ROME –

 Italy’s Ministry of Health has banned the popular wellness trend of “puppy yoga” amid concerns that the puppies used in the practice could be exploited and mistreated.

Typically, sessions involve puppies roaming around a yoga class and sometimes being incorporated in poses.

Giovanni Leonardi, head of the One Health department of Italy’s health ministry, ruled Tuesday that the use of dogs during exercise sessions falls under Italy’s Animal Assisted Interventions act. This means that only adult dogs can now be used in yoga sessions to “protect the health and well-being of the animals, as well as the safety of users.”

The ruling comes following an investigation in March by the popular Italian news show “Striscia la Notizia,” which alleged that puppies were mistreated at various yoga centers and kept in pens between sessions.

Animal rights charity Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane (National League for the Defense of Dogs) filed a complaint with the Italian health ministry after these allegations came to light, telling authorities in documents seen by CNN that the puppies were treated “as if they were gymnastics tools.”

The puppies used in the sessions were transported in boxes or plastic bags, were used for long hours covering multiple sessions, and were not provided water or food to “prevent the dogs from doing their business in the gym,” LNDC alleged, noting that the Striscia la Notizia investigation found that many of the puppies were only 42 days old.

“Given their age, it is highly likely that these puppies had not even completed their vaccination prophylaxis,” the LNDC complaint suggested.

CNN reached out to several Italian puppy yoga centers for comment with no success.

The ruling does not have a legal arena for appeal, a spokesperson for Italy’s health ministry said. “It is the same as any service animal. You would never expect to see a puppy as a sight dog,” the spokesperson told CNN Friday.

LNDC’s President Piera Rosati called the practice “exploitation for commercial purposes that takes no account of the well-being and psychophysical health of creatures who are still too fragile to be treated in this way.”

“At that age, puppies should not have to face travel and stress, but stay in a calm and protected environment under the guidance and care of their mother who can teach them to socialize correctly and to face the outside world with confidence,” Rosati continued.

Elisa Allen, vice president of programs and operations at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) UK, commended Italy for banning puppy yoga in a statement to CNN Friday.

Allen called the practice “a sales gimmick designed to promote the breeding of ‘pedigree’ dogs – who are prone to severe physical problems later in life – and which violates the fundamental principle of yoga: ahimsa, or doing no harm.”

“While governments around the world should take heed, we must not wait to do the right thing: PETA urges yogis to stay away from this cheap ploy that uses sensitive animals as props to their detriment,” Allen said.

Two registered nurses from Ottawa and Kingston have been an integral part in the delivery of a baby on board a flight heading to Dubai.

The two friends — Eunice Publow from the Ottawa Hospital and Lindsey Kilgore from Kingston Health Centre — were on vacation exploring Thailand and Indonesia while attending beach parties and cooking classes, said the Ottawa Hospital in a release on its website.

Three weeks into the vacation, they decided to take a seven-hour flight to Dubai. In the middle of the flight, “tens of thousands of feet above the Arabian Sea, a fellow passenger went into labour.”

“About five hours into the flight, there was an announcement asking for medical professionals to make themselves known,” Publow said in the release. “I had overheard one of the flight crew members say ‘baby,’ so my ears immediately perked up. I went and got Lindsey, who was napping at the time, and we presented ourselves to the crew.”

Kilgore says they weren’t the only professionals on board the flight.

“There was a resident physician from Austria named Lena who was training in obstetrics, and she came forward, too,” Kilgore said in the release. “The three of us formed a little team to work together.”

Ontario’s two nurses say the flight attendants changed the mother’s seat from the emergency exit and moved her to a seat behind a curtain. That was when the resident physician followed her to deliver the baby.

However, when the baby was born, no crying was heard, creating a need to “improvise,” said Kilgore.

“We attend a lot of deliveries, but normally we have all our equipment and our people, so we really had to improvise. The baby did need a bit of oxygen, but fortunately, there’s no shortage of oxygen masks on a plane! Eventually, she started to cry,” said Kilgore.

Publow adds that they asked the crew to get them blankets to keep the newly born baby warm.

“And when she was an hour old, we used a glucometer to test her blood sugar, which was slightly on the low side,” said Publow, noting that they helped the mother breastfeed.

The two nurses not only helped ensure the baby is doing well, but also were asked by the captain whether there was a need to divert the plane. And since the baby was doing okay, they determined there was no need to divert.

“For me, this experience really re-iterated the role of a nurse — it highlighted that this is more than just a job,” said Kilgore.

“This is something that spills over into everyday life and not something you can get away from. Being willing to help is definitely a part of who you are. And even though it was a stressful situation, it really showed how a group of strangers can really come together to work as a team and create a good outcome for someone in need.”

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