Three more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one outside Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a pest that could potentially devastate the nation’s cattle industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday the new cases were found in a dog from New Mexico and hundreds of miles away in a goat and calf in Texas. The screwworm is actually a fly, which produces a larva that eats live flesh instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds any any warm-blooded animal such as cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested. Before it was irradicated in the 1960s, the fly was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers.

A rare albino buffalo named after U.S. President Donald Trump for his distinctive blond tuft is drawing crowds at a Bangladesh zoo. Previously the animal raised in a farm was saved from being slaughtered in a ritual of sacrifice during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha last week. Authorities ordered that the buffalo be spared over security concerns after a surge of public interest stemmed from social media hype before the festival. The animal had already been sold, but the authorities refunded the buyer and sent the buffalo to the national zoo, where it is now the main attraction.

Therapy donkeys are helping patients with mental health conditions at a psychiatric hospital near Paris. The program offers weekly sessions where patients walk and care for donkeys. Patients say the interaction provides relief similar to medication. The sessions are free, funded by France’s public health system, and tailored to individual needs. The program began in 2016 and now includes other animals like guinea pigs and rabbits. Health workers say animal therapy helps with anxiety, depression and more. The founders of the program seek scientific research to formally recognize its benefits.

A bear has injured four people in a Japanese residential area in the latest case of attacks by the animals in the region. Two men who work for Fukushima Steel Works and a third employee of another company in northeastern Japan suffered minor injuries Tuesday. The bear also attacked a woman who lives in the area. The Fukushima fire department says none of the injuries are life-threatening. Japan’s Environment Ministry says 13 people were killed in more than 230 attacks by bears nationwide in 2025. Experts say the encroachment has occurred in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population that has few people trained to hunt the animals.

Flamingos are flocking to the Venetian Lagoon in record numbers as ecological efforts restore damaged wetlands. These stately pale pink birds, called "fenicotteri" in Italian, started appearing in the early 2000s. Environmentalists say their arrival signals the lagoon's health and suitability as a feeding ground. Last year, nearly 24,000 flamingos wintered in Venice, marking a record high. A project to reconstruct salt marshes in the southern lagoon could further boost their numbers. This highlights the importance of the Venetian ecosystem and offers a new ecological perspective for visitors to the city.

The carcass of a humpback whale has been dragged onto a Danish beach after two weeks of the body languishing in shallow waters. The whale had gained the nicknames “Timmy” and “Hope” as German media outlets sent push alerts and updated live blogs with the status of its health since it was first spotted off the German coast on March 3. It was dragged Saturday onto a beach of the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat, the broad strait between Denmark and Sweden that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. The carcass will be examined next week.

For many in Congo and elsewhere in Central and West Africa, there is no shame in craving wild meat, a key part of the culture. Even a disease as terrifying as Ebola, which is currently ravaging a remote part of eastern Congo, has failed to stem demand for wild meat emerging from the Congo Basin. The Congo Basin is an expansive forested ecosystem rich in wildlife from great apes to serpents — both of which are hunted for their meat. Although Ebola is not spread by food, cases in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected animals.

A Bronx Zoo elephant who gave researchers new insights and became the crux of a closely watched animal rights case has died. The zoo says 55-year-old Happy was euthanized Tuesday after a weekslong decline. The zoo says she showed signs of potential declining kidney or liver function, and a necropsy revealed several large inoperable uterine tumors and arthritis. The Asian elephant lived at the zoo since 1977. In 2005, she showed researchers that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror. A group called the Nonhuman Rights Project sued the Bronx Zoo in 2018, seeking to have Happy declared a “person” for legal purposes and moved to a large animal sanctuary. New York’s top court ultimately rejected the activists’ claim.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has captured the internet's attention by wrangling two snakes bare-handed. The U.S. health secretary shared a video Tuesday of himself grabbing non-venomous black racer snakes from the patio of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. Reactions to the video, shared on Kennedy's personal social media accounts, ranged from joy to concern. Experts say the snakes are harmless but warn against handling them by the tails due to potential harm. Kennedy, known for his wildlife encounters, has shared similar videos before, including one showing him handling a rattlesnake in 2024. Some of his past actions, like placing a bear carcass in Central Park as a prank in 2014, have sparked criticism.