An emergency relief mission has been launched in Africa by international animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS, following a number of devastating fires which swept across Cape Town last week.

FOUR PAWS wildlife experts are working closely with authorities in the area to help as many animals as possible. The fire has mainly affected baboons, tortoises, hedgehogs, snakes, reptiles and caracal. Fiona Miles, country manager of FOUR PAWS South Africa, said: "We help where we can. Yesterday we took care of several baboons with severe burn injuries."

Cats Protection is calling for volunteers to take part in a 10 day challenge along the Zambezi river in Lusaka, Zambia. The project involves a three-day canoe expedition where animal lovers will get the chance to spot elephants, hippos, buffalo and other wildlife.

Volunteers will also spend three days with a lion conservation project at Livingstone, where they will be feeding cubs, researching how lions interact with one another and accompanying older lions as they go out to stalk and hunt at night. All funds raised will go to Cats Protection. For more information visit www.cats.org.uk/events or email rebecca.worth@cats.org.uk.

Dr Claire Guest, co-founder and CEO of UK charity Medical Detection Dogs, gave the keynote speech at European Pet Night 2015 in Brussels. The event, organised by the European Federation for Animal Health, brought attention to alert assistance dogs, which are trained to assist people who manage severe cases of diabetes.

Medical Detection Dogs train specialist dogs to detect diseases through breath and scent samples. Dr Guest explained: "Dogs play a key role in developing new approaches for the detection of life-threatening diseases. Thanks to them, we are currently working on a number of pioneering research projects involving canine olfaction, including the training of dogs to detect cancer, blood sugar changes, Addison's disease and narcolepsy."

A staggering 23,151 dogs in high rabies risk countries have received rabies vaccinations since the start of 2015, Mission Rabies has revealed.

The figure brings the grand total of Mission Rabies vaccines to an incredible 158,536 since the project began in September 2013.

Several mass vaccine drives were launched by the charity last month in Sri Lanka, Nagpur and Ooty. The team have also been busy with their ongoing commitment to vaccinate dogs and educate locals in Ranchi, Goa and Malawi. Image (C) Mission Rabies.

Hundreds of dogs are being enlisted at Yale University to find out if they morally evaluate in the same way as humans, according to a report by CBS

To figure out what the dogs are thinking, the University have been putting the dogs through a series of tests. In one test, dogs are captivated by a performance much like a puppet show. In one scene a rat puppet helps a hedgehog up a hill, in another, the rat knocks the hedgehog down.

Speaking to CBS, Professor of Psychology Laurie Santos said: "Similar studies have been done with human infants, and what you find is that human infants - they don't like the guy who was mean. And so we're doing the same thing with dogs to try to see - do dogs morally evaluate as humans do?"

Over 300 dogs have been tested and there is still more to be done, but so far the university have discovered that the dog mind is much more complex than originally thought.

The African Small Companion Animal Network (AFSCAN) unveiled the next phase of its educational programme for African vets at the North American Veterinary Community Conference 2015.

The next phase will see African vets start to benefit from the availability of point-of-care, clinical reference resources, Canis (dogs) and Felis (cats) from Vetstream, and all of the educational resource available on the NAVC's online VetFolio platform.

Later phases will include offering grant funding for specific veterinary projects and increasing support for rabies control initiatives.