Everybody knows Cheeta, the beer drinking and cigarette smoking Hollywood chimp superstar who allegedly stared alongside Johnny Weissmueller in the famous Tarzan&Jane Movies of the Sixties (it turned out however that there were numerous Cheetas and that the one that celebrated his supposedly 77th birthday a couple of years ago in his animal sanctuary home in Palm Springs never played a role in even one of the numerous movies he has been connected with), but what about Nim Chimsky, a male chimpanzee that partook in a long-term animal language acquisition st

Last month, a labrador in Kern County, California, was allegedly hit by a car and ended up with a shattered pelvis and smashed hind leg. The owners subsequently hacked off the dogs severed leg, without using anaesthetics, calling it a "home treatment". The lab was left to its own fate but could luckily be rescued a couple of days later by animal-control agents who found the dog in great agony, tied to a post, completely dehydrated, the remains of his mutilated leg bleeding and maggot-infested.

We are reminded of the ongoing fight for animal rights by the recent arrest in Spain of 12 members of Igualdad Animal (Spanish for "Animal Rights"). Though labeled as "eco-terrorists" by the authorities, the truth seems to be that these were conscientious protestors who fight against animal abuse and exploitation. The arrested persons denied being involved with another organization, the Animal Liberation Front. A spokesman who was arrested, Javier Morena, called the accusation “an attempt to criminalize animal rights movement” and that the use of the phrase eco-terrorism is part of a larger campaign to thwart the animal rights movement.

She was once a star performer at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and a favorite at the Big St. Petersburg State Circus, where she rode a motorcycle around the ring. But 36-year-old Katya the bear has fallen on hard times, living out a miserable existence in a cage within an old parked bus. Animal rights activists are up in arms, complaining about the filthy, cramped quarters.

Katya and another bear were crowd-pleasers at an opening ceremony at the 1980 Olympics, and she even has appeared in a couple of movies. But, after retiring in 2009, Katya has been confined to a painted circus bus planted in a parking lot just off a busy highway. All she can do all day is try to get out. Her yellow teeth are cracked from gnawing on the metal railings.

If you are a gray wolf, you don't want to be in Wyoming. That's because the state has reached an agreement with the federal government to allow the shooting of gray wolves on sight in Wyoming. It seems that the wolves are blamed for attacking livestock and other wildlife.

Wyoming was the last state in the Northern Rockies in which the federal government protected gray wolves. Now, Governor Mead and Interior Secretary Salazar have struck up a deal to remove protection. Wolves have been stripped of protection in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Utah. Conservation groups may appeal this decision in court.