Adopting a pet is a selfless act thousands and thousands of animal lovers commit each and every year. Caring for an animal can be a rewarding experience, and adopting a pet from a local shelter often makes the bond between pet and pet owner that much stronger. As rewarding as adopting a pet can be, there ...

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Deer in some parts of Kansas are dying this summer from a disease spread by tiny insects that proliferated because of an extended drought, state wildlife officials said. The deer are being felled by epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, which is spread by midges, tiny insects that pass infected blood from one ...

CHINLE, N.M. (AP) — Cindy Yurth's house in the green-roofed housing development outside the Chinle High School is one of the few where the grass is green and cottonwood trees and Navajo willows grow healthy and leafy — providing plenty of shade for the dogs she and her husband Eric Swanson, a music teacher with ...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State parks officials are assessing the impact of large-scale, blue-green algae blooms at Kansas lakes and reservoirs that kept people and animals out of the lakes this summer. Dangerous levels of the toxic algae prompted Kansas health officials to post advisories and warnings since May. Ron Kaufman, spokesman for the Kansas Department ...

INTERIOR, S.D. (AP) — As the cage door opened, black-footed ferret No. 7505 tentatively peeked his head out, looked hesitantly at the prairie dog burrow offered before him, and then rushed inside, disappearing beneath the earth of western South Dakota's badlands. His freedom had been months in the making, but in less than a minute — ...