Animal house

Intuitive and enigmatic, cats have woven a place in our domestic life Now that all the New Year’s chatter about “starting anew” and recasting the world in 2026 has quietly passed away, we can focus on one unchanging attraction: cats Cats don’t rank with the political and social issues that usually engulf this column, but…

When the slaughter stops, they often thrive The hand-drawn map of Lake Massawippi shows all its fishing-spot locations and quirky place names. I bought a copy years ago in Ayer’s Cliff and, while it is colourful, it tells a sadly familiar story. Among the notations scrawled along the edges of this country fishing chart, one…

Let’s take a break from ecological doom-saying for a moment. Tigers are among the species that have received good news recently, as in this Nepal report : https://tinyurl.com/ybcvspe2 Back in 2011, I looked at the tiger issue in another light, as a UN Special reporter, interviewing the head of  UN wildlife-conservation agency CITES by David…

From the archives: 2011 Elephants have been in trouble in northern Thailand for decades, but now efforts to conserve and revive their population are showing promise By David Winch  Photos, Pierre-Michel Virot and Thai Elephant Centre UN Special magazine, May 2011 First things first: elephants are fun to watch. A lot of fun. But just…