AP - One of every 15 New Yorkers battled bedbugs last year, officials said Wednesday as they announced a plan to fight the spreading infestation, including a public-awareness campaign and a top entomologist to head the effort.

AP - Lawmakers in the region of Catalonia thrust a sword deep into Spain's centuries-old tradition of bullfighting, banning the blood-soaked pageant that has fascinated artists and writers from Goya to Hemingway.

AFP - A man has been detained over the poisoning death of an endangered panda in a Chinese zoo, state media reported Wednesday, in the latest case spotlighting risks to captive animals in China.

AFP - While BP struggles to finally seal the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, an equally desperate battle has been enjoined on the surface to save endangered sea turtles from meeting an oily grave.

AP - Otters sweltering in the summer sun suck on "fishsicles." For carnivores like the Amur leopard, it's "bloodsicles."

AFP - A pair of Chinese giant pandas are soon headed for Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, where the fluffy bamboo eaters are set to delight the crowds from early next year.

AP - Hundreds of tiny baby turtles with their dime-sized paddle-like feet dragged through the sand on Monday heading for a new home in the Gulf of Mexico despite the threat of oil some 400 miles away.

Reuters - Catalonia could become the first mainland Spanish region to ban bullfighting in a local parliamentary vote this Wednesday that has pitted animal rights activists against fans of the centuries-old national symbol.

AFP - An animal rights activist in salad dressing -- she wore an all-lettuce gown -- never got to promote her pro-vegetarian message on Sunday after Jordanian police said the one-woman demo was unauthorised.

AP - An animal rights activist has caused a stir in Jordan's capital by covering herself in lettuce in a quirky attempt to persuade Middle Eastern meat lovers to go vegetarian.

AP - Federal biologists are releasing thousands of endangered baby sea turtles into the western Gulf of Mexico, betting that by the time the silver dollar-sized swimmers make it to the oil-fouled waters of the eastern Gulf, BP will have cleaned up its goopy mess.

AP - An American Kennel Club-registered dog has been turned loose in the wild after the Frankfort Humane Society mistook her for a coyote. Copper is a female Sheba Inu.

AFP - The finest beluga caviar is back on the table this year, after five producer countries agreed export quotas for the delicacy, the UN's watchdog on endangered species said on Friday.

AP - Psychic octopus Paul — still basking in the glory of his perfect World Cup predictions — is heading off to a new job as a fundraiser for sea turtles.