The British Horse Racing Authority has announced that today's fixture at Hamilton Park will showcase the track's support for the high standards of horse welfare in British Racing using the raceway theme of 'The Horse Comes First'.

'The Horse Comes First' is an industry-wide backed initiative aimed at both promoting and increasing awareness of racing's commitment to horse welfare. At Hamilton Park there will be a range of activities and demonstrations designed to entertain as well as inform racegoers about the level of care the sport provides for its horses, both during and after their racing careers.

Paul Bittar, Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority, said:

"We very much welcome Hamilton Park's support for The Horse Comes First. One of the key aims of the initiative is to promote British Racing's commitment to upholding the highest standards of welfare throughout the year. The raceday will provide a great platform from which to educate and engage racegoers on the subject."

The RSPCA are urging members of the public to tidy away their nets.

Each year around 2000 reports are made to the RSPCA about wild birds and other wildlife trapped in or behind netting.

Discarded fishing nets, unkempt bird-deterrent nets and goal nets that have been left up are just some of the hazards posed to wildlife, especially in the summer months.

RSPCA wildlife scientific officer Llewelyn Lowen said: "Netting is of a nature that when it is blown away it can quickly entangle animals, particularly wildlife, causing them distress and injury.

"There is a really simple way to prevent this from happening and that is for nets to be removed after use and safely stored away.'

The RSPCA ask people who use deterrent netting on buildings to ensure that it is maintained and that netting in goals or elsewhere is rolled away properly when not in use.

They add that members of the public can also help by safely disposing of litter such as netting that they find littering both rural and urban areas.

The Dachshund Breed Council have announced that their Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) DNA project is now underway.

Researchers at the Animal Health Trust (AHT) are first of all investigating the region on chromosome 12 that the Danish Group has previously associated with disc calcification. They will then investigate the whole genome if that seems appropriate, depending on the findings from the chromosome 12 study.

The team is currently in the process of selecting markers, which are variable points in the DNA, from chromosome 12 so that they can be used to distinguish between different dachshund chromosomes.

The Dachshund Breed Council say: "This is an in silico exercise at this stage, involving searching sequence databases for markers that are in the right place and that are likely to be variable (and therefore useful) in the dachshund."

The plan is to move the project from the computer and into the lab by the end of August. The first preliminary results will be available by the end of September.

As part of a kennel enrichment programme, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is calling for votes to win 50k to update its kennel sound systems.

The London and Old Windsor centres are currently undergoing renovation work to rebuild their oldest kennels. The resident canines desperately need new sound systems, as the current ones are old and crackly, and the radio signal cuts in and out.

Although the staff do all they can to provide a positive, relaxing and mentally stimulating environment, the centres are surrounded by noisy train lines and flight paths.

Click here to watch the video that Battersea has released, to illustrate why they urgently need your help.

Dedicated keepers at Edinburgh Zoo stepped in to hand-rear a pudu fawn called Scarlett after her mother sadly died when she was just two-and-a-half weeks old.

At first, Scarlett required round the clock bottle feeds, but keepers were encouraged to see her steadily gaining weight, and at four weeks old, she was successfully reintroduced to her dad Normski.

Hoofstock keeper Liah Etemad, said: "It has taken a lot of time and commitment from keepers... but we could not be happier to see little Scarlet thrive. She has done so well that visitors are able to see her with dad at our pudu enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo."

The RSPCA has released the latest rescue and cruelty figures in its Prosecution Annual Report, which illustrates a rise in the number of complaints that were investigated, but an overall decrease in the number of people convicted of animal cruelty.

Figures also show a continued escalation of the equine crisis highlighted by the charity two years ago, with nearly triple the number of equine cruelty cases in 2013 compared to 2011.

David Bowles, head of external affairs at the RSPCA, said:

"Whilst we are heartened that the numbers of people convicted of cruelty have decreased, the fact that we are investigating more and more complaints shows that there is still a culture of cruelty out there."