During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of homeless people in the United States has increased exponentially. According to the US Council of Economic Advisers, as of September 2019, over half a million people go homeless on a single night in the United States. Approximately 65 percent, over 350,000 people, is found in homeless shelters, and the other 35 percent, just under 200,000, are found unsheltered on our streets in places not intended for human habitation, such as sidewalks, parks, cars, or abandoned buildings.

The Great Trail of Canada is nearly 15,000 miles long, connecting major cities to all the natural wonders in between


The Great Trail of Canada is now open for hikers, bikers, kayakers and skiers.

The nearly 15,000-mile-long national treasure took a quarter century to build and has been called the largest volunteer effort in Canadian history.

It will give Canadians easy access to some of the country’s most breathtaking natural wonders.

Rather than a single trail, The Great Trail is a network of hundreds of local trails and greenways that are all now connected by a single “thread.”


Whether you’re starting in the East at St. John’s or starting in the West at Victoria, you’ll have over 400 individual trails to travel through.

They weave across all 10 provinces, with a huge looping detour north through the Yukon and Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocean.

The Great Trail consists mainly of dirt paths and rugged mountain terrain, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to traverse the whole thing with just a pair of hiking boots.

Over 25 percent of the trails are water “trails,” which require a kayak or canoe.


Motorized vehicles, for the most part, are forbidden on the trail, except for snowmobiles. Cross-country skiing, horseback riding and cycling are other acceptable modes of transportation.


If you ever found the time to make it across the whole trail, you’d cover just about every type of terrain imaginable, from mountains, lakes and plains, to coastal islands, and even the dreaded frozen tundra.


While most the trail is found in the back-country, a good chuck still runs through urban areas in major cities such as: Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton.


The longest part of the trail wraps around the Great Lakes in Ontario, where there’s the most fresh water in the world. The views in and around these waters are absolutely stunning.


So, if you’re looking for the adventure of a lifetime, look no further. The rugged backcountry of Oh Canada awaits!

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Seals can breathe easy and eat fish in peace knowing they will no longer be murdered for coming too close to commercial fish farms.

The Scottish parliament passed the Animals and Wildlife bill, which now protects seals, instead of giving fisheries a “license to kill.”

This bill makes the old The Marine Scotland Act of 2010, null and void by removing a provision that granted fisheries licenses for shooting seals to keep them from eating their farmed fish.


Now if fish farmers are caught shooting seals, they’ll face a £40,000 fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment.

Since the licensing began in 2011, the Scottish government reports that over 1,900 seals have been killed.

However, the Humane Society believes the number is much higher, as the fisheries are the ones reporting the numbers with no third-party verification.

“An alarming number of seals are shot and killed in Scottish waters, and there is evidence that some are likely to be injured and die a slow and painful death at sea and may not show up in the official statistics,” the Humane Society’s senior marine scientist Mark Simmonds said.

“We share our seas with these charismatic marine mammals, and it is simply unacceptable to kill them for eating the fish in their ocean home.”


Scotland’s new law was passed as part of a trade deal with the United States.

The U.S.’s new Marine Mammal Protection Act requires Scotland to ban the shooting of seals if it wants to continue its lucrative salmon exports to the U.S.

In 2019, the U.S. imported close to a quarter billion dollars worth of Scottish salmon.

“The majority of consumers are not happy for seals to be collateral damage in the price of salmon, and now US import requirements have introduced a strong economic incentive to call a halt to the cruel killing,” Claire Bass, Executive Director of HSI/UK, said.




Grey seals are some of the rarest seals in the world, with over 40 percent found in UK waters.

The population of harbor seals, also found in the U.K., is also declining.

While getting shot is the worst of their worries, seals also get entangled in fishing gear, swim through marine litter and have their breeding grounds disturbed by fish farms.

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Scientists are learning how to use 3-D printing to make tortoise shells and bird beaks for injured animals.


After losing most of its shell in a wildfire in Brazil, a tortoise nicknamed Freddy recently received the world’s first 3D printed tortoise shell as a replacement.

The tortoise was found barely alive – with 85% of its protective shell burned away – by a group of veterinarians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who call themselves the “Animal Avengers.”

Named after the hit Marvel comic series, The Avengers, Dr. Cicero Moraes — “the Hulk” — designed a 3D printed shell that’s almost indestructible, much like the Hulk himself.

The 3D printing process builds a three-dimensional object from a computer design by adding material, such as corn plastic, layer by layer.

His colleague, Dr. Paulo Miamoto — “Vision” — printed the shell in in four separate pieces. This four-piece jigsaw puzzle snapped together perfectly around Freddy’s body.

While there was little of the surviving shell to work with, “Iron Man” surgeon Dr. Roberto amalgamated a prosthetic to cover what Freddy, named after Freddy Cougar, lost in the fire. He even came up with a custom paint job, so Freddy could look more like her natural self.


The rise of 3D printing is being used evermore creatively in the rehabilitation of injured animals, including a new beak for a toucan, to spring-like paws for dogs.

The Animal Avengers, have not only helped Freddy, they’ve also used this technology to build new beaks for parrots, macaws and geese. The tortoise’s new shell, however, is the world’s first.

“We first came together as friends because of our common love of science and animals,” Dr. Fecchio told The Mirror

“We soon realized we could do some extraordinary work using cutting-edge technology to push back the boundaries of life-saving care for mutilated animals by giving them customized prostheses.”

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When you know, you know.

At least, such was the case for this beautiful shelter pup who, at the mere sight of him, gave her heart to a visiting reporter and chose him as her family.

The reporter was visiting the animal shelter to do a story and he was not expecting to find a new family member.

But while walking around the shelter, the reporter was approached by a very special pup who was about to completely steal his heart.


The shelter pup walked up to the man without any fear or shyness, and surprised everyone by embracing the reporter in a heartfelt hug.

The reporter was surprised, but happy, and returned her affection with some loving pats.

This encouraged the lovelorn pup even more, who hugged his leg even tighter.


It seemed like the pup, somewhere deep in her soul, knew that she and the reporter were meant for each other.
They had a connection that she simply couldn’t deny, and luckily, neither could he; the reporter ended up adopting the sweet dog and giving her a loving home!

Their gripping story is truly amazing, and to make it even better, their serendipitous first meeting was caught on camera.


It’s easy to get teary-eyed watching the pup cling to her new daddy, and we’re so glad that they found each other.

Their story has stirred up a lot of emotions online and touched many hearts.

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The American spirit lives on at a 300-year-old, cream-line dairy farm, where a farmer is working around the clock to bottle his own milk after his processor told him to dump it. Locals are lining up to support him.