The BVNA has announced that funds raised during 2011 for The Cinnamon Trust, their Charity of the Year, totalled in excess of 3,600. The charity helps the elderly, the terminally ill, and their pets. Senior Vice President of the BVNA Sue Badger has thanked everyone for their contribution to such a worthy cause. The funds were raised by VNs and practices from across the country who organised events during VN Week. The total also included proceeds from the BVNA Congress Tombola and quiz night, and other fundraising events involving the BVNA sponsored skydive.

The birth of a pale purple calf has baffled observers in a small Serbian village. Jezdina village on Jelica mountain near Cacak City has no history of unconventionally coloured livestock, but the calf is apparently otherwise perfectly healthy and is growing well. The villagers, noting the resemblance to the purple cow in the adverts for Milka Chocolates, have dubbed the calf 'Milka'.

A species of frog believed to be the world's smallest has been discovered by an American team in Papua New Guinea. At a mere 7mm long, Paedophryne amauensis is also believed to be the world's smallest vertebrate. The frogs live on the forest floor amongst leaf litter, are well camouflaged, and have evolved calls similar to those made by insects. They are therefore extremely difficult to detect and capture. According to Research Leader Chris Austin "these things are incredibly small; so what we did after several frustrating attempts was to grab a whole handful of leaf litter and throw it inside a clear plastic bag."

Congratulations to the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), which has been granted full accreditation by the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE). This standard has only been achieved by three other educational institutions for the veterinary sector and means that the RVC is the only veterinary sector educational institution in the world to have achieved full accreditation by both the EAVE and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AMVA).

Andrew Crook, Senior Anatomy Technician at the Royal Veterinary College, has been awarded an MBE for services to veterinary science after many years of distinguished service. MRCVS.co.uk would like to extend our congratulations. "It's exciting," he said. "My colleagues are telling everyone and my friends and family are very excited. I do a lot of work encouraging young people from diverse backgrounds to think about veterinary medicine as a career. We're often seen as a place where only the rich people go and that's not true anymore. We have local schools, often from poorer areas, in and do a lot of live animal work - looking at horses, cows and dogs, and quite often the children have never seen a live cow up-close."

A free copy of the 2012 NOAH Compendium of Data Sheets for Animal Medicines is being sent to every veterinary practice in the UK. This edition has a specially redesigned cover to reflect NOAH's 25th anniversary. It also includes data sheets compiled from 32 companies organised by colour-coded index and an up-to-date edition of NOAH's Code of Practice for the Promotion of Animal Medicines. If your practice has not received its copy, contact Ruth Herbert at NOAH (r.herbert@noah.co.uk ). Extra copies are also available to order now for 42. Special prices are available for bulk orders.