Bathurst ewe believed to have had six lambs | The Land | NSW

White ram and 37 white ewes produce flock of entirely BLACK lambs | Daily Mail Online

I wonder what is going to happen when the sheep need to have their coats trimmed?

How close will the men be able to stand side by side?

 

Think this photo is so sweet of these little ones in their coats.

Another meaning to frozen chickens!

I don't think of this in Australia, trying to keep the chickens warm both day and night, reminds me when we were touring around the north  [of Europe] seeing all the large Barns where they keep the cattle in for several months of the year as it is dark for months in northern Europe.

Love the "keeping chickens warm" pics, thanks Celia.

 

Keeping warm in winter in Sweden's winter.

Remember it is dark for the months of winter over there.

The outback sees its biggest budgie event in 10 years

Thousands of brilliant budgerigars are flocking to the Australian outback thanks to perfect breeding conditions across the country. There is an abundance of food thanks to low cattle numbers and the budgies have "cashed in on that".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-01/bumper-budgie-season-red-centre/100338202

 

 

This makes me feel of Christmas with these colours!

Birds in Western Australia - information and great photographs. (gdaywa.com)

 

How to Attract Parrots to Your Yard (thespruce.com)

 

 

FRANCE TO BAN CRUSHING AND GASSING OF MALE CHICKS BY 2022

Home » Animals » By Heidi Yanulis | July 21, 2021

Image via Adobe Stock

France has announced that it will ban the gruesome practice of crushing or gassing unwanted male chicks at industrial poultry farms across the country beginning in 2022.

The country’s agriculture minister also said he will push for a similar measure within the European Union.

France joins Germany as the only other country to ban the controversial practice. Switzerland outlawed the shredding of live chicks last year but still allows them to be gassed.

The senseless and cruel culling happens because male chicks are viewed within the industry as “commercially useless” because they don’t produce eggs or grow as large as females. Farmers claim the cruel practice is necessary, saying there is no practical and affordable way to identify a chick’s sex prior to hatching.

But emerging technologies are now undercutting that claim, which could save the lives of the nearly seven billion male chicks worldwide who are gassed or shredded to death each year shortly after hatching.

Ella, one such promising technology, is currently being beta-tested at a hatchery in The Netherlands. Developed by Dutch biotech company In Ovo, the large-scale, high-speed gender typing machine would allow hatcheries to only hatch female chicks, as reported by Poultry World.  Ella will “give consumers the option to buy more sustainably produced and animal-friendly eggs,” the company said on its website.

It is just such technologies that the French government wants to scale up nationwide.

“As of January 1, 2022, all poultry hatcheries will have to have installed or ordered machines letting them learn a chick’s sex in the egg,” French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie told Le Parisien.

Denormandie said the government will help farmers defray startup costs by providing them with a financial aid package of 10 million euros to purchase the necessary equipment.

He expects that nearly two-thirds of all poultry facilities in the country will have gender-typing machines installed by early 2022.

This is a major step in the right direction for animal welfare, but it doesn’t go far enough. Female chicks are still confined to a miserable life in crammed, metal cages and eventual slaughter in these same poultry facilities.

The best way to ensure the humane treatment of all birds is to stop buying and eating eggs and poultry entirely.

Killer Whale stranded on Alaska rocks is saved by Good Samaritans who pour water on it until tide comes in and it swims off

 

A group of Good Samaritans saved a 20-foot Orca that was stuck between rocks on an Alaskan shore by dousing it with water for six hours until the tide brought it back into the water. It was ultimately saved and swimming freely again. Chance Strickland, the captain of a private yacht in Alaska, and his crew anchored and began life-saving maneuvers that were captured on video by Aroon Melane and posted on Instagram. Strickland could hear the orca calling out to killer whales swimming in the area. 'I don't speak a lot of whale, but it didn't seem real stoked,' he told The New York Times .

 

 

 

 

 

Mysterious roaring sound waking up Sydneysiders just before dawn is solved - and it's all due to lockdown

Sydneysiders living in the area near Taronga Zoo waking to a mysterious noise  Lack of human activity means residents can hear the sounds of the animals The lions are most prominent, their roars can be be heard 8km away 

By KATE ROONEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 16:26 AEST, 4 August 2021 | UPDATED: 17:04 AEST, 4 August 2021

                 

Sydneysiders living near Taronga Zoo are getting a break from their usual daily soundtrack of morning traffic when they wake up.

Residents in the area have reported hearing a loud roaring noise ringing out across the nearby suburbs.

And rather than being anything sinister, it's actually the lions and other 'vocal' animals in the zoo.

 

Katherine Spenceley from Taronga Zoo told 9 News that the animals are doing what they always do, it's human behaviour that has changed. 

 

 

 

'Animals make noise all the time so it's much more likely that this has to do with people being home more and having less traffic to obscure some of that noise,' Ms Spenceley said.

'Vocalisation is part of our amazing animals' natural behaviour. Lions, sea lions and chimps are some of the zoo's most vocal residents and a lion's roar can be heard up to eight kilometres away.'

She also mentioned that because of the lack of traffic and wind direction, the animals can be heard from a further distance. 

  

Katherine Spenceley from Taronga Zoo (pictured) said that a lion's roar can be heard up to 8km away

Ms Spencely reassured residents there's was no reason to be alarmed.

'There's certainly nothing different we're noticing as far as the animals go,' she said.

'They're just doing what they do.

'It's actually quite nice for us getting to walk around and hear the animals doing what they do, you don't normally hear that over the crowds.'

 

 

Local resident Tracy Mellor said that lockdown had enabled her to enjoy the sounds of nature. 

'It's just lovely here, you can hear the elephants trumpeting, the lions roaring, the monkeys chattering,' she said.  

Ms Mellor also commented that the animals were a welcome reminder to enjoy the outdoors and make the most of a quiet moment during a challenging time.    

'We're in a bit of a sensory overload at the moment... maybe we should all try to be a bit more present and listen to the beautiful sounds that are around and go out in the sunshine and try and give yourself a rest,' she said.

'We're in one of the most beautiful places in the world.' 

  

Local residents say that it it is lovely to hear the sounds of the zoo due to the lack of human activity thanks to lockdown