THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING — Eleven rare Siberian tigers have died at a wildlife park in a startling case that activists say hints at unsavory practices among some zoos and animal farms in China: They are overbreeding endangered animals in the hopes of making illicit profit on their carcasses.

The deaths of the tigers occurred in the past three months at the zoo in China’s frigid northeast, officials and state media said Friday. Reports said the tigers starved to death, having been fed nothing but chicken bones, while a zoo manager said unspecified diseases killed the animals.

Either way, the animals had been ill-kept and ill-fed. The Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo has struggled financially, even withholding pay from staff, said a woman in charge of corporate planning for the zoo who would only give her surname, Wang. The zoo had been up for auction for some time without any bidders, she said. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

When a stray dog or cat is brought into the North Little Rock Animal Shelter from outside the city limits, a green tag will distinguish it from those brought in from within the city.

“The county ones go down first before the North Little Rock dogs and cats,” Billy Grace, North Little Rock’s Animal Control director, said of having to euthanize those that aren’t adoptable as pets and aren’t claimed by an owner within a few days.

In 2009, North Little Rock’s animal shelter in Burns Park took in 1,863 dogs and 1,148 cats from North Little Rock, Grace said. Another 656 dogs and 116 cats were brought in from the county, for a total of 3,783 animals. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — An unwanted occupant of a Houston parking garage got a free lift to a new home.

Animal control authorities removed a bobcat that was spotted in the parking structure near a federal building in downtown Houston.

Chris Glaser with Houston’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care says the initial call Tuesday morning was about a possible house cat roaming the garage floors. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Conservationists slammed a government plan Wednesday that would allow Indonesians to keep endangered Sumatran tigers as pets if they give a $100,000 deposit and build a large enough enclosure.

It is an open secret that many wealthy people illegally keep tigers in Indonesia, where owning the large cats is seen as a status symbol, though the number held is not known. They also have been known to decorate their homes with tiger skins and heads.

“We hope that this program will eradicate poaching as a means of fulfilling a high demand by rich people in Indonesia … who want to have tigers as pets or dead tigers for their home decoration,” said the government’s head of protection and conservation, Darori. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME — Italian state TV has suspended a cooking show host who shocked the nation by saying cat stew is a Tuscan delicacy he swears he has enjoyed many times.

RAI TV confirmed on Wednesday that it had suspended Beppe Bigazzi, the 77-year-old host of a popular morning program that offers food tips and recipes in a country fiercely proud of its cuisine.

When his 27-year-old female co-host looked stunned as Bigazzi said he has eaten cat stew “many times,” the white-haired, grandfather figure defended his tastes. (more…)