South L.A. man accused of running a cockfighting ring

A South Los Angeles man has been charged with running a cockfighting ring, the district attorney's office announced today.

Israel Ramirez, 52, was arrested Tuesday night on a warrant charging him with felony cockfighting, animal cruelty, possession of cockfighting paraphernalia and possession of birds with the intent to fight, officials said.

Los Angeles police received a tip last month about a cockfight in progress in the 1300 block of East 108th Street, according to a police report.

Officers apprehended Ramirez and 10 of about 30 spectators who ran from the scene.

-- Joanna Lin

Woman gets prison term for animal cruelty

A Lancaster woman has been sentenced to two years and eight months in state prison after pleading no contest to animal cruelty charges, CBS2 news reports:

The charges stemmed from a dog and a horse that had to be put down after Animal Control officers found the neglected animals. Janis Ridgeway Damiani, 57, was the manager of a horse rescue in Pearblossom where, authorities said, a number of horses were kept in deplorable conditions that included being underfed.

Twenty-eight other animal cruelty charges filed against her earlier this month were dismissed as a result of the plea, according to John Nantroup, head deputy of the district attorney's Antelope Valley office.

Those charges involved 14 other horses and 14 cats that were starving or severely injured and had to be euthanized, authorities said.

Man enters plea on attempted dog-drowning charge

A 20-year-old man accused of trying to drown his Shih Tzu, Toby, after the dog defecated on a carpet pleaded no contest today to felony animal cruelty, officials said.

Casey Purser was charged with the single felony count on Oct. 4, 2007, following his arrest.  Purser had been in jail on an unrelated drug case and was released on bail three days earlier, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

When Purser returned to his Van Nuys home, he found that the Shih Tzu, one of his two dogs, had defecated on the carpet. He allegedly threw the dog into a bathtub and held it under water, Gibbons said.

A neighbor rescued the dog, gave it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and took it to a veterinarian. The animal survived. Purser’s other dog, a pit bull puppy named Evesue, was taken by authorities when Purser was arrested at the veterinarian’s office.

At his arraignment hearing Friday, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Richard Kirschner ordered Purser to undergo a 90-day diagnostic study prior to sentencing, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Creighton.

Released on bond, Purser was ordered to surrender on Aug. 4 for the study, Creighton said.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Extending legal rights to apes

Who says that Europeans are concerned only with bad pop music and the strength of the Euro?

Last month, L.A. Unleashed reported that Austrian animal rights activists are fighting to get a 26-year-old chimpanzee legally declared a "person," and they say they have filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

Now it turns out that Spain is pondering the idea of extending legal rights to apes. The Times of London reports:

In what is thought to be the first time a national legislature has granted such rights to animals, the Spanish parliament’s environmental committee voted to approve resolutions committing the country to the Great Apes Project, designed by scientists and philosophers who say that humans’ closest biological relatives also deserve rights.

The resolution, adopted with crossparty support, calls on the government to promote the Great Apes Project internationally and ensure the protection of apes from “abuse, torture and death.”

“This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights,” Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told The Times. “It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.”

Reactions to the vote were mixed. Many Spaniards were perplexed that the country should consider it a priority when the economy is slowing sharply and Spain has been rocked by violent fuel protests. Others thought it was a strange decision, given that Spain has no wild apes of its own.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

Lassie lobbies Sacramento

Animal welfare advocates behind a state bill requiring Californians to neuter or spay their pets claimed some measure of victory Wednesday in Sacramento. 

AB 1634 -- which passed the Assembly last year -- cleared the tough hurdle of winning approval in the state Senate's Local Government Committee. But not before the bill was changed dramatically.

Now, AB 1634 requires spaying or neutering only when a dog has three official violations of an animal ordinance against it. (Excessive barking is not enough.) For a cat, it's two violations. The bill -- kind of a "three strikes" law for dogs -- is expected to go to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The bitterly contested bill has fervent supporters and opponents. And one of its high-profile foes is Lassie (pictured at a legislative meeting last year), who trod his way through the halls of the state Capitol this year and last to oppose the bill. (Check out Lassie working the Capitol.) 

Well, not the Lassie of the classic TV show who saved Timmie over and over again and made you tear up as that melancholy theme music played. It was actually Laddie, the son of the son of the son of -- oh, just suffice it to say he's the ninth-generation Lassie. Or Lassie IX, as he is officially called by his trainer, Bob Weatherwax, the son of Rudd Weatherwax, the trainer of the first Lassie. (Classic Media, which owns the rights to TV Lassie, no longer uses Weatherwax Lassies.) 

Alas, Lassie or Laddie -- and he bears a striking resemblance to that original Lassie -- failed in his lobbying efforts. He did get to attend the hearing Wednesday morning and watch the vote.

"Somehow this dog has magical powers and gets to go wherever he wants," mused Zak Meyer-Krings, legislative assistant to Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Woodland Hills), who introduced the bill.

Although even Laddie isn't exempt from the measure. (No exemptions for any animal.) If he gets in serious trouble three times, he could be neutered.

The point of the bill in both its incarnations is to stem shelter euthanasia, supporters say. "In California, we have a million dogs and cats going into animal shelters and we euthanize 500,000 of them every single year," Levine said Tuesday. "This is a way to bring down the number of animals going into shelters." 

It also costs the municipal shelters of the state millions overall to house and euthanize animals, he noted. Levine's spokesperson adds that the bill gives animal control officers a way to target "irresponsible owners."

-- Carla Hall

Photo: Hector Amezcua / Sacramento Bee

Grand jury calls for fire prevention upgrades at Lake Elsinore shelter

A grand jury recommended installing smoke detectors at an animal shelter in Lake Elsinore where a fire killed 39 puppies and kittens, the Associated Press reports:

The Riverside County jury issued a report last week recommending upgrades to the shelter where 39 puppies and kittens died in February after an electrical fire broke out in a wooden trailer being used as a temporary shelter.

The report also recommended upgrading lighting, providing better drainage to eliminate flooding during rains, providing more room for larger dogs and taking more measures to prevent parvovirus, which killed two dogs at the shelter in March.

Fifteen Himalayan cats and 24 dogs housed in a trailer perished in the fire, The Times reported in February.

Shelter officials told the Associated Press that many of the recommended changes already were in place, including the addition of smoke detectors:

“We did it within a few weeks of the fire,” said Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys, the nonprofit group that runs the shelter.

Since the fire, many animals have been living in temporary kennels under canopies, said Bagwell, pictured above after the fire ravaged the shelter.

However, the shelter recently got a replacement trailer that should be ready to use in a few weeks, Bagwell said.

Animal Friends has planned to build a permanent shelter in Wildomar for years but government approval has been delayed over issues ranging from parking lot design to protection of burrowing owls at the site, Bagwell said.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times

PETCO pet food seized after federal warrant issued

U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center located in Joliet, Ill., following orders under a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court in Chicago, officials said Thursday.

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals seized all FDA-regulated animal food susceptible to rodent and pest contamination. The products violated the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act because it was alleged in a case filed by the United States Attorney that they were being held under unsanitary conditions.

During an FDA inspection of a PETCO distribution center in April, widespread and active rodent and bird infestation was found. The FDA inspected the facility again in May and found continuing and widespread infestation, officials said.

The Illinois distribution center provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

California's PETCO stores were not issued products from the Joliet distribution center, according to the FDA.

If a pet has become ill after eating these food products, FDA officials said pet owners should contact their veterinarian and report illnesses to FDA state consumer complaint coordinators.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Pandas, sharks and more -- an animal news roundup from today's Times

The eight young pandas evacuated during the recent earthquakes in China have become the Beijing Zoo's media darlings, Barbara Demick reports.

Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta can pay to swim with whale sharks, but some experts says the practice could be risky for the sharks, Richard Fausset reports.

Speaking of risk, some SoCal surfers are opting to take the risk of a swim in the shark-populated waters at a beach north of Ixtapa, Mexico, Pete Thomas reports.

President Bush urges offshore drilling in wildlife refuge areas, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagrees with tampering with California's coast.

Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a nonprofit coalition of hunting, fishing and other organizations, filed  a lawsuit against the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court in Washington, saying the government agency "failed unequivocally" to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife in Wyoming, Tami Abdollah reports.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's refusal to let firms test for mad cow disease denies consumers a safety net, a Times editorial says.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Andy Wong/Associated Press

South Korea will not import U.S. meat from older cattle

South Korea's president vowed Sunday not to allow the import of meat from older cattle, in hopes of quelling public anger at the resumption of beef imports from the United States, the Associated Press reports:

President Lee Myung-bak's comments came as the chief U.S. and South Korean trade envoys met in Washington on the dispute. But today, the Foreign Ministry said that there was no breakthrough.

"The government stance is firm that beef from cattle older than 30 months will not be brought" into South Korea, Lee said. Meat from older cattle is thought to be at greater risk of carrying mad cow disease.

Talks will continue through diplomatic channels, the Foreign Ministry said.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Vets concerned about turning over records on rabies vaccinations

Here's a privacy issue that hadn't occurred to us before we read about it in the San Jose Mercury News:

A new policy aimed at controlling rabies and raising more money for San Jose Animal Care and Service is drawing fire from veterinarians because it will force them to turn over the names and addresses of clients who get rabies shots for their pets.

City officials hope to use the information to get more pets registered, but several vets said they fear the new policy will keep pet owners - especially those with more than the legal limit - from getting rabies shots for their cats and dogs.

The city's concern "is revenue, our concern is privacy," said Walter Hoge, owner of Camden Pet Hospital on Camden Avenue. "And if they start doing this, people will not get their pets vaccinated because they won't want to deal with privacy concerns."

The new policy, set to go into effect July 1, requires that all veterinarians who practice in San Jose provide to San Jose Animal Care and Service the pet owner's name, address and phone number, in addition to information about the pet and the date of the rabies vaccination.

Taking their beef peacefully to the streets

About 80,000 people demonstrated in Seoul against U.S. beef imports, with candlelight vigils lasting into the early hours today. President Lee Myung-bak was expected to accept Cabinet resignations over the issue.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Dong-A Ilbo/Associated Press

Deputies arrest animal rescuer

Deputies arrested a well-known animal rescuer in the Mojave area Friday, accusing her of abusing animals, the Bakersfield Californian reports:

The new Grand Jury charges against Cynthia Bemis added to the dozens of animal cruelty charges already filed against the 59-year-old woman, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Department. Bemis is facing 15 criminal charges of failing to care for animals in San Bernardino Court and 20 animal cruelty charges in Kern County Superior Court.

Under a court order, Bemis must submit to weekly inspections by Animal Control at her property located at East Trotter Avenue southeast of Mojave, said Sgt. Richard Wood with the Sheriff’s Department. Officers impounded two cats and nine dogs in a raid on Bemis’ property in February after a report of several animals being unhealthy.

Deputies also arrested Cynthia Trapani, 47, at Bemis’ property on Friday, deputies said. Trapani, who works with Bemis, is accused of shoving an animal control officer in an inspection in February, Wood said.

Humane Society calls for ban on lead ammo after condor crisis

The Humane Society of the United States today urged a nationwide ban on lead-shot ammunition after the lead poisoning of critically endangered California condors. One of the birds has died, "evidence that this ammo keeps on killing long after it leaves the gun barrel," the society said.

"Like asbestos, lead shot is a lethal and cruel pollutant that has no place in our modern society,” Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the society, said in a statement released today.

“Discharging countless tons of lead-shot ammunition and dispersing it in open space areas throughout the nation is a prescription for slow agonizing deaths for wildlife, particularly for scavengers such as condors who feed on animals killed by lead shot and are then poisoned themselves," he said. "It's time for policymakers to stand up to the extremist voices within the hunting lobby and demand that hunters use nontoxic shot.”

The poisoned condors account for one-fifth of the entire Southern California population of the creatures.

California enacted a law forbidding the use of lead shot, and lead bullets, in condor territory beginning July 1.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Scott Frier / Associated Press

L.A. man sentenced to five years for dogfighting

A 55-year-old South Los Angeles man has been sentenced to five years in prison for dogfighting, the Associated Press reports.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kimberly Abourezk said Wednesday that Jerome Hayden Woods was sentenced in Superior Court after pleading no contest to four counts related to dogfighting.

At the time of Woods' arrest in January, authorities said officers found 11 scarred, emaciated pit bulls; exercise equipment; bloody towels; and bloodstained fighting pits.

Woods also must pay $11,900 for the care of the seized dogs. Some of them were euthanized, and others were put up for adoption.

Massachusetts considers a ban on pet rentals

Maryann Mott, who writes exclusively about pets for a variety of national publications, will be blogging at L.A. Unleashed from time to time. She lives in Arizona with K.C., a rescued Akita mix, and Sasha, an energetic 8-year-old Belgian sheepdog. You can see more of her work at petwriter.com.

FlexPetz caused quite a stir last year after opening its dog renting business in New York, Los Angeles and London. Now animal welfare advocates in Boston are trying to stop the company for setting up shop in their state.

A hearing is scheduled Thursday on House Bill 4753, which would prevent commercial entities from leasing dogs or cats by the hour or day in Massachusetts. If passed, the bill would be the first such law in the country.

FlexPetz charges busy urbanites thousands of dollars in yearly fees for the ability to spend time with one of the dogs from their canine fleet of Afghan hounds, Labrador retrievers and Boston terriers.

According to an Associated Report in July, Marlena Cervantes, founder of FlexPetz, bristles when people refer to her five-month-old business as a rent-a-pet service. She prefers the term "shared pet ownership," explaining the concept is more akin to a vacation time share or a gym membership than a trip to the video store.

Wild horses aren't in the land of the free, author says

Wild horses, better known as mustangs, have been protected by federal laws since the early 1970s, but many are still being shipped off by cattle ranchers to the slaughterhouse, says Deanne Stillman in today's Opinion section:

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 2 million mustangs in the wilderness; according to the government, there are about 23,000 on public lands in the Western states now, and more than half are in Nevada. Wild horse advocates, however, say the number is much lower. Because the animals have been "zeroed out" from at least 100 of their 300 official herd areas (contrary to the 1971 law's provisions), they may be on the brink of no return.

Many cattle ranchers have long regarded wild horses as "pests" that steal food from their herds. The livestock lobby has tried to dismantle the wild horse and burro law through four U.S. administrations, and it has the political clout to push policy toward a mustang-free America.

Stillman writes that the mustangs are more than just animals but symbolize America's heritage, and urges a moratorium on wild horse removals until a population count is conducted.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Katey Barret/Times archive

That's not 'amore' for the pigeons of Venice

Anyone who's wandered the charming Piazza San Marco in Venice knows that the only staple of the square isn't just the breathtaking architecture and lovely surrounding canals, but a familiar site to Americans: pigeons. People pay a few euros for a small bag of feed at many squares in Italy -- and most of Europe -- encouraging the birds to land on their arms or hands.

But not all are fans, as evidenced in today's Column One by Times foreign correspondent Tracy Wilkinson, in which we learn of a battle between pigeon lovers and haters:

A band of animal lovers armed with skull-and-crossbones flags zips over the choppy Venice lagoon in speedboats. They dock at the palace-lined piazza, lug out 20-pound sacks of birdseed and scatter the food for all to eat. Or peck.

The pirate pigeon-saviors have made three lightning raids into St. Mark's, the first two at the crack of dawn and now, at midday, to deliberately confront the police and their ban on feeding the birds.

So goes Venice's battle over its ever-multiplying pigeons. "Flying rats," in the view of the mayor -- airborne menaces that poop all over precious, centuries-old marble statues. "Cool," in the view of many tourists -- can you imagine a picture of St. Mark's without them?

Part One of the city's anti-pigeon plan, launched May 1, was to force the 19 licensed bird feed vendors to close their kiosks. Eventually, people trying to feed the birds will be fined, city officials say.

"The problem is the number," says Pierantonio Belcaro, Venice's chief environmental officer. By City Hall's calculation, Venice should accommodate, ideally, about 2,400 pigeons. Instead, he says, there are 60,000.

But Venice lawmakers aren't the only ones frustrated with the birds. Last year Hollywood became the first area in the nation to employ birth control -- in the form of kibble on rooftops -- to shrink the pigeon population pooping on the cars and buildings they adore.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Tracy Wilkinson/Los Angeles Times

Conservation group wants Pacific walruses protected

A conservation group announced this week it will sue to force federal action on a petition to list the Pacific walrus as a threatened species because of global warming and offshore petroleum development, Dan Joling of the Associated Press reports:

The deadline was May 8 for an initial 90-day review of the petition by the U.S. Department of the Interior, according to Center for Biological Diversity attorney Brendan Cummings. The group filed the petition back in February.

Shaye Wolf, a biologist and lead author of the petition, said Arctic sea ice is disappearing faster than the best predictions of climate models.

"As the sea ice recedes, so does the future of the Pacific walrus," she said.

The Center for Biological Diversity was one of three conservation groups that successfully petitioned to have polar bears listed as threatened because of sea ice loss caused by global warming, a decision announced this month by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. That listing also followed court action to force deadline decisions, though.

Listing a species as "threatened" means it is likely to become endangered, government officials said. "Endangered" is more dire and means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or much of its range.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Associated Press

Activists push greyhound protection measure in Arizona

Those who are following the saga of Riley the greyhound on L.A. Unleashed may be interested to learn that officials at the Tuscon Greyhound Park are unhappy about a grassroots ballot measure.

The measure, called the Tucson Dog Protection Act, was drafted by a group called Tucson Dog Protection and is spearheaded by retired Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan Via. To reach the ballot, the measure needs 70 signatures.

The measure would amend the existing animal cruelty section of the South Tucson City Code. (South Tucson is a 1-square-mile community surrounded by Tucson.) The proposed measure contains three provisions that address steroids, confinement and feeding dogs tainted raw meat.

Tucson Greyhound Park would be affected enough by the measure that it could eventually be pushed out of business, said Tom Taylor, the park's chief executive.

Photo: Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times

Activists want chimp declared a person

Somehow, as we planned for Memorial Day weekend (hot dogs or chicken? Indy or Iron Man? "Living Lohan" or "Deadliest Catch"?)  we missed some of the most important animal news ever.

Austrian animal rights activists are fighting to get a 26-year-old chimpanzee legally declared a "person," and they say they have filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The International Herald Tribune reports:

The Vienna-based Assn. Against Animal Factories insists the chimp needs that legal standing so a guardian can be appointed to look out for his interests — especially if the bankrupt animal shelter caring for him shuts down....

In January, Austria's Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that had rejected the activists' request to have a trustee appointed for the chimp. The high court ruled that under Austrian law, only people are entitled to have guardians.

The full name of the chimp, above, is Matthew Hiasl Pan. Last year, the shelter where he lived filed for bankruptcy protection.

(This all raises another question: Can a human be legally declared a chimp? We can offer up candidates if pressed.)

--  Alice Short

Photo: Lilli Strauss / Associated Press

A ban on imports from foreign puppy mills for commercial sale

The Humane Society of the United States--not surprisingly--was closely following the just-passed Farm Bill (the Senate and the House overrode a presidential veto). HSUS says the bill ushered in "key new protections for animals." According to an HSUS release:

The final bill -- which is now considered law, except for one section excluded due to a technical glitch -- bans the import of puppies from foreign puppy mills for commercial sale in the U.S. The law spares young, unweaned, and unvaccinated pups from harsh, long-distance transport -- during which they are exposed to extreme temperatures and often die in cargo holds -- and will keep foreign breeders from adding to the tragic overpopulation of pets in this country.

The Farm Bill also adds a provision to federal law to make almost any form of animal fighting a federal felony. It's also now a federal crime to knowingly possess or train animals for fighting, and the maximum prison time for a single violation of any section of the law goes from three years to five years. It is hard to overstate what a blow this is to dogfighters and cockfighters, and it brings us one step closer to eradicating these criminal industries.

The Associated Press reports that about two-thirds of the law would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps, which would see increases of around $1 billion a year. About $40 billion is for farm subsidies and almost $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and for other environmental programs.

--Alice Short

Photo: Craig Mathews/Associated Press

Canada, U.S. agree on salmon protection

The U.S. and Canada have reached a new 10-year agreement aimed at preventing overfishing of salmon off the western coast of Canada and southeast Alaska, Rachel La Corte of the Associated Press reports:

The plan announced Thursday by the Pacific Salmon Commission could most affect chinook salmon, which migrate from Washington to the waters of British Columbia and Alaska, where they are often caught by sport and commercial fisheries.

Under the proposed change to the existing Pacific Salmon Treaty, the U.S. would give Canada $30 million for its effort to reduce commercial salmon fishing; Alaska would receive about $7 million. Washington would receive about $7 million to improve chinook habitat.

Alaska will reduce its catch of wild salmon 15% over the next 10 years; Canada will make a 30% reduction.

The agreement comes less than a month after federal authorities declared the West Coast ocean salmon fishery a failure, opening the way for Congress to appropriate economic disaster assistance for coastal communities in California, Oregon and Washington.

The declaration stemmed from the sudden collapse of the chinook salmon run in California's Sacramento River, where the salmon return to spawn.

Scientists are studying the causes of the collapse, with possible factors including ocean conditions, habitat destruction, dam operations and agricultural pollution, but the agreement does not address the the issue.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times

Felony charges for pit bull owner in attack on officer

Felony charges have been filed against a Lakewood owner of a pit bull that attacked and seriously hurt a Southeast Area Animal Control Authority officer, the Associated Press reports:

Antoynette Michelle Jenkins is charged with one count of owning mischievous dogs causing bodily injuries for a May 7 pit bull attack on officer Vince Hernandez, who underwent surgery for injuries to his right hand and arm.

Los Angeles County prosecutors also charged the Lakewood woman with two counts of animal cruelty because of the unhealthy condition of her dogs.

Hernandez went to the Jenkins home after she had agreed to give up three of her five dogs to comply with a city ordinance permitting only two dogs per household. A pit bull named Rocky attacked the officer and the other dogs joined in.

Endangered species officials under investigation

A congressional investigator with the Government Accountability Office asserted Wednesday that at least four Interior Department officials might have inappropriately interfered in decisions on protecting endangered species, the Associated Press reports:

The allegation came during a House hearing on purported interference by Julie MacDonald, an Interior official who resigned last year after the department's inspector general found that she had pressured government scientists to alter their findings about endangered species and leaked information to industry officials.

The Bush administration later reversed seven rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection, such as the Canada lynx pictured above, saying they had been tainted.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Jack Smith / AP

Amazon to stop selling disputed cockfighting magazines

It may be a little harder for "chicken aficionados" to get their hands on the Gamecock and the Feathered Warrior, both the subject of a federal animal cruelty lawsuit that was settled this week when the magazines' publisher agreed to ask Amazon.com to stop selling its publications online, the Associated Press reports.

In 2006, the Humane Society of the United States asked the U.S. Postal Service to stop delivering the magazines. Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle, pictured at right with the magazines in question, explained in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece last year that the group also began fighting with Amazon because it was trafficking materials that "incite cockfighting."

Amazon has argued that it has a constitutional right to sell the publications and called pulling them from sale a form of censorship, according to the AP.

The Humane Society last year sued Amazon demanding the online retailer stop selling the Gamecock, which the group called "the oldest and best-known cockfighting magazine in the United States." An attorney for the Marburger Publishing Co. described the magazine much differently, saying it was appealing to "chicken aficionados."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Robert A. Reeder / Washington Post

USDA to tighten cow slaughter rules

The government plans to close a loophole in meat inspection rules that led to the record recall of 143 million pounds of ground beef this year. The Baltimore Sun's Jonathan D. Rockoff reports:

The Department of Agriculture will prohibit meat plants from slaughtering any cow that can't stand and walk on its own at any point after it arrives at a plant, Schafer said.

The rule would eliminate existing provisions that allow plants to send "downer," or sick, cows to slaughter if they fall ill after passing an initial inspection and then pass a second inspection.

"I believe it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that go down after an initial inspection," [Agriculture Secretary Edward T.] Schafer said in a statement. The new rule should be in effect by the end of the year.

The revision of the rules was prompted by an undercover Humane Society video showing abuse of sick cows at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino that lead to a massive recall earlier this year.

-Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Cezaro De Luca/EPA

'No pets on lap' law among proposals affecting drivers

In today's Times, Patrick McGreevy takes a deeper look into the proposed law that would ban live animals from being on drivers' laps (among other proposals that could affect California's drivers):

Assemblyman Bill Maze (R-Visalia) said he introduced the bill against lap dogs after a car passed him with two large canines hanging out a window and a third in the driver's lap.

"It's a very dangerous thing for the drivers and others," Maze said. "It's a distraction."

Maze is unfazed by national radio personality Rush Limbaugh's derision of his measure. "Talk about the land of fruits and nuts," Limbaugh told listeners recently.

And Maze doesn't care that other critics have ridiculed the measure as the "Paris Hilton bill," after the celebrity partygoer who often totes a tiny dog with her.

"I don't know anything about her," Maze said.

But Dick Messer, above, the director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, likes driving around with his Pomeranian, named Peaches, on his lap. He thinks the proposed law is "ridiculous":

"It's just nuts, the stuff legislators come up with instead of dealing with the real problems facing the state: crime, the economy, the . . . budget deficit," Messer says.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times

Conservation groups sue to broaden polar bear decision

Conservation groups that sued to list polar bears as threatened are back in court, the Associated Press reports, taking aim at what they say is the animals' top threat -- greenhouse gas emissions that have led to the rapid melting of polar bear habitat: sea ice.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council announced today they have challenged administrative actions by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to keep greenhouse gas regulation off the table for a polar bear recovery plan. ...

In response to a court-ordered deadline last week, Kempthorne announced polar bears would be listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

But echoing President Bush, he said he would not allow the Endangered Species Act to be "misused" to regulate global climate change.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had not made a "causal connection" between development actions and loss of a polar bear, he said last week. ...

In court filings late Friday that amend their original lawsuit, the conservation groups asked U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland to reject Kempthorne's administrative actions and apply endangered species law to polar bears.

Photo: Daniel Maurer / Associated Press

DMX makes a court appearance

Rapper DMX has been arraigned on four felony drug charges and seven misdemeanor animal-cruelty charges. He is scheduled to be back in court July 2, according to the Arizona Republic:

Dressed in a white baggy T-shirt and dingy jeans, Simmons walked into Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Lisa VandenBerg's courtroom at 9:30 a.m., an hour late. VandenBerg entered a not-guilty plea on all 11 charges for the internationally known rapper...

The animal-cruelty and drug charges stem from an early-morning May 9 search of Simmons' Cave Creek-area home by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies.

The search warrant was served seven months after the Sheriff's Office launched a high-profile investigation into reports that Simmons was neglecting 12 pit bulls. Some were dehydrated and appeared to be underfed. Three were found buried in his backyard.

DMX had no comment on the charges.

Spotted owl recovery plan released

The Associated Press reports that the Bush administration has released a final recovery plan for the northern spotted owl that officials say could lead to recovery of the threatened bird in 30 years.

The plan outlines a series of 34 steps to halt the owl's decline, reduce threats and return a stable owl population in Washington, Oregon and California.

The recovery plan identifies the primary threats as habitat loss due to logging and catastrophic wildfires. Competition from the barred owl, a related species, is also a factor.

Critics said the report was an improvement over a draft plan last year. But they say it doesn't do enough to restrict logging old-growth forests where the bird lives.

The northern spotted owl is protected as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Chicago lifts ban on foie gras

Chicago on Wednesday overturned its two-year ban on foie gras, the delicacy made from the fattened livers of ducks and geese, the Chicago Tribune reported. The ban, slipped into a routine City Council vote in 2006, earned the city international attention: admiration from animal rights groups and ire from the culinary world.

Reaction to the repeal was swift. Relieved chefs, including Christophe Pouy, above, celebrated, and began preparing the controversial dish in time for dinner last night.

Chef Didier Durand, who led the fight against the ban, told the Tribune, "We're going to paint the town with foie gras."

Animal rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, decried the reversal, calling it "dirty political maneuvering" by the food industry and saying the city was "right the first time in banning this hideously cruel product."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune

Polar bear ruling may send tourists to Canadian town

The Bush administration's decision to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act likely means more tourists will flock to a tiny Canadian town on Hudson Bay where bears are the star attraction every fall. Read all about the polar bears on the home page of the L.A. Times travel section.

Photo:Subhankar Banerjee/Associated Press

Polar bears are now endangered species

Polar bears, which have become a symbol in debate over global warming, today were added to the federal list of endangered species, the Times' Ken Weiss reports:

The Bush administration today designated the polar bear as threatened with extinction, making the big arctic bear, whose fate clings to shrinking sea ice, the first creature added to the endangered species list primarily because of global warming.

The designation invokes federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, the nation's most powerful environmental law that requires designation of critical habitat to be protected as well as forming a strategy to assist the bear population's recovery.

The decision came only after a U.S. District Court in Oakland forced the Bush administration's hand by imposing a May 15 deadline for the decision that was supposed to have been completed by Jan. 9.

It was the first time in more than two years that the Interior Department extended protections to another species under the Endangered Species Act -- the longest hiatus of new listings by the department since President Richard Nixon signed the law in 1973.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who announced the decision today, says in a news release that "this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting. Any real solution requires action by all major economies for it to be effective."

That seems to mean that the debate over listing polar bears and how protecting them might translate into policies to stem climate change is far from over. Nor are requests for even further protection.

As Weiss reports, U.S. conservation groups have already been urging the Interior Department to give the polar bear a higher designation, one of "endangered with extinction," rather than merely "threatened."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Jonathan Hayward/AP

Lawsuit to stop elephant exhibit is dismissed

There's nothing like an elephant... in a zoo... to get many Angelenos riled up. Should the elephants stay or should they go? And what about that $40-million new elephant habitat under construction? Today, City News Service reports that a lawsuit filed to close the Los Angeles Zoo's current elephant exhibit and stop the construction of a new one was dismissed.

In the suit filed last Aug. 2 against the city and zoo director John Lewis, actor Robert Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider maintained zoo authorities have withheld medical care, kept the animals over the years confined in a small area, and used bull hooks and electric shock to control them.

They also maintained the larger exhibit would be a waste of taxpayer money. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley said the issues should be resolved in the political arena rather than in the courtroom.

“America is all about democracy,” Wiley said in granting the city’s motion to dismiss the case before trial. “Sometimes we like its results, and sometimes we abhor the results.”

While calling the arguments in the lawsuit compelling -- including opinions submitted from experts as far away as Australia -- Wiley said the grievances should be brought to the attention of the politicians who made the decisions to have an elephant exhibit and expand the one already there.

The Los Angeles Zoo’s elephant exhibit is currently home to a 21-year-old Asian elephant named Billy. The $40-million exhibit under construction, set to open in 2009 and be called Pachyderm Forest, is designed hold up to five adult Asian elephants and three of their offspring.

Europe's new wave of animal activism -- saving bulls and coddling fish

Animal activism, it seems, is catching on in Europe. A report in the Houston Chronicle explains that the animal rights movement is affecting, among other things, bullfighting.

Spain's iconic sport, bullfighting, is known for its ferocity and flair. But the centuries-old spectacle may have met its match in an equally tenacious opponent: Europe's animal rights movement.

For the first time Thursday, doping tests were introduced at Spain's most prestigious bullfighting festival after allegations that bulls are given drugs to tip the balance in favor of the matador. Under pressure and falling ratings, Spanish TV has dropped bullfighting from its schedule.

The increasingly vocal anti-bullfighting lobby says it's only a matter of time before the sport is relegated to the history books.

"People in Europe are finally beginning to accept the animal welfare message," said Kate Fowler-Reeves, head of campaigns for Animal Aid, the U.K.'s largest animal rights group.

In Switzerland, dogs are about to benefit from a little activism as well. Starting Sept. 1, a law will require dog owners to take (and pay for) a two-part training course. Among other things, dog owners will be instructed on how to properly walk a dog on the street. For more on those wacky Swiss and their new rules about "social species," check out this report from the Times of London:

From guinea pigs to budgerigars, any animal classified as a “social species” will be a victim of abuse if it does not cohabit, or at least have contact, with others of its own kind. The new regulation stipulates that aquariums for pet fish should not be transparent on all sides and that owners must make sure that the natural cycle of day and night is maintained in terms of light. Goldfish are considered social animals, or Gruppentiere in German.

-- Alice Short

Bullfighting photo: Paul White / Associated Press

Goldfish photo: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Rapper DMX arrested on suspicion of abusing pit bulls

Rapper DMX was arrested Friday -- for the second time in a week -- in connection with a raid on his house last summer that allegedly turned up weapons, drugs, dog carcasses and abused pit bulls.

The Arizona Republic reports:

After a 7-month investigation, Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies arrested Earl Simmons, better known as rapper DMX, at his Cave Creek home early Friday morning on suspicion of misdemeanor animal cruelty and felony drug possession.

The arrest stems from a raid by deputies on the rapper's home in August, which led to the seizure of 12 dogs that appeared malnourished and the discovery of three more dogs buried in the backyard.

The rapper tried to barricade himself in his bedroom while the search warrant was being served, but he eventually emerged, authorities said.

DMX had been arrested Tuesday on suspicion of driving up to 114 miles per hour on a highway.

It's hardly a surprise that a search of DMX's house would turn up pit bulls. After all, one of his recent albums was called "Year of the Dog...Again," and he does have song hooks that feature barking dogs.

DMX was convicted of animal cruelty in New Jersey in 1999 for housing 13 pit bulls in tight cages, and agreed to record a public service announcement against cruelty as part of his plea deal, according to the Republic.

To the surprise of sheriff's deputies, who found five pit bull puppies at his house Friday, DMX continued to keep dogs at his house even after the raid last summer. "He had to know that we were still investigating him," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told the Republic.

The puppies were taken away and will now be in the care of jail inmates.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Frank Miceotta/Getty Images

Trader Joe’s stops carrying eggs from California farm

Trader Joe’s announced Thursday that it will stop carrying eggs from a Central California farm where an animal rights group shot undercover video showing chickens being mistreated by workers, the Associated Press reports:

Footage released earlier this week by the Chicago-based nonprofit Mercy for Animals showed hens at Gemperle Enterprises’ farms confined in crowded metal cages with rotting bird corpses.

The chain decided against carrying Gemperle eggs because "it is of utmost importance that all of our vendors abide by industry-established animal care practices," Trader Joe’s spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said.

Previously, the chain’s Northern California and Northern Nevada stores had sourced conventional eggs from NuCal Foods Inc., which also distributes eggs from Gemperle and dozens of other farms to Raley’s and SaveMart Supermarkets.

Mochizuki said the Trader Joe’s ban on Gemperle eggs was indefinite.

Raley’s plans to continue to carry all eggs from NuCal, but "does not condone any acts of cruelty to animals," said spokeswoman Nicole Townsend. A SaveMart Supermarkets spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times

Bald eagle killing to be prosecuted

A member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe who killed a bald eagle for use in his tribe's sun dance must stand trial, according to Times wire reports.

A panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed a 2006 decision by U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming that had dismissed a criminal charge against Winslow Friday of Ethete, Wyo.

The appeals court ruled that American Indians' religious freedoms are not violated by federal law protecting eagles or the requirement that they get permits to kill eagles.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Roosters will still be crowing

Getting a little tired of grabbing your newspaper as soon as it hits the driveway because your neighbor's rooster likes to greet the world at 4:30 a.m.?

Well, there's no relief in sight, at least in terms of that cock-a-doodle-doing. A proposal to limit the crowing of roosters in Los Angeles... is going nowhere. Read all about it at L.A. Now.

Photo: Wilfred Lee / Associated Press

Bill to ban pets from the driver seat advances

The bill that a California lawmaker proposed that would ban motorists from holding pets on their laps while driving passed the Assembly on a 44-11 vote on Monday and now heads to the Senate, the Associated Press reports.

Assemblyman Bill Maze (R-Visalia) says his legislation has nothing to do with pet-loving celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who are often photographed driving around Los Angeles with their small dogs.

Maze says he introduced the bill after seeing a woman driving with three dogs on her lap. He says pets are a distraction that put motorists and their passengers at risk.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Animal rights group seeks probe of poultry firm

An animal protection organization is throwing back the curtains on the West Coast's largest distributor of eggs, releasing a hidden-camera video that shows chickens being mistreated by handlers and locked in cages so small the birds can't spread their wings, The Times' Eric Bailey reports:

The footage, shot covertly by an undercover investigator with the group Mercy for Animals, shows workers kicking and stomping on chickens and snapping the necks of sick hens. It also shows birds left with untreated wounds and crowded into cages, sometimes amid rotting corpses.

Officials with the animal protection group said the video was shot this year at Gemperle Enterprises, a Turlock farming outfit that supplies giant NuCal Foods Inc., the biggest supplier of eggs in the western United States.

The company's response?

[Steve] Gemperle said it was unclear whether the new footage truly was shot at one of his family's farms, but said the mistreatment violated his company's policies.

The video comes on the heels of an effort to get a measure on the November ballot to outlaw the kinds of cages that the chickens in the photo above are contained within.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Mercy for Animals

Yet more debate on pit bulls: Loving pets or bad dogs?

Some days it does not pay to be a pit bull. As readers of L.A. Unleashed know, the so-called "bully breed" arouses feelings of great passion on both sides of the debate: Are pits genetically predisposed to violence, or is it the owner's fault when something goes wrong? Do pits make loving pets when treated well, or should they be avoided at all costs?

PetSmart has been the target of online complaints about “breedist” requirements at its doggie day-care facilities.

Now Tulsa, Okla., is dealing with the controversy about pit bulls: According to a report in the Tulsa World, the Tulsa Animal Shelter's policy prohibiting the adoption of pit bull terriers will be reviewed to see if it complies with state law.

Officials at the shelter won't allow people to adopt stray pit bulls or pit bull mixes to prevent them from being trained to fight -- a criminal activity. If owners of pits bulls do not claim the dogs within three business days, they are euthanized once the shelter runs out of space, Jean Letcher, shelter manager, said Wednesday.

The shelter's policy became an issue when Sam Thompson called the facility April 23rd to pick up two stray pit bulls that had wandered into the dent-repair shop where he works on Sheridan Road near 41st Street.

When he learned three days later that they would be euthanized, Thompson asked to adopt the dogs but was denied because of the shelter's policy.

Meanwhile, Long Island just had its first-ever conference on pit bulls. According to Newsday, the principal message of the conference was this: "The predicament facing these canines does not really lie with the dogs, but with humans and how they treat them."

-- Alice Short

Photo: Anne Cusak/Los Angeles Times

Snake on subway might ssssserve a purpose

New York City's Police Department Patrol Guide, a thick-and-getting-thicker collection of rules and regulations, has been amended to let officers know that seeing-eye dogs are not the only service animals, Newsday's Rocco Parascandola reports.

Indeed, a monkey might qualify as a service animal. Or a snake. In an amusing report, Parascandola delves into the Patrol Guide and it rules on service animals.

It is not just the blind who can have service animals, the Patrol Guide now says, but also those with other conditions, including mental disorders. Among other things, a service animal can alert others if its owner is in distress. Or maybe its mere presence helps calm someone prone to panic attacks.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press

Eliot Spitzer's legacy: no animal electrocution

Quiz: What was one of the last things New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer did before he resigned in disgrace, implicated in a prostitution ring? If you guessed "outlawed animal electrocution," you're right.

Spitzer in March signed into law a ban on the electrocution of animals in a particularly gruesome way to harvest their fur, making New York the first state in the nation to combat the practice, the Associated Press reports.

It looks like no one took notice until now. (Maybe the New York press had other things to cover).

The law bans the practice of anal and genital electrocution of fur-bearing animals, including mink, foxes, chinchillas and rabbits. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail.

National animal rights advocates on Wednesday said they hope it will force similar measures in other states.

--Tony Barboza