Even though cats are more popular as pets, dogs won a New York City vote. • With 9,000 votes in, dogs won the informal pet preference poll over cats by a margin of 65 percent to 35 percent — even though cat owners outnumber dog owners by close to 13 million nationally. The poll was associated with a “Meet the Breeds” event in New York, sponsored by the American Kennel Club and the Cat Fanciers Association.

• The relocation of thousands of wild mustangs and burros may spur the rate of adoption for the 37,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros in 10 Western states and 32,000 more in long-term holding facilities. The proposal to move the wild animals was spurred by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who hopes to move the wild horses to the Midwest and Eastern states, creating two new federally owned preserves. The move is hoped to reach a new audience of Americans on the opposite side of the country who might be interested in adopting the wild horses. The cost of the horse preserves is estimated at $93 million, with an additional $3 million for capital improvements. The proposal also includes suggestions for the aggressive use of fertility control to slow population growth of the herds.

• The most endangered mammal in the world, the Javan Rhinoceros, is still declining in numbers, with only 60 left in the wild. Only one rhino calf is born each year, while a birth rate of four per year is needed to keep a healthy population increase. Researchers say the decrease in birth rate can be blamed on the shortage of sustainable habitat in the rhinos’ native Indonesia and on the competition with wild cattle over scarce food resources.

• Half of dogs and cats in the U.S. are overweight or obese, equating to 33 million dogs and 51 million cats, according to an estimate by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

— Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon