Funding constraints have hobbled Agriculture Research Council plans to manufacture a vaccine for foot and mouth disease, leaving SA reliant on costly imports from Botswana.

Animals are the main victims of history, and the treatment of domesticated animals in industrial farms is perhaps the worst crime in history. The march of human progress is strewn with dead animals. 

For thousands of years, monstrous herds of animals roamed the earth. These beasts covered vast swaths of land in search of food, water, and safety from predators. Their presence was integral, both as a food source for hunters and as ecological regulators.

For many of us, eating a meal containing meat is a normal part of daily life. But if we dig deeper, some sobering issues emerge.

A complete diagram of an animal's nervous system has been put together by scientists and can help us learn more about how nerve cells in our brains work. 

The modern domestic donkey (Equusasinus) descended from the African wild ass, (E. africanus) in northeastern Africa from about 6000 years ago.

South Africa’s livestock industry, recovering from the impact of a recent devastating drought and disease outbreak, is likely to create demand for feed additives thanks to an increasing population, a surge in demand for quality meat products and a spike in consumer spending, especially among the middle class.

It’s tempting to think that our forests would be fine if we could simply stop trees being felled or burnt. But forests – particularly tropical ones – are more than just trees. They’re also the animals that skulk and swoop among them.

One fine Hawaiian day in 2015, Geoff Zahn and Anthony Amend set off on an eight-hour hike.

In listing 32 wild animal species as farm animals under the Animal Improvement Act in 2019, the Department of Agriculture went against the recommendations of the government’s own scientific authority.

Whatever your views on animal testing for scientific research, they have helped us make some very real breakthroughs in our understanding in fields like neuroscience.

The Disturbing Link: Animal Antibiotics and Human Health

For great numbers of people, especially those living in overpopulated urban areas where only the odd parks serve as small patches of greenery, nature is something out there somewhere.

The welfare of millions of cattle, sheep and goats exported from the EU is being put at risk by failings including heat stress, bad planning and a lack of information from the destination country, a new European commission report has found.

While there is general scientific consensus that the novel coronavirus is of zoonotic origin and various groupings are advising that wildlife markets must be closed, the South African government has been putting forward legislation that could massively expand the wildlife industry to become mass meat suppliers to the world.

The northern white rhinoceros. The passenger pigeon. The Javan tiger. The golden toad. The Pinta Island tortoise. These are just some of the dozens of land-based vertebrate species that have gone extinct over the past century. Many more will likely follow them into oblivion soon, a team of scientists warns in a new study which makes for sobering reading.

The decomposing remains of an adult white rhino lie in the bush. Its horn has been cut off – the bleached skull and vertebrae the only evidence it ever existed.

Climate change is making it hard for livestock to get enough nutrients from natural grazing alone.

As Department of Agriculture officials file into a meeting with Parliament’s Environmental Portfolio Committee on Friday (August 28) to explain the animal welfare laws they administer and the implications of listing 93 wild animals under the Meat Safety Act, many important questions remain unanswered.

It's impossible to deny — humans are destroying the natural environment at an unprecedented and alarming rate.