Customs agents foil suspected reptile smuggler at LAX

In an apparently cold-blooded attempt at smuggling, a Lomita man was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport this week with more than a dozen wriggling lizards strapped to his chest.

Michael Plank, 40, was detained by U.S. Customs agents after they discovered 15 live lizards stuffed into his money belt, officials with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said Friday.

Plank was returning from Australia on Tuesday when agents found two geckos, 11 skinks and two monitor lizards in his possession. Australian reptiles are strictly regulated, and Plank didn’t have a required export permit, officials said.

The lizards are valued at $8,500.

Smuggling wildlife into the U.S. is a felony punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in prison. Plank has been released on a $10,000 bond and will be arraigned Dec. 21 in a Los Angeles federal court, authorities said.

-- Catherine Saillant
 

L.A. County prosecutors to open 24-hour dog-fighting tip line and reward program

Los Angeles County prosecutors are teaming up with the Humane Society of the United States to announce what they say is a first-of-its-kind dog-fighting tip line and reward program. [Updated 2:17 p.m.: An earlier version of this post gave an incorrect name for the Humane Society.]

The 24-hour tip line, staffed by people who speak English and Spanish, will allow county residents to anonymously report dog-fighting incidents and collect up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest or conviction.

The new tip-line number will be announced Tuesday at the office of L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley at the downtown Criminal Courts building.

Plant-munching aliens stopped at U.S.-Mexican border

U.S. customs and border protection officials not once but twice nabbed intruders furtively attempting to enter the country this week from Mexico.

But the intruders weren’t illegal immigrants. They were pests known as pale-striped flea beetles, which chew holes and pits in leaves and represent a threat to California’s agricultural industry. Beetle larvae feeding on plant roots have caused serious crop damage in the Imperial Valley in the past.

According to Billy Whitford, the agency’s director of port operations in Calexico, the pests were discovered Monday during inspections of two separate shipments in the port’s cargo import facility. In the first shipment, the pests were discovered in more than 700 boxes of fresh red oak lettuce, red romaine and arugula. The second shipment  contained more than 800 boxes of mizuna, coriander and tango produce. Both shipments were sent back to Mexico.

“We are not only aggressively combating the flow of illegal narcotics and preventing people from illegally entering our nation,” Whitford said in a statement. “We also dedicate the same amount of effort to preventing pests such as the pale-striped beetle which pose risks to our borders.”


--Teresa Watanabe

Black bear is tranquilized in La Crescenta neighbhorhood

A black bear that has been roaming neighborhoods in La Crescenta was tranquilized this afternoon by authorities who cornered the animal in the backyard of a home.

The bear, estimated to weigh between 100 and 150 pounds, was near some bushes in the yard in the 2600 block of Prospect Avenue, a few blocks north of the 210 Freeway, authorities said.

"It was a small bear," said Lt. Angela Shepherd of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's deputies and agents from the state Department of Fish and Game approached the animal about 4:45 p.m. An agent shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun, putting the animal to sleep, authorities said.

The bear was loaded onto a stretcher and hoisted into a truck and was to be dropped off in the Angeles National Forest, according to Shepherd.

The department received several reports Tuesday night about a bear in the 4300 block of Ocean View Boulevard, prompting an alert sent to residents on the reverse 911 system. No animal was spotted.

"I'm sure it's the same bear," Shepherd said.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Sheriff's deputies carry a tranquilized black bear on a stretcher. Credit: KTLA

Deputies warn La Crescenta residents of reported bear sightings

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies alerted residents in La Crescenta this evening to reports of a large black bear roaming through an apartment complex.

Several callers reported seeing a bear in the complex in the 4300 block of Ocean View Boulevard.

Deputies searched the area but were unable to find the animal, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The department said it used the reverse 911 system to warn residents of the sightings. 

-- Robert J. Lopez

Dog rescued, another badly injured in Long Beach blaze

Long Beach firefighters rescued a dog from a smoky apartment fire today, but were unable to help another canine before it jumped from a third-story balcony and seriously injured its rear legs.

Fire engines responded within three minutes after the blaze was reported about 7:45 a.m. in the 400 block of East 3rd Street. But before the units arrived, the dog jumped from the balcony  and sustained serious injuries, the Long Beach Fire Department said.

The dog was taken to an animal hospital, but the owners may not be able to afford the treatment, fire officials said.

As crews began operations, they were able to save the second dog from the burning apartment, which was filled with thick black smoke. The dog's owners were not in the building at the time, the department said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

--Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Rescued dog on balcony. Credit: Long Beach Fire Department.

L.A., Beverly Hills move to ban declawing of cats

The Los Angeles City Council, in a preliminary action, voted unanimously today to ban the controversial practice of declawing cats, which council members described as unnecessary and abject animal cruelty.

The vote was also a repudiation of the state Legislature, which earlier this year voted to bar local governments from banning the procedure beginning Jan. 1.

"I don't think we should allow people at the state level to dictate to us our local actions," said Councilman Paul Koretz, who sponsored the ordinance.

Said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who owns three cats: "The bottom line is, you take the claws out of a cat, you take away the cat."

The council is scheduled to take a final vote on the ordinance Nov. 17.

The Beverly Hills City Council unanimously approved a similar ordinance Thursday night. A final vote in that city also is expected Nov. 17.

-- Maeve Reston at L.A. City Hall

L.A. council committee favors law against declawing cats, calling it animal cruelty

A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted today to seek a law banning veterinarians from declawing cats, saying the procedure constituted cruelty to animals.

The council’s Public Safety Committee unanimously recommended that City Atty. Carmen Trutanich draft an ordinance banning the practice. The proposal was made by Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, who said the procedure caused “unnecessary pain, anguish and permanent disability” to cats.

“Anyone who cannot handle the claws of a cat should not have a cat to begin with,” said Rosendahl, a cat owner who represents coastal neighborhoods from Westchester to Pacific Palisades.

Cats have been an important policy issue for Koretz, who, as a lawmaker in Sacramento, tried without success to enact a statewide ban on declawing in 2003. The following year, he won passage of a bill prohibiting the declawing of exotic animals, such as lions. After joining the council in July, Koretz began using televised council meetings to find owners for cats in the city shelter system.

Councilman Tony Cardenas threw his support behind the measure but voiced doubts that the city’s Animal Services Department had enough employees to enforce such a law.  He also worried that cat owners will simply go to veterinarians in neighboring cities to get the procedure, sometimes known as an onychectomy.

California agribusiness pressures school to nix Michael Pollan lecture

Agribusinesses across the U.S. have a beef with sustainable food guru Michael Pollan, but at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo it has taken on a definite sizzle. 

Threatening to pull donations from the school, a major California agribusiness has succeeded in turning what was to be a campus lecture by Pollan tomorrow into a panel discussion involving Pollan, a meat-science expert and one of the largest organic growers in the U.S.

"While I understand the need to expose students to alternative views, I find it unacceptable that the university would provide Michael Pollan an unchallenged forum to promote his stand against conventional agricultural practices,'' David E. Wood, chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Co., wrote in a scathing Sept. 23 letter to the Cal Poly president.

Wood has pledged $150,000 toward a new meat processing plant on campus. In his letter, he said Pollan's scheduled solo appearance had prompted him to "rethink my continued financial support of the university.'' He also criticized an animal sciences professor who said that conventional feedlots like the one run by Harris Ranch were not a form of sustainable agriculture.

The minivan: lunchbox on wheels for Yosemite bears

It’s official. Those discerning car critics, the black bears of Yosemite, have voted the minivan their most sought-after vehicle.

Not to drive, of course; just to break into.

Year after year, hungry bears have made minivans their first or second choice among SUVs, sedans, sports cars and other vehicles in their search for food. The bears – clever foragers – choose minivans even though sedans and SUVs are more plentiful in Yosemite National Park.

Or at least that’s the conclusion of an article in this month's issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, which published a study of 908 bear-on-vehicle break-ins from 2001 to 2007. According to the study’s authors, bears searching for the most calories (who knows when they’ll eat again?) at the least risk (in this case, harassment by park rangers) judged minivans as their best bet.

The minivan earned this dubious distinction for a variety of reasons, but the primary one was: They reek of food.
 
Study authors surmise that minivans are more aromatic than other cars because they are designed for families with children, “and small children in particular are notorious for spilling food and drink while riding in vehicles.” Researchers also suggest that minivan passengers are more prone to leaving coolers and bags of food in their vehicles.

Yet another factor, according to the study, is that bears can open a rear side window on a minivan like a pop-top on a beer can.

What, then, was the author’s advice to minivan owners?  Store your grub in a food locker on your way into the park.

-- Carla Hall

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Fires in debris-clogged Riverside home kill 25 dogs

Riverside firefighters responded twice within 12 hours to two separate blazes in a house packed with debris where more than two dozen dogs died of smoke inhalation, authorities said today.

In both blazes, which broke out Tuesday evening and early this morning, firefighters had difficulty entering the single-story home and moving around inside because it was jammed with furniture and boxes filled with clothes and other items.

"They were faced with packrat conditions," said Division Chief John Martinez of the Riverside Fire Department. "It was bulging at the seams with stuff."

Santa Monica, L.A. ask for animal declawing restrictions

The Santa Monica City Council voted this week to draft an ordinance to restrict animal declawing in the city. Los Angeles is considering a similar proposal, as is San Francisco. 

The motion, introduced by council members Kevin McKeown and Gleam Davis, directs the city to have the ordinance in place by Dec. 31 because of a deadline imposed by a pending state law.

In Los Angeles, City Councilmen Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl this month presented a motion to ban onychectomy (declawing) or flexor tendonectomy on animals except to address the medical condition of the animal.

"We're going to go forward with making a major effort to see that this declawing business doesn't happen in the city of Los Angeles," Rosendahl said.

McKeown called cat declawing "an unacceptable act of animal cruelty."

Los Angeles Zoo elephant lawsuit moves forward

A lawsuit charging the Los Angeles Zoo with abusing elephants will be allowed to go to trial, a three-judge panel of California's 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge had initially ruled that the issues raised in the suit were political and not for a court to decide.

The appeals court decided otherwise.

"The bottom line is we're entitled to our day in court and they sent it back to trial," said David Casselman who filed the suit on behalf of actor Robert Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider.

Both men brought the suit as California taxpayers under the state's taxpayer waste statute. They allege that the zoo -- a city agency -- has violated the statute by managing elephants in a way that abuses and injures them.

The zoo, long a target for elephant welfare advocates, is in the process of building a large new exhibit to house the pachyderms. The zoo, which currently has only one elephant, Billy,  has consistently maintained they vigilantly care for the animals.

-- Carla Hall

Alpaca ranch spared by Ventura County fire

Cindy Harris and Doug Fieg run what they believe is the largest alpaca ranch in California.

With 400 animals, each valued at $10,000-$50,000, they decided years ago that evacuation was not an option in a brush fire.

“It would take so long to evacuate them, and they get really stressed,” Harris said.

So when flames reached their street in Somis late Tuesday, the couple tried another strategy. They herded all 400 animals into the ranch’s central pastures, turned on the irrigation system and prepared to ride out the fire as best they could.

L.A. council clamps down on a crowing problem: roosters

Hoping to quell the amount of crowing across the city, the Los Angeles City Council passed a law today limiting the number of roosters that each household can own.
 
In a 12-0 vote, the council agreed to allow only one rooster per property unless such birds are part of a “permitted and licensed commercial, agricultural or industrial business” — and on a street with the proper zoning.

Roosters can be heard in a number of neighborhoods around the city, from Wilmington near the harbor to the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who crafted the measure, said it would provide peace and quiet to her constituents while helping animal control officers crack down on cockfighting.

“Roosters have their place in this city, but we think having more than one per property causes problems,” she said.

Fullerton girl, 3, severely injured in attack by family's pit bull

A 3-year-old Fullerton girl is in the hospital today with severe injuries after her family’s pit bull attacked her in their backyard, police said.

The attack took place just before 7:45 p.m. Monday at the family’s house in the 200 block of Costa Court, when the girl and her mother took food to the dog, which was tied up, said Fullerton Police Sgt. Mike MacDonald.

The mother went back inside the house to wash dishes, leaving her daughter outside with the dog.

Minutes later the girl’s 11-year-old brother, who was watching television inside with his father, heard screams and went out to the backyard to find the dog standing over his younger sister.

The girl’s parents drove her to St. Jude Medical Center. She was later transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana and treated for severe puncture wounds to the face and neck.

Police are investigating the attack as a case of child neglect. The dog was taken by animal control and quarantined.

-- Tony Barboza, in Orange County

Assembly gets in the lawmaking 'moo'd

State lawmakers today are plowing through some of the hundreds of bills that must be acted on before next week's deadline. But the intensity of the work doesn't preclude moments of levity.

The Assembly considered amendments this morning to a bill that would ban the practice of trimming cows' tails (SB 135). The man wielding the gavel, Democrat Isadore Hall III of Compton, called for a voice vote.

He got a bit more than expected, as legislators on both sides of the aisle mooed their approval in place of the traditional "aye."

Laughing, Hall deemed the amendments adopted.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Volunteers pour in to evacuate exotic animals as Station fire rages

Workers at the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon said they were making good progress tonight evacuating hundreds of exotic animals at the shelter as flames from the Station fire raged nearby.

After calls for help were broadcast on Twitter and in media reports, a stream of vehicles arrived, including an 18-wheel Budweiser Truck, said Waystation spokesman Jerry Brown.

"We had a traffic jam," he said.

The 160-acre facility, which has operated in the canyon since 1976, houses more than 400 animals including grizzly bears, tigers and lions.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Waystation owner Martine Colette receives a hug. Credit: Associated Press

Photos: Southland wildfires	Interactive map: The Station fire

Huge wildfire shows little sign of slowing down

Firefighters died in effort to escape

Evacuee who may have lost home awaits word on animals left behind

Mt. Wilson webcam: The 150-Foot Solar Tower

L.A. County Fire Department: The latest

Twitter: Follow @latimescitydesk | @latimesfires

Try evacuating a 1,000-pound pig during a wildfire

It's not easy to move pigs around, especially 1,000-pound pigs, said Lorri Houston, president of Animal Acres.

So when flames started threatening the area around the Acton farm-animal sanctuary on Sunday, Houston and a group of volunteers packed up the 11 pigs and dozens of cattle, chickens, donkeys and more. Most of the sanctuary's 125 animals are resting at their animal evacuation center near Palmdale.

"It's not home sweet home, but it will certainly do for a couple days," Houston said.

After the fires in the area in 2007, Animal Acres officials realized that they needed to build an evacuation center for the farm animals, just in case, Houston said.

"With the type of animals we have, the number, you can't just pop into someone's backyard and say, 'Can you take care of my dog?' "

Several goats and sheep are still at the sanctuary, but volunteers are ready to load them into a trailer in case the fire moves toward the sanctuary. "We do have everybody out who is difficult to move or time-consuming," Houston said.

-- My-Thuan Tran

   

Evacuee who may have lost home awaits word on animals left behind

Sallie Lynne heard from a neighbor that her home on Aliso Canyon Road near Acton had burned down.

She waited this morning at a roadblock just a few miles from her residence, anxious to find out what had happened to the animals she left behind: a blind cow, two calves, 20 sheep and 50 chickens. Lynne, who was sitting in her truck at Aliso Canyon Road and Avenue Y8, was hoping authorities would allow her past the barricades.

“We just want to go up there and see how bad it is, and check on our animals,” she said.

She was evacuated at 4 a.m. Sunday but was allowed briefly back into her home, where she showered and grabbed some clothes. A neighbor later called to say her home had burned down but that her animals were fine. Lynne was still concerned they might have been affected by the smoke.

“I hope they’re OK in the short term, but there could be long-term effects,” she said.

-- Jason Song in Acton

Big cat animal preserve in Acton readies for fire

Lions, tigers and fire -- oh my!

Flames are roaring across the street from the Shambala Preserve, an exotic animal center in Acton. But the 64 lions, tigers, leopards and other big cats that live here are staying put.

As firefighters beat back flames and helicopters fly overhead, a big male lion is sunning himself, said Chris Gallucci, vice president of operations.

The area around the preserve is under mandatory evacuation order, Gallucci said, but the crew at the preserve has decided to stay and fight the fire, if necessary.

"We have everything to fight fires on this property," Gallucci said. "Our plan is to hold in place. We have done this for 40 years. We are very good at what we do."

The preserve has dozens of steel evacuation crates ready to go in case the 64 big cats need to be moved. It also has equipment to beat back flames: A 22,000-gallon water tank, a lake and a complete fire road around the 80-acre site, Gallucci said.

Fire forces Acton family to take stock of what is important

The bluff overlooking Bootlegger Canyon in Acton is filled with nervous homeowners and dozens of firefighters, who were looking out onto the smoldering hills and several spots where the ridges are engulfed in flames 20 to 25 feet high.

The fire is chewing its way through the thick brush and illuminating the dark sky. One of the residents, Kathy Howald, looked out onto her house about 1/2 mile away and saw the blinking lights of fire trucks.

At 2:30 a.m. a police officer drove through her neighborhood calling for a voluntary evacuation.

About an hour later, an automated call instructed her that the evacuation was now mandatory. Howald said she and her husband called for someone to pick up the horses, but the horses refused to get into the trailer. 

L.A. Equestrian Center fills up with horses, donkeys in path of fire

The Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park was the place horse and donkey owners in the path of the Station fire could take their animals -- until late Saturday, that is.

That's when the center filled up and officials were telling owners they needed to haul their horses to Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

-- Amber Smith 

 

 Photos: Southland wildfires

Two aging elephants brought to San Diego Zoo for veterinary care

Two Asian elephants in need of better veterinary care have been removed from a Texas facility by the federal government and brought to the San Diego Zoo.

Jewel and Tina, both thought to be in their 40s, arrived at the zoo Saturday after being removed from Leggett, Texas, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos and other animal facilities.

The Leggett facility's owner agreed to the removal as part of a deal in which the government dropped its demand for fines.

The zoo's Prebys Elephant Care Center is designed to minister to aging elephants. Jewel and Tina will not be on public exhibit for several months, zoo officials said.

Officials hope the two will eventually integrate into the herd of seven elephants at the zoo's Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey, opened this spring.

-- Tony Perry

Photo: Jewel, left, and Tina, Asian elephants now at the San Diego Zoo. Credit: San Diego Zoo

Dodgers vs. Cubs vs. bees: Swarm infests left field pavilion

A swarm of bees invaded the left field pavilion at Dodger Stadium today in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ game against the Chicago Cubs. Security guards cleared the lower half of section 313.

The Dodgers won 2-0.

-- Dylan Hernandez at Dodger Stadium

Photo: A section of left-field pavilion is cleared of fans after a swarm of bees is discovered. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times.