Latest news with #Czechoslovakian
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
History Today: When the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia
Troops from the Soviet Union, along with other members of the Warsaw Pact, invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20, 1968. This came as a result of the Prague Spring, a liberal uprising that planned to introduce reforms like greater freedom of the press, speech, and travel in the region. On this day in 1944, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was born into India's most prominent political family During the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning tank in Prague. Wikimedia Commons August 20 is an important day in history as several notable events took place across the world. The Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, effectively crushing the liberal reforms of the Prague Spring. If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers' ongoing series, History Today, will be your one-stop destination to explore key events. In 1975, Nasa launched its ambitious Viking missions designed to explore Mars and search for signs of life. On this day in 1944, former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was born. His birth anniversary is celebrated as Sadbhavana Diwas. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Here is all that happened on this day. Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia It was on this day in 1968 that the Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the liberal reforms of the Prague Spring and reasserting Moscow's control over the Eastern Bloc. The invasion marked one of the most dramatic confrontations of the Cold War. Led by Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek, the Prague Spring sought to create 'socialism with a human face' by introducing reforms like greater freedom of the press, speech, and travel, as well as a partial decentralisation of the economy. These changes were wildly popular among the Czechoslovakian people but were viewed with alarm by Moscow and other hardline communist regimes. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his allies feared that the reforms would undermine communist rule and threaten the stability of the entire Eastern Bloc. Czech youngsters holding Czechoslovakian flags stand atop of an overturned truck as other Prague residents surround Soviet tanks in downtown Prague on August 21, 1968. File image/AP On the night of August 20–21, approximately 200,000 soldiers and 5,000 tanks from the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, and Bulgaria crossed into Czechoslovakia. The operation was swift and overwhelming. Despite massive protests and passive resistance, Czechoslovak forces were ordered not to resist militarily, preventing a full-scale war but leaving citizens vulnerable. At least 137 civilians were killed and hundreds were injured during the occupation. Dubcek and other leaders were arrested and taken to Moscow, where they were pressured into rolling back reforms. A new pro-Soviet leadership soon replaced him, and strict censorship returned. The invasion became a turning point in the Cold War, symbolising the limits of freedom within the Soviet bloc. Globally, the move sparked outrage. Western nations condemned the action, though they stopped short of intervention. The event also led to the formulation of the Brezhnev Doctrine, under which the USSR claimed the right to intervene in any socialist state deemed to be straying from orthodoxy. Nasa launches its ambitious Viking 1 mission The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) launched its most ambitious mission, Viking 1, on August 20, 1975. The launch from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket marked a bold step in planetary exploration, combining advanced engineering with unprecedented scientific goals. The Viking program, costing nearly $1 billion, was one of Nasa's most complex interplanetary undertakings. Viking 1 consisted of two parts: an orbiter to map Mars from above and a lander to conduct on-site experiments. After an 11-month journey covering nearly 500 million kilometres, Viking 1 entered Mars' orbit in June 1976. On July 20, 1976, exactly seven years after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the lander touched down on Chryse Planitia, becoming the first successful US spacecraft to land and operate on Mars. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Launch of Viking 1 from Launch Pad 41 at the Cape The mission's goals were groundbreaking - to analyse the Martian soil for biological activity, study the atmosphere, and capture high-resolution images of the surface. Viking 1 sent back stunning photographs of barren landscapes, red deserts, and rocky plains, giving humanity its first close-up view of Mars. Its experiments revealed intriguing but inconclusive chemical reactions in the soil. While not definitive proof of life, these findings shaped decades of debate about the planet's habitability. Birth of Rajiv Gandhi Every year, August 20 is celebrated as Sadbhawana Diwas or Harmony Day, a day when Rajiv Gandhi, the eldest son of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi, was born. As the grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv grew up surrounded by politics but initially showed little inclination toward it. Educated at Doon School, Dehradun, he later went abroad to study at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then Imperial College, London. Unlike his mother and younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv preferred a quiet life. He trained as a commercial pilot and worked with Indian Airlines, enjoying a career away from the political spotlight. However, destiny drew him into politics after the tragic death of his brother, Sanjay, in a plane crash in 1980. Pressured by party members and his mother, Rajiv reluctantly entered public life and contested elections from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. He quickly gained popularity for his soft-spoken demeanour and modern outlook. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as India's youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40. His tenure was marked by efforts to modernise India, particularly through technology, computers, and telecommunications. He was also instrumental in strengthening India's relations abroad and pushing for economic reforms. This Day, That Year Senegal seceded from the Mali Federation, declaring its full independence on this day in 1960. In 1920, the National Football League was formed at a meeting in Canton, Ohio. Labour activists closed the entire Port of London in the London Dock Strike in 1889. With inputs from agencies
National Geographic
11-08-2025
- General
- National Geographic
Demand for wolf-dog hybrid pets is surging—and that's a huge problem
Wolfdogs are becoming a popular choice worldwide with people looking for furry companions. Conservationists are growing increasingly concerned these hybrids could interbreed with wild wolf populations, especially in Europe. Sofia Imberti, 29, spends time with her three Czechoslovakian wolfdogs in the mountains close to her home in northern Italy. Imberti works early morning and night shifts at a textile factory, rising at 4 a.m. to make time for her dogs. Drawn to the breed for its wild appearance and primitive nature, she values the way it preserves behavioral traits close to its wolf ancestors. 'They belong in nature,' she says, 'and that's where I feel at home, too.' The dogs' independence and sensitivity mirror her own rhythms. With over 40,000 followers on Instagram, Imberti now uses social media to educate others about the breed—its beauty, its challenges, and the deep responsibility it requires. She hopes one day to turn that platform into a full-time pursuit, allowing her to spend more time with her animals while making a positive impact on how the breed is understood. Photographs by Jasper Doest It started, Alessio Camatta says, with 'love at first sight.' After his beloved German shepherd died of a common genetic defect in 2006, Camatta, a soft-spoken construction worker from a town on the hillsides overlooking Venice, Italy, went looking online for a heartier new pet. Soon enough, he found a website selling an imposing but beautiful breed: Czechoslovakian wolfhounds. 'After one month, I went to get a puppy,' he says—a female, Uma, which he bought for €800. On a sunny day in early April, standing outside the imposing 12-foot-tall chain-link enclosure he built to contain his five dogs, he laughs at how unprepared he was for owning the breed. 'People,' he joked, 'don't do this at home.' Czechoslovakian wolfdogs are a controversial breed. Bred as a war dog for the Czechoslovakian military, they combine the DNA of a German shepherd and a Eurasian wolf, a gray wolf subspecies. Today, they are just one of many varieties of wolf-dog hybrids increasingly marketed worldwide as pets. With maximum weights that rival Great Danes, and personalities sometimes more wolf than dog, these hybrid breeds can be demanding—even, in some rare cases, to the point of taking their owners' lives. Breeder Alessio Camatta and canine educator Erica Cesari visit a restaurant with one of their Czechoslovakian wolfdogs in northern Italy in February 2025. Together, they emphasize the importance of exposing wolfdog puppies to human environments from an early age—a key part of preventing anxiety and behavioral issues in a breed known for its sensitivity and high reactivity. With 30 percent wolf DNA, Czechoslovakian wolfdogs are not naturally suited to crowded or unfamiliar spaces unless carefully conditioned through structured socialization and emotional safety. 'This isn't a dog for everyone,' Camatta says. As interest in the breed rises—fueled by social media and the allure of owning something wild—both he and Cesari worry about growing numbers of under-socialized animals placed in homes unequipped to meet their needs, leading to fear-based aggression, isolation, or abandonment. After purchasing that first dog, Camatta went on to become one of dozens of breeders in Italy, where a Czechoslovakian wolfdog can now fetch a price of nearly €2,000. And across Europe, business is booming, popularized by TikTok creators and shows such as Game of Thrones, whose 'direwolves' were played by wolfdogs. Camatta, who also acts as technical director for the Wolfdog Genetic Indexes Project, an initiative to responsibly breed and document wolfdogs, says that 20 years ago only a few hundred wolfdogs were sold in Italy each year. Now, it's more than a thousand, he estimates. While wolfdogs are becoming popular pets, a growing population of wild hybrids—mixes between wild wolves and domestic dogs—is troubling conservationists in parts of Europe. Historically, authorities encouraged rural residents to use guard dogs to protect livestock from wolf packs. But in places where guard dogs are left free to roam, and are not strongly bonded with their flocks, they may interbreed with wolves, according to Valeria Salvatori, a conservationist and expert in wolf hybridization at the Institute of Applied Ecology in Rome. 'If it was happening naturally, then this is evolution. But it's like global warming—it is happening at a much faster pace, because of our intentional, or unintentional, lack of care," Salvatori says. Manuel Tomasi and his wife, Sara Tonon, with their daughters Emma Sofia, 12, and Maya, 3, and their Czechoslovakian wolfdog Ronnie. Drawn to the breed's genetic closeness to the wolf, the family envisioned Ronnie as both a companion for their mountain adventures and a guardian for their home—especially in a neighborhood where break-ins are not uncommon. But what began as a practical decision has deepened into something far more emotional. 'People say wolfdogs are unpredictable,' the couple says, 'but with our daughters, Ronnie is like a brother—protective, intuitive, and completely devoted.' Manuel Tomasi and his wife, Sara Tonon, with their daughters Emma Sofia, 12, and Maya, 3, and their Czechoslovakian wolfdog Ronnie. Drawn to the breed's genetic closeness to the wolf, the family envisioned Ronnie as both a companion for their mountain adventures and a guardian for their home—especially in a neighborhood where break-ins are not uncommon. But what began as a practical decision has deepened into something far more emotional. 'People say wolfdogs are unpredictable,' the couple says, 'but with our daughters, Ronnie is like a brother—protective, intuitive, and completely devoted.' After decades of careful work to restore Europe's wolves back to their original habitats, some countries fear the animals' genes may be compromised by the introduction of dog DNA. Gray wolf conservation statuses vary by country, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the gray wolf as endangered in Slovenia, where wolfdogs are beginning to infiltrate. And in most countries, the scale of hybridization is still unknown. The animals pose a particular challenge in the mountainous border regions of Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia, where wolves have recently come back from near extinction. 'We would like to protect wolves with their natural evolutionary heritage and history,' Salvatori said. 'But how can I possibly control hybridization in Italy,' she says, where 'local studies talk about 50 to 70 percent of individuals being hybrids?' Together, these trends are challenging existing regulations and protections around wolves and dogs—and in each case, beg the question: What makes a wolf, a wolf? Czechoslovakian wolfdogs at Serlupi Kennel a breeding facility ran by Serena Balliana in northern Italy, With 30 percent wolf ancestry, these dogs require structured early socialization, emotional safety, and constant attention to their individual needs. 'The first weeks are foundational,' says breeder Serena Balliana. 'If you don't get it right, you risk raising unstable dogs.' As demand for the breed grows—fueled by fascination with its wolf-like appearance—so does the number of breeders entering the market, often without the necessary experience. In Italy, no special certification is required to breed Czechoslovakian wolfdogs, and the resulting oversupply has begun to drive prices down. Balliana warns this trend is dangerous: lower prices make it harder for ethical breeders to invest the time, care, and expertise that these complex animals require. 'This should never be about volume,' she says. 'The well-being of the dog must always come first.' Balliana has lived with Czechoslovakian wolfdogs since 2005 and has been breeding them since 2017, after years of collaboration with both Italian and international breeders. A trainer and show handler, she first encountered the breed as an eighteen-year-old visitor at a dog show, and was instantly captivated by its wolf-like appearance, atavistic behavior, and natural indocility. 'I fell in love at first sight,' she says. After years of study and saving, she purchased her first dog—an infertile female—and never looked back. Reputable breeders such as Camatta maintain the percentage of wolf DNA in Czechslovakian wolfdogs at somewhere near 30 percent—just enough, he explains, to maintain a wolfish appearance and personality while making the animals suitable for domestication. In Italy, by law, each new litter must have their DNA sampled and their parentage entered in a national database. Also under Italian and international law, as well as Europe's CITES treaty, wolfdogs can only be kept as pets if they have been interbred in captivity for at least four generations. Batting away one of his dogs as he jumps and wrestles with his forearm, Camatta sighs. In Italy, he says, a 'bad canine culture' is spiking demand. Online, it's still easy to find breeders selling wolfdogs without papers, many of which may be the result of 'backbreeding' with captive wolves, purchased on the black market and imported on false documents describing them as Czechoslovakian hybrids, Camatta says. Czechoslovakian wolfdogs at Serlupi Kennel a breeding facility ran by Serena Balliana in northern Italy, With 30 percent wolf ancestry, these dogs require structured early socialization, emotional safety, and constant attention to their individual needs. 'The first weeks are foundational,' says breeder Serena Balliana. 'If you don't get it right, you risk raising unstable dogs.' As demand for the breed grows—fueled by fascination with its wolf-like appearance—so does the number of breeders entering the market, often without the necessary experience. In Italy, no special certification is required to breed Czechoslovakian wolfdogs, and the resulting oversupply has begun to drive prices down. Balliana warns this trend is dangerous: lower prices make it harder for ethical breeders to invest the time, care, and expertise that these complex animals require. 'This should never be about volume,' she says. 'The well-being of the dog must always come first.' Balliana has lived with Czechoslovakian wolfdogs since 2005 and has been breeding them since 2017, after years of collaboration with both Italian and international breeders. A trainer and show handler, she first encountered the breed as an eighteen-year-old visitor at a dog show, and was instantly captivated by its wolf-like appearance, atavistic behavior, and natural indocility. 'I fell in love at first sight,' she says. After years of study and saving, she purchased her first dog—an infertile female—and never looked back. In 2017, Italian officials seized more than 200 hybrids, illegally mixed with wolves smuggled from the Balkans, Scandinavia, and North America, across 54 Italian provinces in an operation known as Ave Lupo. Similar stings, in 2014 and 2021, removed dozens more illegal animals from breeders. Before the courts, there is often a lack of clarity over whether these animals count as wolves or dogs. In some cases, prosecutors have argued the answer is essentially 'impossible to establish with certainty,' according to the Italian news publication Il Messaggero. One seized animal, Camatta says, tested at 96 percent wolf, but was allowed to return to its owner. Italian law makes it virtually impossible to euthanize problematic animals—the state has a legal duty to care for captured strays and even dogs that have attacked their owners. In North America, meanwhile, wolfdogs can be 'very easily' purchased, according to Alyx Harris, operations manager at the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary in Alberta, Canada. On the continent, tens of thousands of wolfdogs live in captivity—far more than its wild wolf population. Currently, Harris's sanctuary has 56 wolfdogs, most of them rescued from former owners and breeders. 'The fact that you can go out and get a wolfdog with no permitting… is a bit crazy,' she says. While many North American states and provinces ban wolfdog importation and ownership, neither the U.S. nor Canada restrict the breed under federal law. Sofia Imberti, 29, spends time with her three Czechoslovakian wolfdogs in the mountains close to her home in northern Italy. Imberti works early morning and night shifts at a textile factory, rising at 4 a.m. to make time for her dogs. Drawn to the breed for its wild appearance and primitive nature, she values the way it preserves behavioral traits close to its wolf ancestors. 'They belong in nature,' she says, 'and that's where I feel at home, too.' The dogs' independence and sensitivity mirror her own rhythms. With over 40,000 followers on Instagram, Imberti now uses social media to educate others about the breed—its beauty, its challenges, and the deep responsibility it requires. She hopes one day to turn that platform into a full-time pursuit, allowing her to spend more time with her animals while making a positive impact on how the breed is understood. Harris and others in the wolfdog business say owners are drawn to these breeds for their impressive size and ferocious reputation and are often taken with the idea of domesticating something powerful, wild, and free. 'The bond is with an animal that won't be your pet, but will be your friend,' says Moira Schein, a caretaker at Mission:Wolf, a wolfdog sanctuary in Colorado. But many owners don't fully appreciate what they are getting into when they buy a wolfdog puppy, says Mike Gaarde, refuge director at Mission:Wolf. 'Around two to three years old, that's when we get the phone call. Twice a week, we get calls from people hoping we can rescue their animals,' he says. 'We have to turn down thousands of dogs.' While Harris stressed that most wolfdogs are actually 'instinctually very shy, timid animals,' in captivity, their wilder nature can make them dangerous pets. 'They like to be in big open spaces,' she says. 'They don't want to be in your house; that's terrifying for them. Even walking on the leash, you are taking away their ability to flee.' Sofia Imberti, 29, spends time with her three Czechoslovakian wolfdogs in the mountains close to her home in northern Italy. Imberti works early morning and night shifts at a textile factory, rising at 4 a.m. to make time for her dogs. Drawn to the breed for its wild appearance and primitive nature, she values the way it preserves behavioral traits close to its wolf ancestors. 'They belong in nature,' she says, 'and that's where I feel at home, too.' The dogs' independence and sensitivity mirror her own rhythms. With over 40,000 followers on Instagram, Imberti now uses social media to educate others about the breed—its beauty, its challenges, and the deep responsibility it requires. She hopes one day to turn that platform into a full-time pursuit, allowing her to spend more time with her animals while making a positive impact on how the breed is understood. Worse, Harris says, unlike other breeds, wolfdogs often 'lack an affinity toward humans.' Even when well trained, they will often seek out opportunities to assert themselves as leader of the pack. 'They don't want to be pets,' she says. Camatta's wolfdog has picked up a wolf's scent in the Cesari works with a Czechoslovakian wolfdog in northern Italy in February 2025. Initially drawn to the breed for its striking resemblance to the wolf, Cesari soon became captivated by its complex behavior and subtle communication. Specializing in canine education, she helps owners better understand their dogs—especially wolfdogs—by teaching them how to read body language and respond appropriately to everyday behavioral challenges. Cesari also trains dogs in scent-based disciplines such as mantrailing, which harnesses the animal's powerful sense of smell to follow human or canine scent trails, both for recreation and real-world search operations. In addition, she is preparing for certification in HRDD (Human Remains Detection Dog) work, aiming to apply her skills in forensic contexts. These fields, she says, are particularly well-suited to the highly sensitive and olfactory-driven nature of the Czechoslovakian wolfdog. Alessio Camatta, a Czechoslovakian wolfdog breeder, works to protect the genetic integrity of the breed at his facility in northern Italy in February 2025. What began as a personal search for a more rustic and resilient companion after the early loss of his German shepherd evolved into a scientific commitment to responsible breeding. Using a zootechnical approach, Camatta aims to balance biological health—such as minimizing inbreeding and preserving genetic diversity—with the breed's distinctive physical and behavioral traits. Alongside his colleague Erica, he focuses on the critical first weeks of a puppy's life, shaping temperament through structured stimulation and individualized care. Nutrition is also guided by scientific principles, in collaboration with specialists in animal dietetics. Driving down the gravel logging roads that crisscross the forests near Slovenia's border with Italy, Tilen Hvala keeps a sharp eye out for the telltale signs of wolves. In 2023, Hvala became one of just a handful of researchers across the continent to successfully trap and collar a wolf— in this case, six-month-old Jakob, whose movements were tracked by the Slovenian Forest Service as part of the Life Wolfalps EU Project. Just over a hundred wolves live in the small European country today, a major victory after facing near-extinction in the 1990s. 'Sometimes I wonder, when I'm driving on this kind of road, how many times they are just looking out of the trees,' says Hvala, a biologist with the Slovenian Forest Service. Sure enough, we soon come upon a wolf pack's resting place from the night before—matted leaves surrounded by scat and bones just a few hundred feet from a logging road. Tracking data is instrumental to better understanding how the area's wolf packs behave and use the landscape. It can also reveal where hybridization occurs. 'If you have high mortality rates, unstable packs and, at the same time, a lot of dogs in the environment, shit happens,' says Miha Krofel, a Slovenian wolf researcher working with the EU project. Most wild hybridization occurs in areas where wolf packs are disrupted, usually by hunting or poaching, and female wolves go searching for a new breeding partner. Federica Merisio, a longtime enthusiast of the Czechoslovakian wolfdog, shares a quiet moment with her dogs Fides and Verbena—known as Pippi—at home in northern Italy. For the past ten years, Merisio has been immersed in the world of this extraordinary breed, realizing her dream of owning her first wolfdog nine years ago. What draws her in is not just their striking appearance, but their interior world—their sharp intelligence, emotional clarity, and instinct-driven behavior. 'They are victims of their own instinct,' she says. 'But that's their greatest wonder.' Merisio believes that to truly understand a wolfdog, you must learn to observe—reading the smallest shifts in body language and energy. 'You can't just watch them,' she says. 'You have to feel them vibrate in your bones.' Living with the breed is a lifelong challenge in emotional and behavioral attunement—'too wolfish to be dogs, too dogish to be wolves.' With her two females, she continues to train in utility and defense work, a practice that strengthens their bond and mutual trust. 'Having a Czechoslovakian wolfdog means embracing not only its wild appearance,' Merisio says, 'but also falling in love with the instincts that make it so unique—and never wanting to live without them.' It was such circumstances that likely produced Slovenia's first recorded hybrid, a large, black animal that entered the country near the Italian border in 2021. In response, Slovenia took no chances, killing the animal and its offspring, save one that escaped back over the border. In neighboring Italy and Croatia—where escaped, feral, and unmanaged dogs are a much more common phenomenon—wild hybridization is a much more serious problem. In some parts of Italy, more than 70 percent of wolves have dog DNA, according to research by Sapienza University in Rome. In Dalmatia, a narrow strip of land on Croatia's Adriatic coastline, the rate is as much as 80 percent, says Tomaz Skrbinsek, a researcher at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. There, a so-called 'hybrid swarm' has formed after wolves colonized war-torn areas vacated in the 1990s and encountered abandoned strays. With 30 percent wolf DNA, Czechoslovakian wolf dogs retain subtle body language and movement patterns that often confuse domestic dogs. Unlike most companion breeds, wolfdogs tend to move with quiet confidence, make prolonged eye contact, and communicate in ways closer to their wild ancestors—signals that are frequently misread as threatening. 'They walk differently, they look differently,' says breeder Alessio Camatta. 'Other dogs don't know how to interpret them, and that can lead to trouble.' As a result, wolfdogs are sometimes met with fear or aggression in public spaces, making socialization and early conditioning critical. For owners, it means constant awareness—and sometimes, physical risk. Camatta and others warn that without proper training and understanding, these misunderstood signals can turn everyday walks into confrontations. In places like Dalmatia, where hybrids are not yet being tracked with radio collars, Skrbinsek worries hybridization could lead to animals that are more comfortable with humans and urban environments. That, in turn, could erode support for protecting wolves from hunting and encouraging their return. 'If you have these behaviors, these traits, in a wild animal that is wolf-like, that could spell disaster for wolf conservation,' he says. What is a wolf, really? Hybrids also raise difficult ethical questions, such as how to define what makes a 'natural' wolf. With millennia of crossbreeding between wolves, domestic dogs, and other canids like jackals, there is no standard definition for how much foreign DNA makes a wolf no longer a wolf. Some conservationists view any mixture as a symbol of 'pollution' in a once pure species. 'It's us humans that have caused that,' says Luigi Boitani, a zoologist at the Sapienza University of Rome and one of Europe's main experts on hybridization. 'It's like an extinction. It's our responsibility to do something.' But it's not known if hybridization really does produce worrying behaviors, such as fearlessness around people, or if hybrids crowd out gray wolves from their native habitat. Sara Meloni reveals the fresh puncture wounds from a recent dog attack, alongside tattoos of wolfdogs inked across her skin. Just days earlier, she and her Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Era, were attacked by a Labrador—one of several incidents she encountered in recent months. With 30 percent wolf DNA, Era doesn't move like most domestic dogs. Her head is often held high, her posture confident but composed, and her movements are measured—more observant than playful, more intentional than reactive. 'She walks through the world differently,' Meloni says. 'With a presence that says she knows exactly who she is—and that unsettles other dogs.' While this quiet confidence can provoke fear or aggression in unfamiliar animals, it also reflects the depth of their bond. The tattoos on Meloni's legs are more than symbols of admiration—they are markers of a shared journey built on trust, mutual respect, and an unwavering sense of loyalty to an animal that, in walking bravely beside her, has helped her become more of herself. Sara Meloni and her Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Era, photographed together in Costa di Mezzate, Italy, in February 2025. For the past five years, the two have moved through life as a tightly bonded pair—one human, one animal, both shaped by each other. With 30 percent wolf DNA, Era is sensitive, intelligent, and instinct-driven, requiring trust rather than training, presence rather than control. 'She changed me,' Meloni says. 'Not for myself, but for her.' Their relationship is built on mutual respect, where emotional safety flows both ways. Era's quiet confidence is mirrored in Sara's stillness; their connection is visible not just in touch, but in the space between them—a recognition of two beings who have chosen each other completely. 'It is really critical that we get this knowledge,' says Krofel, the Slovenian scientist. Without it, he says, it's hard to convince policymakers to cull hybrid wolves, or implement other measures to prevent their spread. For now, without a clear definition of what makes a hybrid, strange paradoxes have arisen. In Italy, a 96 percent wolf hybrid can be returned to its owner, but a similar hybrid in the wild, exhibiting all the behaviors of a wolf, may well be selected for a cull. These paradoxes bother researchers, too, many of whom advocate for an end to the wolfdog trade worldwide. 'I would personally ban the market, the production of this breed,' says Salvatori. For Boitani, breeding new hybrid pets simply 'doesn't make sense.' 'Humans already made the dog [through interbreeding] 10,000 years ago. Why do you want to do it again? Really, it's like playing God.' But wolfdog advocates assert the animals still have a right to live. 'These animals didn't choose to be bred,' says Harris, of the Canadian sanctuary. 'I don't think trying to cull them all is a very fair way to go about it.' At least for now, wolfdog advocates and conservationists agree on one thing—humans must improve how they handle both domesticated and wild wolfdogs. 'Education will be the key,' says Gaarde. 'What we don't understand we try to control,' he says, 'and what we can't control, we try to destroy.' Sara Meloni walks with her Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Era, through the streets of northern Italy in February 2025. With 30 percent wolf DNA, the breed moves differently—calm, focused, and highly attuned to its surroundings. 'When you build a real relationship with them, you become part of their pack,' Meloni says. 'And that bond gives them the confidence to be fully themselves.' But that confidence, expressed through subtle, wolf-like body language, often triggers misunderstandings with other dogs. In recent months, Meloni and Era have been attacked several times, including one incident that left her with bite wounds while trying to protect her dog. Still, she remains committed to the quiet strength of their connection. 'She doesn't just walk beside me—she walks with purpose,' Meloni says. 'Because she knows who she is. And she knows I do too.'
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
On records in sports
Daily Quiz | On records in sports Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit YOUR SCORE 0 /5 RETAKE THE QUIZ 1 / 5 | This gentleman, who was born on July 3, 1851, played in the first-ever Test cricket innings and scored a century. In doing so, he set a record for the highest individual share of runs in a completed team innings that remains unbroken to this day. Name him and his country. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Charles Bannerman, Australia SHOW ANSWER 2 / 5 | Name this Czechoslovakian athlete who set a world record in the women's 800-meter race in 1983. Her phenomenal time has held for over four decades, making it the longest-standing individual world record in athletics. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Jarmila Kratochvílová (800 m in 1min, 53.28 seconds) SHOW ANSWER 3 / 5 | This behemoth basketball player, nicknamed 'The Stilt,' scored an unbelievable 100 points in a single game for the Philadelphia Warriors on March 2, 1962. In the modern era, the late Kobe Bryant came closest to this mark in 2006. Name the record-holder and the number of points Kobe Bryant scored. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Wilt Chamberlain, 81 SHOW ANSWER 4 / 5 | This English cueist was the undisputed king of early snooker, winning the first 15 World Snooker Championships held from 1927 to 1946. He was undefeated in the tournament before his retirement from the event. Name him. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Joe Davis SHOW ANSWER
Buzz Feed
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Buzz Feed
11 Mind-Blowing Facts About Sex Testing In Athletics
Hormone testing has long been a source of controversy in sports. Female athletes are tested for hormonal and genetic 'defects' to ensure athletes do not have an 'unfair advantage' over one another. Not only is it misogynistic; it is also unfair. Athletes like Caster Semenya, Imane Khelif, and many more have been subjected to humiliating tests—all in the public eye—that supposedly determine their sex. The practice has been criticized time and again, as they are considered unscientific, unethical, exclusionary, and, of course, deeply intrusive. After being back in the news again last week, I decided to do a deep dive into why these tests exist in the first place, and what their impact has been. I found 11 facts that might make you cock your head to the side and go, "why?!" In 1946, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) officially began a 'femininity check' to rule out foul play in sports events. According to this 'femininity check', athletes were required to produce certificates that proved they were eligible to participate. This was done because there were a handful of cases of ace female athletes that were accused of being male (spoiler alert: they weren't male.) Dora Ratjen, a 1936 Olympic Gold winner, was incorrectly outed as a man, Heinrich Ratjen. But he later claimed that he was forced to compete as a woman by the Nazis in order to win more medals for Germany. Thanks to the burgeoning Cold War, rumors around countries sending men in place of women to win medals for their countries were rampant—which is why Ratjen's story gained prominence, years later. But documents released after Ratjen's death in 2008 showed that he was not a man— his gender was 'uncertain', which reduced his claim to mere conspiracy. Ratjen's gender was mixed from birth, and his parents had raised him as a girl. The first gender 'frauds' in international sport were identified as a British shot putter, and a Czechoslovakian runner. Two popular cases came up during this discourse: that of Mark Weston, and Zdenek Koubek. Koubek had previously set a world record in the women's 800-meter dash before declaring that he was to transition into a man. The first 'scientific' sex tests, called 'nude parades', were introduced in 1966, where a panel of female doctors would examine the athletes' genitals and secondary sex characteristics. Several athletes of the time have talked about how intrusive and humiliating these tests used to be. The worst part? Any female athlete who refused to undergo the test was automatically out of the competition. These tests lasted two years, till the IAAF decided to go for less intrusive methods of testing one's gender (spoiler alert: that also didn't work.) From the late 1960s to the 1990s, female athletes were tested on the basis of genetics—and given femininity certificates. Any woman who competed in any sport in the Olympics had to carry this certificate—which looked like a card, that confirmed their 'gender'. A Spanish hurdler, Maria José Martínez Patiño, was the first athlete to formally protest the chromosome test, which was adopted after the sex tests of the 60s. Known as the Barr Body test, it was administered to check if the athlete had male or female chromosomes. When Martínez Patiño's test came back abnormal, she was asked to was only after a detailed investigation that they found androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), where she was genetically male (XY), but physiologically female. Her body couldn't use the testosterone, leaving her with lower levels than most women. She fought against the disqualification, and was eventually reinstated with all her titles intact. Princess Anne was excused from the gender test at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In 1992, the IAAF removed all forms of gender verification in favor of doping tests. Doping tests analyse the presence of certain drugs in the athlete's urine, blood, sweat, or saliva, that are deemed as performance enhancers. A failed sex verification test sent Santhi Soundarajan, the first Indian athlete to undergo a sex verification test, on the verge of suicide—showcasing the devastating effect of these tests on female athletes. The talented middle-distance runner was stripped off her medal in 2006. after her failed verification test. After this news became public, she faced immense scrutiny and public humiliation, to the point where she attempted suicide. In 2016, however, she was diagnosed with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), a condition much like Maria José Martínez Patiño's. In a landmark ruling, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand's case against the IAAF showed how flawed these hormone tests truly were. When sprinter Dutee Chand was expelled from international competitions thanks to a failed sex test, she reached out to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to fight. She challenged the IAAF's rules around elevated testosterone levels, which they believed gave female athletes an added advantage. The CAS eventually ruled in her favor, saying there was no sufficient evidence that high testosterone improved athletic performance, and Dutee was allowed to participate again. And finally: despite the supposed concerns about 'fairness' in sport, no case of males impersonating females has been identified.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Czech Republic: Are arms, not cars, the new economic engine?
Representative Image (AI-generated) The Czech Republic has become the country with the highest per capita production of cars in the world over the last thirty years. 2024 was a record year with more than 1.4 million manufactured vehicles in the country of 10 million inhabitants. This is an increase of almost 4 per cent year-on-year. However, production plummeted by 7.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2025. The main reason for this was the drop in demand in the West, which was triggered by the problems in the European automotive industry, the slow transition to electromobility, and US tariffs. Meanwhile, the country's arms industry is booming. "The defense industry can become a new engine of the Czech and European economy," Danuse Nerudova , member of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgets, told DW. "It can utilize the supply capacities and workforce freed up by the automotive sector, boost economic growth and strengthen our security at the same time." Arms as new economic engine? Petr Zahradnik, a Czech economist and advisor to the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, is somewhat more skeptical. "Czech arms factories are experiencing golden times, that's true," he told DW. Yet, he adds that he doesn't believe that arms will replace the automotive sector as the new engine of the Czech economy. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trending in in 2025: Local network access control [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo "I also don't want to see weapons production replace commercial production," he said. Even before World War I , the territory of today's Czech Republic was known as center of arms production. For decades, then-Czechoslovakia was also one of the world's leading arms producers. For years, arms accounted for around 10 per cent of all Czechoslovakian exports. Also domestic demand was driven by the country's heavily armed army of several hundred thousand men until the late 1980s. However, the end of the Warsaw Pact — a defense treaty and military alliance between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics signed in 1955 — as well as the general disarmament in the early 1990s, which was accompanied by a significant reduction in the military budget, hit Czech arms manufacturers hard. Czechoslovakia's last major armaments order was an export contract for 250 T72 tanks to Syria in 1991. Then, in 1992, Czechoslovakia split into two individual states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This also led to a division of the defense industry. The production of tanks and heavy machinery was mainly in Slovakia, while the aircraft industry, the production of small arms, ammunition, radar systems and, above all, small arms was primarily located in the Czech Republic. Not entirely successful privatizations, the reduction of Czech defence spending to 1 per cent of the country's GDP, as well as the professionalization and downsizing of the army to only around 20,000 soldiers considerably weakened the Czech defence industry in the years after the split. Growth factor Ukraine war: Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Czech arms factories massively increased their output again. In particular, the modernization of tanks, and the production of ammunition, military vehicles, self-propelled artillery howitzers, drones, radar equipment and machine guns have been booming since. 40 per cent of the Czech arms factories' production goes to Ukraine, where joint ventures have been established as well. In total, up to 90 per cent of Czech-produced arms are exported. At the same time, purchasesby the Czech army are also on the rise. In 2024, Czech defense spending reached 2 per cent of the country's GDP and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that in a few years' time, it will amount to 3 per cent. New jobs for automotive employees: The boom is set to continue for the next few years. This year, ammunition manufacturer STV Group will increase its production of large-caliber artillery ammunition, which it mainly supplies to Ukraine, from 100,000 units to 300,000. The Czech PBS Group also plans to double its production of engines for missiles and drones. In turn, the number of employees in these companies is also growing. STV Group is planning to hire 1,000 additional employees in the near future. According to its annual report, the Czechoslovak Group, the largest Czech arms manufacturer, which includes the Tatra military car plant as well as ammunition production, already employs 14,000 people. By comparison, the largest automotive group Skoda-Auto employs around 20,000 people at its main plant in Mlada Boleslav. However, as the less demanding production of electric cars will lead to a reduction in the number of employees in the future, Skoda Auto boss Klaus Zellmer told the German print magazine Automobilwoche in late February 2025 that his company, which currently employs 41,000 people, was planning to reduce its workforce by 15 per cent. Many of these employees are likely to find new jobs in the defense business. According to Czech recruitment agencies, they will not require any major retraining when they switch industries.
