive idea. Any dog or cat owner can tell you their pet exhibits many emotions. These whales are a family like yours or mine and seeing him off was the only thing they could do for him. A touching example of animal emotion.