English police search for stolen shark

From England comes a caper worthy of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Missing Shark. The Associated Press tells the tale:

LONDON — British police were searching for a shark stolen from an aquatics shop over the weekend in southern England.

The female Australian marbled cat shark was one of a breeding pair kept in a converted garage in the back of a store owned by Peter Newman in Farnborough, about 20 miles west of London’s Heathrow Airport, police said Tuesday.

The shark, two feet long and mottled brown, is rare in Britain, police said. Newman, 68, said he realized the shark was missing Saturday morning when he found the door to the converted garage ajar and the lights on inside.

“I’m just very angry really,” he told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “Whoever came in there clearly knew what they were after. They probably would have taken the pair, but the male’s a bit harder to catch really.”

The two sharks have produced seven pups, which are kept in an adjacent tank, Newman said. None of them were taken in the theft. His wife, June Newman, said the pair might together be worth as much as $20,000 because of their rarity.

She said her husband might have left a door unlocked. She also said she was puzzled by the theft, explaining that it would have been difficult to snatch the shark because the top of the tank was around five feet off the ground. “It’s mind-boggling to me as to how this shark has been taken,” she said.

Earthquakes and animals

Across Southern California, the 5.4 earthquake rattled furry nerves and ruffled feathers--literally.

"My birds felt it first," reported one reader. "They were all fluffy and upset a few seconds before it happened."

In Chino Hills, the epicenter of the quake, Alissa Sissung's 10-year-old daughter, Delaney, was spending the day at a horse camp not far from her home. Just before the ground began to quiver, her daughter watched the horses and dogs stir nervously, Sissung told Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske.

Another reader e-mailed: "I was feeding my horse when all of a sudden, he took off running. Seconds later is when the earthquake hit."

And word filtered in to us from Garden Grove about a greyhound at a rescue shelter who  rarely gets up, but who suddenly stood up and looked around, to the surprise of the humans there. Then the earthquake hit.

Whether they really could sense the earthquake a'coming--as fabled--or were as jolted into surprise as their people, the area's animals seem to have withstood the temblor as well as humans did.

Although, like people, they did their share of freaking out. "My cats went running through the room scared to death," Michael Gelfond, an attorney working out of his Beverlywood home office, told Times reporter Tami Abdollah.

Judge dismisses lawsuit filed over Frontier Days

From the Associated Press:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A federal judge in Wyoming has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the booking company for Cheyenne Frontier Days against an animal rights group.

U.S. District Judge William Downes ruled Tuesday that the lawsuit by Omaha, Neb.-based Romeo Entertainment Group was not filed in the correct state.

Romeo Entertainment filed the lawsuit after the rock band Matchbox Twenty pulled out of a scheduled performance at this year's Frontier Days.

The suit names Illinois-based SHARK, which stands for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, and its president Steve Hindi.

The lawsuit contends the group and Hindi used "false and misleading information" and "threats of negative publicity" to persuade Matchbox Twenty and singer Carrie Underwood to cancel performances at the Cheyenne rodeo.

The entertainers are not being sued in the lawsuit.

Romeo Entertainment lawyers say they're considering their next move.

Did your pet feel the earthquake?

Did your cat get anxious before the ground began to shake? (The kitten above expressed distress after China's recent earthquake.) Did your dog try to hustle you to safety? Share your animal stories with other readers of L.A. Unleashed in the comments section below.

Photo: Associated Press

PETA to Obama: wanting a purebred dog is elitist

It's no big secret that Barack and Michelle Obama have promised their daughters a dog once the presidential campaign is over. But with the family reportedly considering a hypoallergenic goldendoodle (Lizzie, at right, is one), animal groups have been offering loads of advice on what breeds they should buy--or adopt--instead.

The American Kennel Club has asked Americans to vote on list of five "hypoallergenic" breeds, and the Best Friends Animal Society wants the Obamas to adopt that dog from an animal shelter, saying that to buy an animal from a breeder would be unethical while millions of animals face euthanasia in animal shelters.

The latest to weigh in is Ingrid E. Newkirk, President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who wrote a letter to the Obamas today, urging them to adopt a mutt and saying, "This country is proud to be a melting pot, and there is something deeply wrong and elitist about wanting only a purebred dog."

"Millions of Great American Mutts—the dog that should be our national dog—are set to die in our nation’s extremely overcrowded pounds and shelters for lack of good homes," she wrote. "Compassionate people nationwide are choosing to adopt a homeless pound puppy—a grateful refugee from a society that has not always treated the true 'underdog' kindly—rather than cater to special interests who do not have dogs’ interests at heart."

So it looks like PETA is trying to appeal to Obama's pledge to keep special interests--in this case, dog breeders--out of politics. Which is interesting, considering PETA is a special interest itself. We'll probably have to wait until after the election to find out if the group's tactic worked.

The full letter after the jump....

--Tony Barboza

Puppy kills 2-month-old boy

The Associated Press reports:

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Police say a puppy has attacked and killed a 2-month-old boy who was left unattended in a swing.

Officer Jason Willingham said Monday the baby was mauled by the Labrador at the boy's home and died at the scene. He says the dog will most likely be destroyed.

Authorities have not yet released the infant's name. Willingham says the baby's mother and grandmother were home, but nobody was in the room at the time.

Police are unsure why the dog attacked.

The child's body was taken to the Medical Examiner's office. Willingham says police will forward their investigation to the district attorney to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

Sea otter fund makes it by a whisker

From The Times' new blog on environmental issues, Greenspace, comes this report from Kenneth R. Weiss (who also took the adorable photo):

It's not every day that people want to pay more taxes. But the tug on the heartstrings appears to be opening purse strings -- at least for another year.

California taxpayers have voluntarily donated $253,350 so far this year by checking a box on their income tax returns and making donations. The amount is important to proponents because it assures that the donation box will appear again on next year's state income tax returns, funneling more money to the California Sea Otter Fund.

The fund was established in 2006 by a pair of state lawmakers who wanted scientists to have more money to try to save the southern sea otter that has struggled for survival since it was hunted nearly to extinction by 19th century fur trappers. But the donations must keep flowing, at a rate of a quarter of a million dollars a year, for the fund to stay in operation.

"The generosity of Californians during tough economic times shows that support for our environment and emblematic animals like the sea otter runs deep in our state," said Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento).

He and John Laird, a Democratic assemblyman from Santa Cruz, fashioned the law to split the money between the state Coastal Conservancy and the California Department of Fish and Game for various research projects including those focused on diseases that kill otters and law enforcement actions against fishermen who shoot them.

Six-legged deer and Santeria: your afternoon animal news roundup

• A six-legged deer found in northern Georgia has found a home with a woman permitted to keep unique animals in captivity.
• Police officials in Miami-Dade County, Fla., said their new handbook will include a reminder to respect people's freedom to practice religion when responding to calls about ritual animal sacrifice. The decision comes a year after police in Coral Gables raided and detained people at a home where Santeria practitioners were slaughtering goats, chickens and pigeons.
• Animal services officers in the Northern California town of Boulder Creek confiscated 38 dogs and puppies from a home over the weekend after finding "more dead dogs than we could count" and dog heads hanging from trees.
• An animal activist was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for making bomb threats to disrupt animal testing at UC San Diego.
• And celebrity chef Rachael Ray has started a line of dog food based on recipes she concocted for her pit bull.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Associated Press

San Gabriel River becomes a deathbed for ducks

The deaths of at least 50 ducklings in the San Gabriel River that occurred because regulating the waterflow sometimes dries up the waterway, have raised questions about how to protect nature in an urban water system. The Times' Louis Sahagun reports:

What had been for the last six months a vibrant stream teeming with migrating waterfowls and shorebirds early last week became a dry San Gabriel River channel where vultures gorged themselves on ducklings that died when the flows dried up.

The discovery prompted calls for an investigation into the deaths of at least 20 cinnamon teal ducklings, 10 mallard ducklings and 20 adult mallards that had sought refuge in a shrinking pool of water in a concrete basin just south of Valley Boulevard in the city of Industry.

Civil engineers for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works -- Adam Walden, above right, and Sterling Klippel -- "expressed regret that the birds died but pointed out that their mission is to maintain a complex water system for millions of people county-wide, not to protect ducklings."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

A few words about pit bulls

Few creatures in the animal kingdom seem to generate as much heated comment as pit bulls, but L.A. Unleashed would like to remind readers (and the staff of L.A. Unleashed) that the so-called bully breed has many, many, many defenders. Two cases in point:

Last week, the Orange County Register reported that an owner advocacy group was furious about a Verizon Wireless TV commercial "in which two American pit bull terriers –- commonly known as pit –- bulls are portrayed as vicious guard dogs." The group calls itself ROVERlution.

The 30-second commercial has a young man climbing over a chain-link fence into a junkyard, attempting to obtain the Verizon LG Dare phone. He awakens two pit bulls, which are tied down with metal choke collars.

The dogs bark ferociously and lunge at the intruder. The dogs get within inches of the man before being yanked to a halt because the chains don't extend far enough.

A Verizon statement says the commercial with the dogs "is no longer on the schedule."