animal rescue

A German shepherd named Indy who spent hours at the bottom of a 30- to 50-foot hole in a South Bay backyard Wednesday afternoon was pulled to safety by firefighters.

When a Massachusetts dog started choking, her owner made a split-second decision to rush her to the Palmer Fire Department. That move probably saved the animal’s life. Stella, an older chihuahua who can’t walk, began choking frantically on slices of cucumber Wednesday. Her owner, Tammy Johnson, got her vet on the phone, but was told there was no way...

Days after violent wind gusts damaged property and knocked down trees across Vermont, a nonprofit animal sanctuary in Addison County is in recovery mode. Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary in Middlebury is home to animals including a blind goat and a cow with dwarfism. At the sanctuary, farm animals get a second chance after neglect or abandonment — or maybe their...

Kinder Way Farm Sanctuary in Middlebury lost farm structures and fencing to vicious winds ahead of Christmas weekend.

The brown pelicans that washed ashore in California this year were half their normal weight, and many were anemic. “The vast majority of the birds were simply starving to death,” says Rebecca Duerr of the International BirdRescue’s wildlife center in San Pedro. But it’s not clear if the birds are starving due to overfishing, a changing climate or something else....

More than two dozen cats saved from part of Kentucky that’s been devastated by flooding have been brought to Massachusetts to be adopted, local animal rescue groups said. The 26 cats were driven to Massachusetts by MSPCA-Angell and Northeast Animal Shelter on Tuesday, the organizations said. They’ll be put up for adoption after a two-day quarantine. “We’re going to...

At least 50 beagles — several of them pregnant — are being brought to Massachusetts as part of a massive, multi-state undertaking to rescue around 4,000 of the dogs from a breeding facility in Virginia, according to MSPCA-Angell. The Virginia breeding facility, called Envigo, was shut down in early July after it was discovered the dogs were living in “confused,…

Four dogs, 12 cats and two deceased cats were taken out of a Plymouth home on Saturday after officers found the animals living in ‘squalid’ conditions, police said. According to the Plymouth Police Department, around 12:00 pm., officers were contacted to do a well-being check at a Harwinton Avenue home after the owner of the residence wasn’t heard from in…

An apparently orphaned bear cub was rescued in Greenfield, Massachusetts on Friday after police found the animal in a tree after a crash. Authorities said police responded to reports of the accident around 8:40 p.m. on Route 2. Two cubs had been killed when they were hit by a car, but responding officers found one cub alive hiding above a…

Emergency crews in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, were confronted with an unusual rescue Tuesday morning, as they had to dismantle a car to rescue a dog who got stuck under the driver’s seat. “We noticed right after we left the house that Casper was under the back seat, and we could only see his back legs,” said Clarisse Fairbanks, Casper’s owner....

Dozens of animals who were rescued during the investigation into a hoarding case in Tulsa, Okla. have been relocated to Massachusetts shelters where they will heal and eventually be adopted out to new owners.

A Massachusetts animal shelter shared sad news about a snowy owl that was saved from the ocean off Cape Cod this week by a woman who was going for a walk on the beach. The owl died, the Cape Wildlife Center said Saturday, attributing the death to “stress of struggling in the water mixed with hypothermia and severe emaciation.” The…

A beachgoer jumped into action when her dog came across a snowy owl struggling in the surf on the Cape Thursday evening.

Gisele Bündchen sprang to action when she encountered a sea turtle that had been caught in a net and left stranded on the beach.

Sheep lovers, this is your time: 18 sheep are waiting to find a new home in Massachusetts. The MSPCA announced Friday it has received one of its largest sheep surrenders at Nevins Farm in Methuen. Sixteen Icelandic sheep and two Shetland sheep were brought in earlier this week and they are waiting to be adopted. The animals, described as “friendly,…

When a racehorse stops racing and breeding, its fate can be uncertain. Some are even euthanized or slaughtered when they outlive their usefulness to an owner. Michael Blowen wanted to change that. In an effort to give all retired racehorses a good home, he created Old Friends Equine in Georgetown, Kentucky, where more than 150 racehorses are now enjoying their...