Two turkey tales

As many of us sit down at a Thanksgiving table today, we can tell tales of the ones that got away. ... We'll start with the time-honored tradition of the presidential "pardon":

Pumpkin and Pecan, the lucky turkeys whose lives were spared by the annual Thanksgiving presidential pardon Wednesday, were scheduled to fly first-class on United Airlines to Los Angeles, where one of them will be grand marshal in Disneyland's Thanksgiving parade today. The pair will then take up residence in a turkey house in the amusement park's Frontierland.

"In recent weeks, I've talked a lot about sprinting to the finish," said President Bush, surrounded by pumpkins and cornstalks in Wednesday's Rose Garden ceremony. "Yet I've assured these turkeys they will not be trotting to their finish."

The turkey pardon is a White House tradition that dates to the Truman administration. This year's duo received their names after an online vote on the White House website. Runners-up included Roost and Run and Yam and Jam.

Not surprisingly, the folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked the president to send the turkeys to an animal sanctuary instead. "You might be a lame duck, but you still have the power to help lame turkeys, who are made that way by the cruelty of the meat industry," PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote in the letter.

We think PETA would be thrilled with Karen Dawn and her approach to Thanksgiving. Carla Hall explains:

At Karen Dawn's Thanksgiving feast, there will be yams and stuffing with cranberries and a dessert of pumpkin-pecan pie, all set out on a table for eight.

And there will be turkeys, two of them actually -- Emily and Bruce (or possibly Brucilla -- it's a little unclear). The two 20-pounders will have most of the privileges of Dawn's other sentient guests -- a Pacific Palisades patio, a view of the ocean and vegetarian nibbles.

At Dawn's vegan holiday dinner, guests will ooh and aah over live birds. The only turkey plunked down on her table will be Wild Turkey bourbon.

The turkeys were purchased for $2 a pound from a live-turkey market near downtown L.A. On Tuesday, Hall writes, they "were adjusting to a lifetime reprieve in an outdoor coop at Dawn's home. Dawn washed them in her bathtub and blow-dried them, leaving the 4-month-old birds' feathers bright white and satiny to the touch."

--Alice Short

Photo credit: Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times

Stranded whales now back at sea off Australia

This summer Australians -- and animal lovers worldwide -- were saddened by the plight of a baby humpback whale that, separated from its mother, desperately tried to suckle boats. Efforts to reunite the baby with its pod failed, and the whale was euthanized.

The latest whale news from Down Under has a happier ending.

The Associated Press reports that a group of whales rescued from an Australian beach has joined a larger pod in deep waters. Apparently, the whales have weathered their ordeal.

We'll let the AP take it from here:

Rescuers tagged five of eleven pilot whales they plucked from the beach in southern Tasmania state Sunday with satellite tracking devices so they could follow the animals’ progress. It was the first time tracking devices had been used in a whale rescue in Australia.

By Monday morning, the tagged whales had found a larger pod of whales and were swimming east toward migration routes known to be used by humpback whales, said wildlife officer David Pemberton.

"Not only have they survived being put back in the water after their traumatic ordeal but they’ve also found each other and are traveling with each other," said Pemberton, who is from Tasmania’s Department of Primary Industries and Water.

More dog advice for the Obamas

You may think you've read all there is to read about the Obamas and their dog-to-be ... but wait, there's more! Times staff writer Carla Hall writes in today's paper that "Ever since President-elect Barack Obama announced in his victory speech that his daughters would be taking a new puppy with them to the White House, interest in the subject of the First Pooch has exploded. Animal welfare websites bristle with advice on pet ownership and praise for Obama's pledge to search for a shelter dog."

Hall continues:

Petfinder.com, citing Malia’s allergies, blogged this week that its database included about 5,000 dogs of hypoallergenic breeds. ... Ed Boks, general manager of L.A.'s Animal Services Department, said he called the office of Antonio Villaraigosa in hopes that the mayor -- who's on Obama's economic task force, after all -- might "put in a good word for L.A.'s homeless dogs. Our dogs would make the very best ambassadors to the White House."

But so would the bald and stark-looking Peruvian hairless dog -- at least according to the Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Assn. "They do not cause any type of allergy and are very friendly and sweet," the group's director, Claudia Galvez, told a wire service reporter this week. Galvez sent a letter through diplomatic circles offering a male puppy.

And Yoyo, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina and a rescue dog of the puli breed -- a Hungarian sheepdog -- is scheduled to announce her candidacy for First Dog at a Nov. 25 news conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in West L.A., according to hospitality and pet industry publicist Susan Hartzler.

And don't forget: Times columnist Chris Erskine has actually nominated his own canine, Cujo, to be First Dog. And it turns out, the prospect of a First Puppy has attracted headlines in other countries as well, including the Times of London, which offered some tips on finding a hypoallergenic pet.

"World's Ugliest Dog" dies

From the Associated Press:

A one-eyed, three-legged dog that won the title of world's ugliest pooch this summer has died. The St. Petersburg Times in Florida reports that Gus, a Chinese crested dog, had cancer. He was 9. Gus was rescued from a bad home and went on to win the annual World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in northern California.

Gus came from humble origins. According to the fair, his adopted family in Gulfport, Fla., rescued him after learning he was being kept in a crate inside someone's garage.

He had one leg amputated because of a skin tumor and lost an eye in a cat fight.

Gus' owner had said the prize money from the contest would be put toward the dog's radiation treatment.

Photo: Associated Press

Sasha the Husky goes to school

Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch continues his chronicle of Sasha, a husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Hirsch brought Sasha home, only to discover that she liked to wander -- and that healthcare for animals who like to roam is expensive. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed.

Sasha the stray — the Siberian husky I rescued from Spring Street in front of the L.A. Times office — needs training. For the most part, Sasha is sweet and friendly, but she considers basic commands such as "sit," "stay" and "come" options to be followed depending on factors that are well understood by canines but not us.

Much of her behavior remains a mystery. We think we understand why the snow-white dog with blue eyes suffers from anxiety attacks and engages in constant resource guarding. Her weeks or months on the street left Sasha with a strong drive to protect anything that can remotely be considered food and even water. We once watched her hover for 10 minutes over a French fry she had no immediate interest in eating to make sure our Labrador retriever wouldn’t snatch it. We eventually tossed it in the trash.

Jennifer enrolled Sasha in the Level One Dog Training class at the SPCLA facility in Long Beach. Kathleen McElderry, one of the animal behavior and training specialists, is one of the instructors. We remember Katie as a Los Alamitos High School student as she watched her younger brother play with our son Jacob in the local sports leagues.

Since high school, Katie has worked as an animal handler and trainer at Universal Studios Hollywood, as the assistant curator at Rainforest Café and as the falconer with Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in Buena Park. We figure if anybody can help us turn the once-nearly-feral Sasha into a civilized dog, it’s Katie.

Jennifer arrived to the group lesson ...

Rancho Los Amigos cat saga continues ...

Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control officers have begun the trapping of cats--feral and friendly--who make up the colonies roaming through the old buildings of the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. For years the cats have roamed, fed by volunteers. Some, such as the arresting Siamese above, find shelter in the roomy nooks and crannies of the old buildings' foundations.

But after months of controversy over the cats supposedly leaving feces and attracting fleas near more populated buildings -- including a childcare center -- on the center's campus, the county has declared they must go.

They're not going too fast though. County officers set humane spring-loaded traps--cats walk into the cages and a door shuts behind--last Saturday as well as Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

So far, they've gotten six, according to David East. He and his wife, Linda, both retired, have devoted themselves to the cats over the past few years and would like the county to just leave the trapping task to them and other members of a group called Fail-Safe 4 Felines. County officials said they tried that and the colonies only increased to more than 150 cats with evidence of five new litters.

"That's just not true. We're there every day," said David East. "There have been only one or two litters this year that we pulled out and got adopted."

He also said they estimate there are 130 cats remaining. And he also said he believes the sources of the fleas are the dogs he observes people walking and allowing off-leash on the grounds. "They're trying to blame the cats."   

Rehabilitated sea turtle set free

Remember the sea turtle that was trapped and wounded in the San Gabriel River? Times staff writer Louis Sahagun has an update.

A rehabilitated green sea turtle the size of a manhole cover was set free in the San Gabriel River on Thursday after two months of intensive veterinary care at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Aquarium veterinarian Lance Adams grabbed the two ends of the 44-pound reptile's mossy carapace and let it go in the murky water under the East Second Street bridge south of the 405 Freeway, silently urging it on.

The turtle's flippers went into action and it disappeared into the green depths near the warm outflow of a Long Beach power plant where federal biologists recently discovered a resident colony of green sea turtles, about a mile upstream in a heavily industrialized stretch of the river.

"It didn't stop to say goodbye," Adams said with a smile.

The creature's release was celebrated with applause from about two dozen witnesses. Among them were biologists and staffers from a local National Marine Fisheries Service headquarters and heavy-equipment operator Dana Williams, 57, who happened to have been bicycling in the area when he caught sight of the commotion.

"This is exquisite," he said. "But they ought to put up a sign: No speed boats. Turtle sanctuary."

'Pardoned turkeys'--Where are they now?

If you've already started to think about Thanksgiving, you're not alone. The Associated Press reports:

At Thanksgiving, turkeys are in the spotlight, but not all of them end up on our tables. One lucky bird is appointed National Thanksgiving Turkey, appearing at the White House and getting an official pardon from the president. It’s the high point of a turkey’s career. But once he’s whisked off the stage, what happens?

In recent years, the pardoned turkey and its alternate have had the good fortune to retire to the site of many a dream vacation —Disney World and Disneyland. The first pardoned turkeys to go to Disneyland were Marshmallow and Yam in 2005. In his speech that year, President Bush joked that their retirement location had been changed because the turkeys “were a little skeptical about going to a place called Frying Pan Park,” a historic farm park in Virginia that had been the home of the previous honorees.

Disney spokesman Duncan Wardle remembers it a bit differently. One Thanksgiving, chatting about the pardoned turkey over coffee, someone on his staff said, “Doesn’t that make him the happiest turkey on earth? We should bring him to the happiest place on earth.”

Last year’s birds — named May and Flower via online poll— are currently living the good life at Disney World in Florida, where they were flown by a United Airlines flight that was renamed “Turkey One” for the occasion. They served as honorary grand marshals of the Thanksgiving parade, riding on the first float. But once the holiday was over, like many of us, they had to go on a post-Thanksgiving diet.

“They arrived very heavy,” says Matt Hohne, acting animal operations director for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. “They were immediately put on our conditioning program.”

Aquarium of the Pacific's rescued green sea turtle is a model patient

Trapped for nearly a month this summer in an intake channel near a Long Beach power plant, she was a 38-pound turtle in range of people who tried to snag it with hooks or impale her with makeshift spears.

After she was finally rescued, the green sea turtle was moved into the veterinary emergency ward at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where officials found she had suffered from a number of painful injuries: broken digits, infected lacerations in two front flippers, a 3-inch gash on her carapace and a fishing hook in her rear flipper.

The Times' Louis Sahagun writes:

"She's been a good patient -- sea turtles usually are," aquarium veterinarian Lance Adams said. "Reptiles have an incredible ability to wall off infections, isolate them and heal around them."

This week, nearly two months after it was rescued, the turtle's condition had improved dramatically and it was cleared to return to the wilds within a week or two.

If the turtle's survival is remarkable, so is the place it will eventually be set free: a heavily industrialized stretch of the San Gabriel River where federal biologists recently discovered a resident colony of green sea turtles.

Federal biologists have launched a study of this unexpected colony to determine its size and, most intriguingly, why it appeared in what hardly could be called tropical waters.

The Times' has a comprehensive online package of the turtle's tale with not only Sahagun's story but a video he created (also below) and photo gallery by Mel Melcon.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times

Sasha the husky: Fulfilling a need to run

Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch continues his chronicle of Sasha, a husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Hirsch brought Sasha home, only to discover that she liked to wander -- and that healthcare for animals who like to roam is expensive. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed.

I stopped by the Orange County Animal Shelter recently. We were near The Block shopping center in Orange, and Jennifer suggested we take a peek. This is where Jennifer bailed out Sasha after the Siberian husky bolted from our yard on her 8-mile run to La Palma.

The first thing I noticed was how the Theo Lacy Facility, a county jail, nearly envelops the shelter. The combined parcel contains humans and animals housed in cells, each to be taken out briefly for exercise on tightly fenced lawns. I wondered who had a better chance for redemption and happiness — the human or the canine prisoners.

The number of farm animals at the urban shelter also surprised me. Why choose a Chihuahua when you can take home a 400-pound pig or a squawking goose? Do you think they ever become dinner?

We saw four huskies at the shelter. None had the striking snow white coat and blue eyes of Sasha. They were various combinations of gray and white. One had an eye that was two shades of brown, kind of split unevenly down the middle.

Two of the dogs had been "surrendered" by their owners to the shelter. The third "returned" by an adoptive family. The fourth looked to be a bolter like our Sasha, the year-old stray I found deliriously wandering Spring Street in downtown LA.

Jennifer and I looked knowingly at each other. We understood the human side of this equation.

Ratchet the Iraqi puppy expected to arrive today

Here's an update on Ratchet the Iraqi puppy from the Associated Press:

An animal rescue group flew into Baghdad on Sunday and picked up the dog, which was adopted by Army Spc. Gwen Beberg, 28, of Minneapolis in a case that highlighted military rules barring troops from caring for pets while in Iraq.

Ratchet was loaded onto a charter flight, which took off Sunday night for Kuwait. He's due in Minnesota today.

It was the third try by Operation Baghdad Pups to get Ratchet out of the country on behalf of Beberg, who says she couldn't have made it through her 13-month deployment without the affectionate mutt.

She and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash in May.

Beberg's quest to get the dog has gained international attention. More than 65,000 people from around the world have signed an online petition urging the Army to let the puppy come to the United States.

The U.S. military has said the dog was free to leave, but American troops could not be responsible for its transportation.

"We're happy the SPCA has made arrangements for his safe travel to the U.S., we hope he has a long, happy, fruitful life there," military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Swiergosz said.

Animal rescue group hopes to bring Iraqi puppy to U.S.

From the Associated Press:

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi puppy adopted by an American soldier but was refused a flight to the U.S., is alive, the military said Tuesday, giving hope to an animal rescue group that is trying to take it to the United States.

The case has cast a spotlight on Defense Department rules that prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets or transporting them home.

Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg, 28, of Minneapolis, left, tried to send Ratchet home with the help of Operation Baghdad Pups earlier this month as she prepared to leave Iraq. But the dog, also at left, was reportedly confiscated by a U.S. officer before it could reach the Baghdad International Airport, raising concern about the animal's fate.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Russell said in an e-mail that the dog was alive, but he could provide no other details. More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let the puppy go home with Beberg.

Beberg has been transferred to a staging area to prepare for her departure from Iraq.

Terri Crisp, the coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups — a rescue program run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International — planned to travel to Baghdad today to collect six dogs rescued by U.S. troops. Crisp is hopeful Ratchet will be one of them, but she has a substitute dog ready to go in his place if necessary.

"There's a lot of pressure being put on the military right now to allow Ratchet to leave," she said in a telephone interview.

Baghdad Pups has taken more than 50 dogs and cats home for their warrior owners, although the group had to cease its activities over the summer because of the heat.

Last week, Beberg's congressman, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, asked the Army to review the case.

Photo: Associated Press

Animal Services helps evacuate hundreds of horses from Valley fires

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services helped evacuate 276 horses and 132 small animals from the Sesnon and Marek fires in the north San Fernando Valley, the department reported today.

According to the department, 159 horses were taken to Pierce College, 46 to Hansen Dam, nine to Peter Pitchess Honor Farm in Castaic, and 62 to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

As for smaller animals -- such as chickens, goats, sheep and rabbits -- 108 were taken to the Mission Animal Care Center and another 24 to the West Valley Animal Care Center.

One cat was reported singed; one poodle is on medication for seizures; one horse sustained a gash -- it presumably cut itself on a fence -- and another horse sustained a leg injury while running. Both injured horses were transported to a veterinarian for treatment.

All other animals are reported to be doing well, the department said.

The department’s Animal Rescue Team responded to a call to recover two horses killed by the fire on a ranch in the Browns Canyon area.

Southern California residents were reminded to keep their pets inside during the fires. Animal Services said that anyone who sees a sick or injured animal should stay away from it and call (888) 452-7381 for help.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Ann Johansson / Getty Images

Hundreds of horses and livestock evacuated from fires

Times staff writers Ann M. Simmons and Gale Holland have been following the plight of animals during the Southern California fires. Their report follows:

Claudia Cahill returned home from Switzerland on Sunday, switched on the television and learned that the Marek wildfire was bearing down on the Lake View Terrace horse ranch that stabled her beloved Doonesbury.

"I was worried. She's my kid!" the retired computer industry worker said of her 23-year-old Dutch warmblood.

In evacuations that went like clockwork in some fire-threatened areas and a proceeded a bit more chaotically in others, Los Angeles County animal control officials, veterinary volunteers and stable owners moved hundreds of horses to safety over the last two days -- even those animals whose owners, like Cahill, were too far away to come to the rescue.

Trainers at North Middle Ranch brought Doonesbury and 29 other boarders to the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, where every stall, portable show box and spot along the fence rails was filled with four-legged evacuees. Cahill was able to pay a reassuring visit to Doonesbury on Monday afternoon, although some of the temporary boarders were already moving on to less crowded shelters.

'Little Miss Dewie,' a duckumentary

In the mood for a duckumentary?  Then Saturday night you can take in the film that Mira Tweti and J.P. Sarro made about Little Miss Dewie. That's her, above, striking a pose to show her good side.

Tweti is best known as a parrot expert, rescuer and owner of a rainbow lorikeet named ZaZu -- although it's debatable whether she owns her bird or her bird owns her.  But she can't help rescuing other animals, particularly of the avian variety.  "Little Miss Dewie" is the story of an abandoned duckling that waddled off the lagoon by her Playa del Rey apartment and into Tweti's life and home for a while.  ("If I was this duck, where would I want to live?" Tweti muses at one point in the film.)  The duck now lives contentedly in Highland Park on a half-acre with a companion duck and their people, Lani and Edward Colver. (He is the renowned photographer of the punk rock scene.)

The event is a fundraiser to pay license fees and other expenses including fees to enter film festivals. The place is the G2 Gallery in Venice.  The time is 6:30 to 9 p.m. and the requested donation is $15 --but no one will be turned away.  There will be a reception with music and vegan food.  No word yet from Dewie's handlers on whether she will show.

-- Carla Hall

Photo credit: Mira Tweti

Sasha the husky eases into the role of therapy dog

Wednesday, Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch continues his chronicle of Sasha, a husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Hirsch brought Sasha home, only to discover she liked to wander -- and that healthcare for animals who like to roam is expensive. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed.

Sasha the stray is still with us, despite an almost super-canine ability to escape through fences and metal crates and her giant house trashing panic attack.

Perhaps only the piercing blue eyes of this husky would tell you she is the same delirious, diseased animal I found wandering on Spring Street more than a month ago. The eyes still penetrate into your soul, seemingly questioning if you are friend or foe. Cleaned of fleas and feces and brushed, her coat is snow white cashmere. People stare at her beauty.

Sasha (above left) has become an impromptu, but patient and loving therapy dog, tagging along on visits to a senior living center in Seal Beach. The residents gravitate to Sasha, stroke her and talk about the dogs that once gave them joy in their lives. There’s one lady who dashes -– as best you can with a walker-– to get snapshots of her son’s dogs and compares them with Sasha.

Sasha will be spayed next week and will be ready for adoption when she recovers. At one point I was ready to haul Sasha to the pound to whatever fate would await her. Now I’m not sure if I can give her up. (And I am pretty sure Jennifer couldn’t do it.) Yet as my thinking changes, I wonder if I will ever truly trust this dog. Could we ever leave her alone in the house without coming home to damage? Will walking three to five miles a day really be enough, or will she require more work than I am prepared to provide?

Sasha appears to be 18 months old. If she is to stay we are going to have to reach some common ground between dog and human. Roni, our hyper Labrador Retriever (above right) will never be perfect, and I know how she will misbehave -- snatch food from the table, steal a shoe or great a visitor with a slobbery kiss on the lips. But I also know that she will always play catch and tug with a rope and then lie down next to me when I watch a football game. I don't know what to expect with Sasha. Like her past, Sasha remains a mystery.

Want to read past posts on Sasha? Click on Part one, Part two, Part three or Part four.

A solution to Cal State Long Beach feral cat problem?

Cal State Long Beach has a new program to deal with a feral cat population. The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports:

CSULB officials began developing a new feral cat management program this summer after stating that coyotes were being attracted to the campus by the presence of cats and cat food.

Volunteers have long operated numerous feeding stations on campus to care for the cats, while also making an effort to spay and neuter the felines.

The university consulted the caretakers while developing the program, which calls for making food available to the cats only during daytime hours.

The new program "is very close to what the volunteers were hoping to achieve with the care of the feral cat population on campus," said CSULB spokeswoman Toni Beron. "It's not everything they wanted, but they were not necessarily taking into consideration the needs and concerns that were being expressed by others who were also watching the situation."

CSULB will authorize the feeding stations and register volunteers. Unauthorized feeding stations, any after-dark food or any cat shelter will be removed.

Volunteers will be responsible for ensuring the cats are spayed and neutered and for removing socialized cats for adoption or return to owner, if possible, the program states.

But Leslie Abrahams, a cat caretaker, said that the program goes too far by reducing and moving the feeding stations, arguing that it will disrupt the cats' lives. Because cats are territorial, many will continue to return to the location of their original feeding stations, she said.

Man saves dog in shark attack. Really.

You want to read about a devoted pet owner? The Associated Press has a story of extremes:

ISLAMORADA, Fla. — A dog is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark.

Greg LeNoir said he took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for his daily swim at a marina Friday.

The five-foot shark suddenly surfaced and grabbed nearly the entire dog in its mouth.

LeNoir said he yelled, then balled up his fists and dove headfirst into the water. He hit the shark in the back and the creature finally let go of the dog.

Man and dog made it safely back to shore. The dog suffered bite wounds but was not critically injured.

Photo: Cammy Clark/Associated Press

Golden eagle rescued near San Diego suffered from kidney problems

A rare golden eagle with apparent kidney problems has been rescued on a San Diego County Indian reservation, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Golden eagles are not endangered, but there are only about 50 pairs in the county, the Union-Tribune reports. (The golden eagle pictured here was photographed in Montana in 1996 and we offer it as an example of the species.)

Reporter Onell R. Soto recounts last week's rescue by a tribal member:

The female eagle was lying on the ground and unable to fly when a security guard spotted it near the Viejas Indian Reservation's Kumeyaay Village, which is used for ceremonies, and called tribal officials.

"I knew what to do," said Cameron Welch, a tribal member who went to assist the bird.

Welch, 20, studied wildlife management at Humboldt State University for a year before homesickness brought him back to Viejas. He got a large dog carrier and put on welding gloves.

"It was really big," Welch said. "I was scared of its beak and talons."

Welch wrapped a blanket around the bird before taking it to the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center in La Mesa.

The eagle was dehydrated and appears to have kidney problems, said veterinarian Todd Cecil, who is treating it with antibiotics and intravenous fluids.

Once the bird is feeling better, it will probably go to Project Wildlife, a San Diego group that rehabilitates injured wild animals, the Union-Tribune reported. After its recovery, the bird is expected to be released on the reservation once it is healthy enough to hunt.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Bob Grieser/Los Angeles Times

Plea from animal sanctuary: Don't let the bears hurt the cats

The bad economy is sure to take a toll on all sorts of charitable fundraising, including for animal-rescue programs.

For instance, ticket sales for Saturday's fifth annual fundraiser for Lions, Tigers and Bears have been slow. The 93-acre facility outside Alpine in eastern San Diego County has 13 big cats and a variety of smaller creatures.

Organizers have sent out a final plea for the Saturday event: Don't let the Wall Street bears hurt the big cats.

Tickets are $90 for adults, $25 for children 12 and under. Go to www.lionstigersandbears.org for more information.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Tigers at the Lions, Tigers and Bears rescue facility.

Wildlife group increases reward in case of injured pelicans

From the Associated Press:

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A wildlife group has increased its reward for information about 11 pelicans found with intentionally broken wings on a stretch of Southern California’s Bolsa Chica State Beach.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach said this week that it was boosting its reward for information that leads to a conviction in the case from $5,000 to $20,000 after other groups added contributions. The birds washed into shore earlier this month with their wings snapped so that their bones were exposed. Only one pelican survived. The female bird is recovering at the center.

Mexico seizes circus animals after tragic elephant accident

Mexico has seized 12 animals from a circus a day after one of its elephants wandered onto a highway and was struck and killed by a bus.

Mexico's Environmental Protection office said the two Asian elephants and 10 Siberian tigers were not properly contained and were at risk of escaping.

The office said Wednesday in a statement that inspectors found the elephants tied to the tire of a trailer. Doors on several of the trailers also lacked proper locks.

On Tuesday, a 5-ton elephant named Indra escaped the circus, wandered onto a highway outside Mexico City and was hit by a bus carrying 41 passengers. The driver and the pachyderm died.

Mexican media reported that the elephant escaped as its keeper arrived to feed it.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Associated Press

In the saga of Sasha the stray, more trouble

Today, Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch continues his chronicle of Sasha, a husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Hirsch brought Sasha home, only to discover she liked to wander... and that healthcare for animals who like to roam is expensive. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed.

Sasha the stray is finally starting to settle into our house. She escaped from crates and through fences but after fits and starts we’ve been able to round her up and keep her safe. She’s now pretty much recovered from fleas, parasites and a mashed paw.

She has a gorgeous snow white coat and piercing blue eyes.

But is Sasha is healthy enough and calm enough for Jennifer to leave the animal alone in the house while she takes our 14-year-old daughter and yellow Labrador retriever shopping to Fashion Island in Newport Beach?

Big mistake. Really big mistake! I am just getting off my bicycle, having ridden 101 miles to San Diego. I’m bushed and waiting around for the train to bring me back to Irvine, where a friend has a car waiting.

The phone rings. Jennifer explains how Sasha trashed the house.

Chihuahua movie protest

While celebrities walked the red carpet Thursday night at the premiere of the comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," about 20 protesters stood by with signs urging people not to go nuts after they see the movie and impulsively buy a Chihuahua.

"We know the movie is cute," says Kim Sill, who runs the campaign against puppy mills for Last Chance for Animals, the group that organized the protest. "We don't want to say we're against the movie. We're against people going to a pet store after they see the movie.  We want them to go to a shelter, because there are a lot of Chihuahuas there." 

Salty, a 4-year-old female Chihuahua, pictured here, is one of those Chihuahuas. She is up for adoption at LA Animal Services' North Central shelter. (ID #A0974811.)

Animal welfare advocates have been concerned for weeks about the impact of the Disney movie -- which opens Oct. 3 -- on Chihuahuas.  In the past, popular movies featuring a dog often cause a run on that breed. "101 Dalmatians" led to an uptick in Dalmatian ownership.  And, according to Sill, the Taco Bell commercials featuring a Chihuahua helped create a Chihuahua craze. But when people realize the dog may not be right for them or their family --Damaltians are difficult and Chihuahuas are not always great with children --"they get dumped," says Sills.

And when a movie is about to open, puppy mills, she contends, gear up to produce more of that breed to supply pet stores. (Many animal welfare organizations, including the Humane Society of the U.S., contend that most pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills.) "It used to be you would walk into pet stores and see maltipoos and Yorkies. All of a sudden in the last two months, we've seen Chihuahuas infiltrate the pet shops," Sill says.

Los Angeles is already awash in Chihuahuas.  There are more Chihuahuas among registered dogs in Los Angeles County than any other breed, as we reported in July.  And Sill says the shelters already have a high number of Chihuahuas.  Some of the ones at the Carson shelter, run by the Los Angeles County shelter system , are featured in the video that Last Chance for Animals made to drive home its point about not buying Chihuahuas.

Sill says her group wanted Disney to air a public service announcement in theaters before shows telling patrons to think hard before choosing a pet. "We would have happily produced it for them and given it to them," says Sill.

It turns out that several of the Chihuahuas in the film were rescue dogs found in shelters in Los Angeles and Mexico, according to Disney's promotional materials.  The lead dog, known in the movie as Papi --the face of the movie on all the posters around town -- was rescued from the Moreno Valley Animal Shelter and lives with his trainer.

The theme of responsible adoption echoes through the movie -- some of the dogs get adopted as part of the story -- and all the promotional material, says the spokesperson. The movie's website (at the bottom) and the movie itself (at the end before the credits roll) have written messages noting that getting a pet is a serious and lifelong commitment that should be researched first. "We felt this was an important message to visibly relay at the end of the movie," said the spokesperson.

The Disney spokesperson added that the cast of the movie and the trainer of Rusco, the dog who plays Papi, have been talking publicly about animal adoption.

Ed Boks, general manager of LA Animal Services, saw the movie Thursday night.  "I was a bit disappointed," he wrote in an e-mail. "The movie has a strong 'adopt' and 'rescue' message, but no 'spay/neuter' message. In fact, one female dog opined that she longed for a boyfriend who has NOT been 'fixed.'...Disney just does not seem to share our concern over the influence this movie could have on people who will now think of Chihuahuas as cash cows." 

Enforcement of L.A.'s mandatory spay/neuter law begins Oct. 1. And if you do want to adopt a Chihuahua, here's another one at LA's North Central shelter.  She is Kendra, a 2-year-old female, ID#A0955495.

--Carla Hall

Photos: LA Animal Services

Auto dealership removes kitten from truck engine

What did a Cherry Valley, Calif., woman do when she found a stray kitten in the engine of her truck? She took it back to the dealership.

A quick-service auto technician obliged the odd request on Friday afternoon, dismantling a wheel well and parts of the Ford Ranger's engine to extricate the 6-week-old stray kitten from deep inside, said Riverside County Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

An animal control officer took the unharmed kitten to the Banning animal shelter, where workers named him "Ramsey" after the car dealership that removed him. A volunteer is raising him until he reaches the adoptable age of 8 weeks.

The most harrowing part of the journey, perhaps, was when the woman and a friend, realizing they could not get the kitten out without taking the car apart, drove the truck two blocks to the dealership -- with the kitten inside.

"This was probably pretty traumatic for a young cat," Welsh said, offering a possible explanation for what the kitten was doing in the engine in the first place. "It's not uncommon, especially as the nights get a little bit cooler, for animals to tuck themselves in vehicles because of the warmth from engines."

If a kitten gets stuck in your engine, Welsh recommends getting a tow truck or simply waiting it out.

-- Tony Barboza

Photos: Riverside County Department of Animal Services

A rescue dog proves to be an escape artist

Today, Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch continues his chronicle of Sasha, a Husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Hirsch brought Sasha home, only to discover she liked to wander... and that healthcare for animals who like to roam is expensive. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed. Click here to read the first chapter of the Sasha saga.

We returned Sasha to our side yard. But beforehand I reinforced the wooden gate with paving stones and bricks. Nothing was going in or out.

Sasha didn’t seem to appreciate that. She went right back for that wooden gate, pulling a heavy paving stone onto to her back foot. After midnight a visit to the vet ER ($399 including stitches, meds, de-fleaing) she slept or howled for most of the night and early morning in the side yard.

Her next stop was finally to our regular vet ($91.25). Sasha was pronounced healthy with the warning that blood work would be back in a day. It turned out she had whipworms ($61.75 more for meds) but the rest of the blood work was fine. We also learned she was about 18 months old and in heat. Might she be pregnant? After her run along the local creek, could she be carrying coyote pups?

So it’s clear this dog has a drive to run, and that the wooden gate in the side yard just isn’t up to the maximum security prison grade we need. We set up the a large metal crate we once used for Roni in the middle of the garage. In went Sasha for the night. We shut the latches, locked the garage and went to bed, trying to ignore her wolflike keening. What could go wrong? She was in a locked crate in a locked garage.

About five in the morning we heard an amazing ruckus. It could only be one thing. Sasha got out of the crate and spent much of the rest of the night knocking things over trying to get out of the garage. After the same basic drill the next night, we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t keep her safe for the moment. Off she went to a local kennel ($139 for the weekend), into the portion of the facility that I call Doggy Guantanamo Bay.

After Hurricane Ike, efforts to save animals

Hurricane Ike has flooded much of the area surrounding Houston and Galveston, Texas, and caused millions of residents to lose power. The death toll is still climbing and thousands are still living in shelters.  And people aren't the only focus of attention. A number of organizations are working to save pets and farm animals in the area.

The Humane Society of the United States reports on its efforts to come to the aid of pets abandoned by their owners, who in many cases were forced to flee without them.

And the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald reports on a shelter that has its hands full.

National Geographic News, meanwhile, checks up on some animals that weathered the storm.

Finally, Fox News features some pets that were sheltered by the Houston SPCA.

In the photo above, Dennis Garcia holds his pet Duck, Bo, who stayed in his backyard during Hurricane Ike, while assessing the damage to his home Tuesday.

--Alice Short

Photo: Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

It's not a plane, nor Superman; it's birds in the news today

It's a morning sampler of bird news throughout Southern California today:

Although pigeons often get a bad rap for being a nuisance, The Times' Joe Mozingo has a tale of a man from South L.A. who credits his roller pigeons for helping straighten his life out. With a photo gallery and video to boot, we find out how this pigeon lover is passing on his expertise to a new generation.

Also, Mike Anton reports on Orange County scientists who are experimenting with ways to restore the coastal habitat of cactus wrens. In recent weeks, they've planted 15 homemade, green-painted contraptions that resemble cactus on fire-scarred hills throughout Orange County's Irvine Ranch Conservancy to try to entice the wrens' declining population to nest. Check our photo gallery and video.

Ventura County health officials say two more birds found in the county have tested positive for West Nile virus. The birds were found in the Camarillo area in the last week of August and the first week of September. Including these latest findings, seven birds in the county that have tested positive for the virus this year. Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties haven't been immune this year either.

And Alfred Hitchcock fans will want to flock to the Edison downtown on Sunday evening for the 45th anniversary screening of the master of suspense's classic "The Birds." The Times' Susan King reports that the event, presented by the Jules Verne Festival, will also honor the film's star, Tippi Hedren. Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, the new co-hosts of "At the Movies," will emcee.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Mark Boster Los Angeles Times

Nevada officials seize 187 illegal African frogs

Acting on scores of telephone tips from unsuspecting owners of the outlaw amphibians, Nevada game wardens say they tracked down a mail-order tadpole provider as the source of nearly 200 illegal African clawed frogs.

It also turns out the mail-order tadpoles from Grow-a-Frog are not legal in Nevada and at least 10 other U.S. states, including California.

The Florida-based Grow-a-Frog, which takes orders over the phone and the Internet, has agreed to pay a $3,600 fine and stop sending the unwelcome guests to Nevada, said Capt. Cameron Waithman, the Nevada Department of Wildlife warden who led the months-long investigation.

The Associated Press reports:

Agents seized 119 of the frogs from three Reno homes last month and publicized the raids to get the word out they’re illegal. Inundated with calls, they recovered another 68 this week in seven Nevada counties.

"I had my wardens out all across the state — everywhere from Reno to Las Vegas, Elko, Ely," Waithman said.

Banned as an illegal invasive species, the clawed green creatures that live mostly in the water and grow as large as bullfrogs can destroy entire ecosystems if they escape by voraciously eating native fish and just about anything they can swallow, he said.

Some scientists believe the frogs carry and spread an African fungus that has decimated frog populations worldwide, he said. Nevadans who knowingly possess them are subject to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Company officials cooperated in the investigation, providing customer records so wardens could contact people who made purchases at growafrog.com, Waithman said.

"Absolutely none of the folks had any idea they were prohibited. Most of them didn’t know what they had," he said.

Some expressed genuine concern about the environmental threat, while others "just said, 'I’m not going to jail for these frogs.'"

Other states that outlaw the frogs without a special permit include Arizona, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.

Grow-a-Frog officials did not respond to e-mails from The Associated Press seeking comment on Wednesday and Thursday.

Cat lives thanks to firefighter's mouth-to-mouth resuscitation

Firefighter Al Machado rescued a cat from a burning apartment Tuesday in New Bedford, Mass, telling the Standard-Times, that he began performing mouth-to-mouth as he carried it outside because, "it really needed air and it couldn't wait."

Video shot at the scene, posted above, shows Machado bent over, breathing into the cat's mouth.

The cat, a tiger angora, was revived and resting comfortably soon after.

Asked what it tasted like to give mouth-to-mouth to a cat, Machado laughed, grimaced and said: "Like fur."

No one was injured in the fire,  but firefighters struggled to save a group of trapped animals. The blaze was called in by the third-floor tenant, the only person in the building at the time, who escaped with his dog.

The first-floor tenant's pets all were saved: two dogs, three cats, a chinchilla, a ferret and some frogs.

On the second floor, two pit bulls were saved with the help of oxygen from paramedics and animal rescue officers, but two cats died in the apartment, which had heavy damage, especially in a bedroom area where fire officials said the blaze started.

The third cat was saved by Machado, who was praised by District Chief Michael Brodeur as a dog lover who doesn't hesitate when an animal needs help.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Condor ill with lead poisoning dies at L.A. Zoo as fight to protect species spreads to Argentina

A 4-year-old female condor captured Friday in Big Sur and rushed to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment of lead poisoning has died, according to the Monterey County Herald:

The bird, identified as Condor No. 336, was shaking and weak when found by Ventana Wildlife biologist Sayre Flannagan, who caught it in a net on the ground in Big Sur.

Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, the only nonprofit group in California that breeds condors for introduction to the wild, said the condor was released three years ago at Pinnacles National Monument and was living and scavenging in Big Sur.

It was initially taken to the Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic in Monterey, given a blood test that showed "really high, life-threatening levels" of lead, and given emergency treatment, according to Ventana Society senior wildlife biologist Joe Burnett. The bird was then taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for more comprehensive veterinary treatment. (L.A.'s zoo has a condor habitat.)

The bird appeared to rally at first, he said, but weakened and succumbed Sunday.

A normal adult condor weighs 18 to 25 pounds, said Burnett. Condor No. 336 was down to 10.9 pounds when captured.

"It's hard to bounce back from a weight loss like that," Burnett said.

National Park Service superintendent Eric Brunneman at the Pinnacles told the County Herald that Condor No. 336 was "perhaps our most well-known condor," because the bird had been featured in a video on YouTube eating a deer heart:

Condor No. 336's death comes on the heels of a contentious battle over lead ammunition and the implementation on July 1 of a bill banning the use of lead ammunition in hunting.

California's condors are a fiercely guarded endangered species that has recently faced wildfire threats from Big Sur to L.A. and a West Coast-based struggle to procreate.

In the latest development in protection efforts, officials at the Pinnacles National Monument also announced today that a team of U.S. and Argentine scientists are joining forces in a five-year project to boost the condor population soaring above California and the Andes.

The Associated Press' Debora Rey reports:

Scientists from Pinnacles National Monument in central California visited Argentina this week to improve tracking and studying techniques of the birds, whose 9-foot wingspan has inspired reverence among indigenous people of the Americas for centuries.

The number of California condors is estimated at around 300 — half of which are in captivity — and they are still in danger of extinction. The Andean condor, a different species, has fared better: There are between 2,000 and 3,000 of the birds gliding over Argentina's snowy crags.

Argentine and U.S. scientists have been working together since the early 1980s, when the California condor was on the brink of extinction. U.S. scientists applied successful efforts in Argentina to breed condors in captivity and then release them to salvage a waning California population.

“The situation of the condors in both countries is grave,” said Pinnacles biologist Denise Louie.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

An odyssey into the world of dog rescues

Today, Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch starts his chronicle of Sasha, a Husky he encountered on a street in downtown Los Angeles. Look for periodic updates on Sasha in the weeks to come on L.A. Unleashed.

Call me the reluctant rescuer.

A filthy and thirsty dog was wandering around Spring Street in Downtown L.A. about a week ago. It had no tag or collar, and it obviously needed help. It looked up at me with piercing blue eyes, so I did the emotional -- I put the animal in my back seat and brought it home. I didn’t even check to see if it was a boy or a girl.

So began an odyssey into the world of dog rescues that has left me questioning my judgment. I have spent more time and money on this animal than I would ever have on the human strays I pass daily along the same stretch of Spring Street near my office. Maybe I should have put the people first.

Here’s the story. My wife, Jennifer, was waiting for me with a leash and a collar by the time I got home to Rossmoor in Orange County. We put the animal -- now named Sasha -- in our locked, double-gated side yard to isolate her from our yellow Labrador Retriever Roni (as in macaroni). We figured we would get her checked out at the vet the next day and start looking for a home.

When we got up the next morning, Sasha was gone. She had pried her way through wooden fence planks on the gate and took off. Jennifer was crushed. Our Lab can open a gate latch with her paw, but never pulled things apart. Welcome to the world of Huskies!

Pigging out at Farm Sanctuary

The trip from Oakville, Iowa, to Watkins Glen, N.Y., is about 850 miles, a 14-hour drive for anyone who wants to complete the journey in one long day. Earlier this summer, Mabel and some of her cohorts made the drive in about 15 hours. But it was the pre-trip maneuvering that proved to be newsworthy.

Mabel is one of the pigs rescued during severe flooding this summer in Iowa, animals that were photographed and caught on video as they perched on levees, struggling to stay alive. Conditions were so grim in the farming state (Iowa ranks first in pork production in the U.S.) that the Iowa Department of Agriculture asked volunteer groups to consider a rescue mission. Four rescue agencies raised their hands: the International Fund for Animal Welfare, American Humane Assn., the Animal Rescue League of Boston and Farm Sanctuary. Which brings us back to Watkins Glen, headquarters for Farm Sanctuary and new home for more than 60 pigs plucked from the levees.

If pigs have an emotional life, it seems fairly certain that the Farm Sanctuary sanctuary might seem like an extended vacation after life on a large pig farm. Farm Sanctuary representatives (who campaign vociferously against factory farming and would be thrilled if we all were vegans) say that that the breeding sows like Mabel are housed in crates; other pigs are sold for slaughter after they reach a certain weight.

Conditions at the sanctuary are, well, different. The facility is about eight miles west of Watkins Glen, 175 acres of rolling hills and assorted barns. The pigs formerly known as Iowans have their own attendants and their own barn and outside yards in which they happily indulge in porcine activities: sleeping, eating and rolling around in mud and other materials we’d rather not contemplate.

Some of those pigs are also indulging in a surprise activity: parenthood.

Monterey Bay Aquarium releases great white shark

A female great white shark was released to the sea 11 days after arriving at the Monterey Bay Aquarium because it wouldn’t eat, the Monterey County Herald reports:

The 4-foot, 55-pound shark, caught in Santa Monica Bay on Aug. 16, only ate once during its stay at the aquarium.

The shark, which went on display Aug. 27, was still swimming and navigating well, but aquarium animal care experts didn't want to risk endangering its health, said aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson.

"She looked great ... but they can only survive so long without taking in some groceries," he said.

The shark was taken from the aquarium's Outer Bay exhibit before 8 a.m. Sunday and released into the wild in the Santa Barbara Channel about 1:30 p.m.

The shark was the fourth white shark to spend time at the aquarium, and like the others — whose stays ranged from four to six months — it was tagged with a tracking device before being released.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Vern Fisher / Associated Press

Once skinny and sick, a horse is now looking for a home.

When the mare (pictured above) was discovered in Campo by employees of the San Diego County Department of Animal Services, she was skinny, disoriented, and shabby-looking. There was no water, and hay was out of reach. A dead foal was nearby.

The 12-year-old mare was taken into custody, and the owner slapped with a charge of animal neglect.

Now two months later, the mare (see below) has been fed and given veterinarian care. For anyone interested in buying her, sealed bids are now being taken, at www.sddac.com. Bids will be opened Sept. 18.

"She is just a sweetheart and there is no excuse for the treatment she received," said John Carlson, deputy director of the animal services department.

The former owner is set for a preliminary hearing Oct. 21.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photos: San Diego County Department of Animal Services

High Sierra rescue effort saves 6,500 fish

Last week L.A. Unleashed told you about efforts to save thousands of fish that would have been left high, dry and dead by emergency repairs on a dam in the Sierra Nevada.

This week the state’s Department of Fish and Game announced that it was able to save 6,500 fish, according to department spokesman Harry Morse. (He also snapped the photo above.)

Fish and Game fishery biologists, aided by about 90 volunteers organized by Trout Unlimited and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, launched the rescue operation Aug. 26. They spent three days transferring fish from Caples Lake to two nearby lakes. The water in Caples Lake, about 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe, is being lowered so the El Dorado Irrigation District can repair the dam’s outlet gates.

Initial efforts to net fish had limited success. “Fish would not go into the nets, for whatever reason,” Morse said this week.

That’s when the would-be rescuers turned to electro-fishing — zapping the water with electricity, which causes the fish, which are a bit stunned, to rise to the surface. Morse said seven electro-boats were deployed.

Some large Mackinaw or lake trout -- up to 15 pounds –- were captured, though most were rainbow, brown and brook trout. In an interview with the Associated Press while the rescue operation was under way, Morse said one brown trout was an 18-pounder. “It was a monster,” he said. “It looked like a salmon.”

-- Steve Padilla

Photo credit: Harry Morse, California Department of Fish and Game

Pets (and people) prepare to flee Hurricane Gustav

As Hurricane Gustav moves closer to the Gulf Coast states, many in its path are determined to help pets and livestock avoid the fate that befell tens of thousands of animals that died in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reports on efforts to ensure the safety of Louisiana's pets:

State Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said pet shelters for animal owners with "critical transportation needs" are ready for service during the Hurricane Gustav evacuation....

Strain stressed that the pet shelters are not "stop and drop" facilities. "Pet ownership is a personal responsibility," he said. "Once you get your pet to a shelter you will be expected to provide care for your dogs and cats during your evacuation."

The Louisiana SPCA is evacuating animals, as seen in the photograph above, and working with other states' shelters, including the SPCA of Texas. In the meantime, university students are traveling to Shreveport, La., to attend to evacuated pets. The University of Louisiana news service reports:

On Friday, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security issued a request to the state, asking for volunteers to work at a pet evacuation shelter, located on the Shreveport Fairgrounds. Volunteers will work 10- to 12-hour shifts today and possibly in the future. The request is in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav, which is expected to reach Louisiana early next week.

Authorities report that the hurricane, south of Cuba this afternoon, is a Category 4 storm and is growing toward a Category 5. That means that people, as well as animals, are leaving places such as New Orleans. Times staff writer David Zucchino reports:

In cars, buses and trains, thousands of people fled New Orleans and its outlying parishes this morning as Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf Coast.

Cars packed with children, suitcases and pet carriers jammed roadways leading north and west out of the city. Downtown, thousands more lined up in the morning heat, toting backpacks and plastic bags of food as they waited to board buses and trains to shelters in northern Louisiana and neighboring states....

The latest forecasts called for the storm to make landfall just west of New Orleans as early as Monday, but forecasters cautioned that Gustav could strike anywhere along the Gulf coast from Texas to Florida early next week.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Associated Press

Sanctuary name mix-up is bad news for horses

A Northern California horse sanctuary is having trouble raising funds to stay open because it once had a similar name to a Los Angeles County sanctuary that was raided and closed by animal control authorities. The Times' Louis Sahagun reports:

Clarke's nonprofit with an unwieldy name -- Dream Catcher/a.k.a. Equus Sanctuary -- was meant to be a secure last stand for 200 mustangs and domestic horses and some burros abandoned by their owners. For four years, Clarke's most pressing concerns had been hauling hay and rounding up strays.

Not anymore. A raid on an Antelope Valley horse sanctuary with a similar name and its recent closure by Los Angeles County animal control authorities has had a devastating effect on her operation.

"People think our place and the one in Antelope Valley are one and the same," said [sanctuary manager Barbara] Clarke, making a high desert squint that comes with the territory. "It's a real mess. Distrust and anger are thick as mosquitoes."

Donors, it seems, have confused the two sanctuaries and stopped giving, even after the Ravendale, Calif., ranch dropped "Equus" from its name. Clarke said she is scrambling to adopt out horses she can no longer afford to feed and care for. Those that can't be adopted will be euthanized.

1,000 dogs are rescued from West Virginia puppy mill

More than 1,000 dogs were rescued from a West Virginia kennel over the weekend, prompting a national effort by animal groups to find them new homes.

The Whispering Oaks Kennel in Parkersburg surrendered the dogs, mostly purebred dachshunds, to the Humane Society of the United States after sheriff's deputies searched the facility, the Associated Press reports.

The Humane Society called the rural property a puppy mill where dogs were kept in cages and dilapidated sheds for breeding. The dogs were never let out and rarely handled by humans. Officials said the animals did not appear to have been abused, but noted that it would be impossible for that many animals to be properly cared for.

Sharon Roberts, the owner, was not charged with animal neglect but agreed never to operate a dog breeding facility again. She told the Associated Press she was the victim of a "witch hunt'' by animal rights activists.

The dogs are being housed at a temporary shelter as rescuers examine them before trying to find them homes.

"These resilient little animals are already beginning to perk up under the care of their temporary guardians at the emergency shelter," Scotlund Haisley, senior director of Emergency Services at the Humane Society, said in a news release. "Thankfully they will soon be taken in by humane organizations around the region, evaluated and put up for adoption."

-- Tony Barboza

An 'Angel' of a pit bull saves lives of tabby kittens

 

Here's a story for all the defenders of the pit bull:

A 2-year-old female boxer/pit bull mix named Angel, which had been turned over to the Nevada Humane Society’s shelter in Reno, is credited with rescuing six abandoned kittens Monday, according to Diane Blankenburg, a shelter spokeswoman.

While Angel was on a walk with a pair of volunteers, Frank Gomez and 9-year-old stepson Joel Fontes (pictured below with Angel), the dog became obsessed with something in the bushes.

With temperatures in the 90s on Monday, the two volunteers tried to initially coax the dog away from the bush.

But when Angel refused to move on, Gomez investigated and discovered a box full of 3-week-old orange tabby kittens that were frightened and hungry.

One of the abandoned kittens escaped before shelter staff was summoned to the scene, but Angel tracked it down and Gomez handed it over to safety.

Angel is up for adoption but the kittens won't be available for about four to five weeks, Blankenburg said.

Pit bulls are chronically challenging to adopt out because of their reputation as aggressive, violent dogs, so Blankenburg said she hoped Angel's story might help remove the stigma often associated with the breed.

"Angel is a sweet, playful dog who can now add hero to her repertoire," Blankenburg said. "Angel, herself a rescued dog, has paid back six-fold by rescuing these six little abandoned kittens."

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photos: Nevada Humane Society in Reno

Oakland couple rescues Vick's pit bulls

An Oakland couple that has rescued hundreds of pit bulls to help reverse the dogs' criminal image has set its sights on the most villified outcasts of all: fighting pit bulls taken from disgraced football star Michael Vick, The Times' John Glionna writes.

Tim Racer, above, and Donna Reynolds, who head a rescue group called Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls (or BAD RAP), have taken in 13 of Vick's dogs, finding homes for 10 so far.

In most dog-fighting busts, the animals are euthanized. But this time, a federal judge ordered Vick to pay for the dogs to be assessed individually by experts who would look past the breed's stereotype.

"The Vick case is a milestone," said Reynolds, 46. "For once, these dogs were not destroyed, dismissed as ticking time bombs. They were seen for what they are -- as victims."

Photo: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

Horse treated for burns after trying to escape fire

A horse was being treated for burns today after it tried to escape a fire in Sylmar and was pinned between its makeshift corral and a fence, the Times' Tami Abdollah reports:

Firefighters responded to the fire in the 13000 block of North Dronfield Avenue about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, said d'Lisa Davies, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.  The 20-feet-by-20-feet makeshift corral was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, she said. It took them 27 minutes to put out the blaze, and no people were injured.

When one horse tried to escape, it was "pinned between the burning corral and the chain-link fence" and was burned, Davies said. She said the cause of the fire is unknown.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Experts to join hunt for missing chimp Moe

The anguished owners of a missing 42-year-old chimpanzee have called in exotic-animal trackers to help find it, the Associated Press reports.

Family friend Michael McCasland told the agency that the two experts are expected to arrive by Friday to give advice on how to locate Moe the chimp, who escaped June 27 from an animal refuge in Devore where he lived.

McCasland says Moe is still thought to be in the nearby San Bernardino National Forest, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, although searches by helicopters and dogs have yielded no leads.

Moe's owners, St. James and La Donna Davis of West Covina, raised Moe since he was a baby, toilet-training him and teaching him to eat with a knife and fork.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Cloned puppies may have exposed a mystery

Just days ago we were amazed to bring you the story of the woman who was cuddling five puppies cloned from her adored pit bull. But the story gets better and better and better. The Associated Press has an update on Bernann McKinney and her pups... and yes, you'll see the term "sex slave" in the very first paragraph.

A woman who made news around the world when she had five pups cloned from her beloved pit bull Booger looked very familiar to some who saw her picture: She may be the same woman who 31 years earlier was accused of abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.

A paper trail of court documents and jail booking information uncovered by The Associated Press suggests 57-year-old dog-lover Bernann McKinney is Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 faced charges of unlawful imprisonment in the missionary case. She jumped bail and was never brought to justice.

British tabloids first recognized the blonde woman's smiling face when she appeared in news photographs this past week with the five pit bull pups she paid South Korean scientists $53,000 to clone from her pet dog Booger who died two years ago.

There is indeed a striking resemblance between Bernann McKinney and Joyce McKinney. Arrest records and court documents for the two names over the years show other similarities: the same birth date and Social Security numbers, the same hometown of Newland, N.C., and Joyce McKinney's middle name is Bernann.

"It fits," said Utah filmmaker Trent Harris, who made a documentary about Joyce McKinney's case. He said photographs of McKinney and the dogs left him with no question about her identity.

"I said 'Oh my God, that's Joyce,"' he said.

Bernann McKinney has flatly denied any connections to Joyce McKinney and says she planned to take legal action against those who suggested otherwise.

"I'm filing a $10 million libel action and I don't think you want AP to be part of that," McKinney said before boarding a plane to return to the U.S.

To read more of this bemusing tale of cloned pups and alleged sex slaves, click here.

Rehab for brown pelicans

In the last two months about 130 young brown pelicans have been discovered, emaciated and ill, in a variety of unexpected places, from backyards to condo complexes to shopping-mall parking lots. Times Staff Writer Louis Sahagun reports on the efforts to rehabilitate the big brown birds, many of which have been admitted for special care at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro:

"We're being inundated with as many as a dozen pelicans a day," said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the center. "We believe it's because pelicans have done well this year and produced lots of young."

Therefore, he added, "the high number of ailing birds is actually a good sign."

Dan Anderson, professor of wildlife, fish and conservation biology at UC Davis, explained the problem.

"A lot of these birds are basically starving to death," he said. "After three months of being fed in their breeding colonies, this year's young pelicans are beginning to disperse from their nests with enough baby fat to tide them over for a few months while they learn to fish."

But after a few months, Anderson said, the birds "use up all that baby fat. That's when they start showing up at rehabilitation centers."

The San Pedro center has admitted 20 pelicans in the last week. It costs about $20 a day to rehabilitate a pelican; most of that expense goes for smelt and anchovies. 

Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Yes, it's a 44 pound cat, redux

Who could forget Princess Chunk, the large (44 pounds) cat that captured headlines around the world? Readers of L.A. Unleashed seemed to have quite a bit to say about the porcine-like feline, so we're pleased to be able to update the story, which includes a little gender confusion. The Associated Press reports:

BLACKWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A 44-pound cat found lumbering around New Jersey was abandoned by a woman who said her home was foreclosed, an animal shelter official said Thursday.

The porky white cat found Saturday became a local media sensation and was dubbed Princess Chunk. But the animal is really a male whose name is Powder.

Jennifer Anderch, director of the Camden County Animal Shelter, said Thursday that the cat’s owner came forward to describe the animal’s background. Anderch said she’s received hundreds of calls from people seeking to adopt Powder.

The cat appeared Thursday on “Live With Regis and Kelly.” A veterinarian on the show examined it and determine he was indeed a male.

The largest cat on record weighed 46 pounds, 15 ounces. That cat, which lived in Australia, died in the 1980s. The Guinness World Records has since dropped the category, fearing cat owners might harm their animals in an attempt to break the record.

Photo: John Costello / McClatchy-Tribune

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."

In the meantime, the newest issue of "Bark," which bills itself as "the modern dog culture magazine," takes a thoughtful look at an organization called BAD  RAP, Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls. Last year, the magazine reports, founders Donna Reynolds and Tim Racer were "among the nine experts asked by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to help evaluate 49 of the dogs seized from Michael Vick's Bad Newz kennels and held in Virginia-area shelters."

Yes, we know that if you sign up for a "Google alert" on "animal attacks," many of the headlines involve pit bulls, but it's tough to read the article in Bark and dismiss the notion of redemption. "The personal stories of dogs -- dogs redeemed from dreadful captivity, with no interest in fighting, joyously learning to be with people -- have touched many hearts."

-- Alice Short

Photo: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

O.C. Zoo is a haven for all creatures broken, lost

The Orange County Zoo is not your usual menagerie of lions, tigers and bears. Times staff writer Tony Barboza reports:

There are no majestic animals from the African savanna, no awe-inspiring creatures from Arctic reaches. Rather, here on this 5-acre wooded spread at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains are 60 mostly hard-luck animals who have had run-ins, bad breaks and unfortunate entanglements with humankind.

Visitors to the hard-to-find zoo in Irvine Regional Park in Orange encounter a hobbling bald eagle (below), a lopsided vulture, a porcupine (at right), four-horned sheep, a raccoon that was the runt of his litter and a potbellied pig that outlived its owner, who died of cancer.

Specializing in animals native to the Southwest and accepting only those that cannot be released into the wild have made the Orange County Zoo a repository for creatures with unusual, harrowing stories, many rooted in California's landscape. And what this ragtag group lacks in exoticism it makes up for in traumatic tales of near death and abandonment.

Its wildcats (that's a bobcat above), birds, reptiles and rodents have been shot, hit by cars, forcibly removed from lakes, had altercations with power lines and been illegally harbored by families.

The aim of keeping them all together is to teach people about the animals they're likely to encounter in the hills, canyons and backyards of Southern California, said zoo manager Donald Zeigler.

Photo credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

 

The Heidi Chronicles, Part 2: A rescue yields a feminist hero

This is Heidi. Earlier this year, she was “discovered” in the park by a pet talent agency; since then, she has embarked on a one-dog quest to break into the business. This is her Hollywood story as chronicled by Times staff writer Diane Haithman. And this is her “head shot”: photo attached. The longing look was achieved by placing a biscuit just out of reach.

Once Heidi had been “discovered,” it still took me awhile to make an appointment at the animal talent agency. I had to believe I was not setting the dog up for a life of heartbreak, crying into her water bowl about the role that got away. It was time to realistically assess Heidi’s potential.

Her tearjerker bio was definitely worthy of a Hollywood press release: Heidi was found in a storm drain in Houston, Texas, with her litter of puppies. She was less than a year old — and, by the look of the puppies, apparently knocked up by the first black Labrador who came along.

By the time this young, unwed mother was rescued, three of her six puppies had died and mom and the remaining pups were little more than fur, bones and fleas. The pups required blood transfusions. In June 2003, my husband and I traveled to Texas to adopt Heidi, who now has 250 frequent flier miles on Continental Airlines.

Stray dogs along the Blue Line

Because of high gasoline prices, many Angelenos have abandoned their cars and have embraced public transportation. One such commuter, the Times' Lauren Williams,  has some observations on stray dogs along the Blue Line.

As I later learned, loose dogs are a pretty common sight on the Blue Line, especially between the Florence stop (just past the intersection with the Green Line) and the Del Amo station. Regular riders probably see half a dozen dogs walking the streets each week.

Some have collars, although they often don’t, and usually the dogs look happy to be free, trotting down the street. In such cases I assume another Good Samaritan will stop and call the owner or a shelter and the dog will be back to regular meals and clean water in no time.

Such was not the case last week, when, riding the Blue Line, I saw a dog curled into a ball lying dangerously close to the tracks beyond the metal gate that, to humans, distinguishes between the safe side of the sidewalk and the all-too-close side, near the Metro’s tracks

Read her full report on the the Times' Bottleneck Blog.

The Heidi chronicles: The first chapter in the saga of a future (maybe) pet star

This is Heidi. Earlier this year, she was “discovered” in the park by a pet talent agency; since then, she has embarked on a one-dog quest to break into the business. This is her Hollywood story, as chronicled by Times staff writer Diane Haithman. And this is her “head shot” (the longing look was achieved by placing a biscuit just out of reach).

In L.A, there’s a pervasive sense that everyone is waiting to be discovered — fueled by the remote possibility that a famous director will one day walk in and tap the guy behind the Kinko’s counter to portray, with moving realism, the guy behind a Kinko’s counter.

Being a skeptical journalist, I am far above this kind of thinking — unless it involves the dog.

One day in January, I took my German shepherd Heidi (though her light coloring and small build suggest she’s part Belgian Malinois shepherd, a close cousin), to a park in Studio City, where she was, as usual, ignoring other canines in favor of her red ball, which she monitors with obsessive-compulsive fervor because my husband and I have failed to provide Shepherd Girl with her own flock of sheep. Yet.

That’s when a woman from a pet talent agency approached us and suggested that Heidi come in for an “evaluation.”

She’s a natural; she’s been mistaken for the German shepherd in those display ads with Will Smith for “I Am Legend” and bears a striking resemblance to Rin Tin Tin. Plus, at this particular moment, the agent told me, their agency had no German shepherds among its clientele.

You hear about L.A. parents being approached by talent agencies about their kids, but ... a dog? Yet, as a smitten pet owner, it’s amazing how quickly the mind moves from “Say what?” to “She’ll roll over, but only if it’s integral to her character.”

Of course, Heidi could be a star. She’s cute and sweet and smart and she can run and play and catch a ball... Never mind that these qualities establish only that Heidi is, in fact, a dog.

My mind was already racing, stage-mom style: Should I lie about her age? She’s 6 years old, but she can play 4...she’s big, but she can play small... well, maybe after a few acting lessons. I could see it in her eager brown eyes: Heidi wants this even more than she wants the red ball.

I pocketed the woman’s card. Heidi’s people would definitely be in touch.

Photo: Alan Feldstein

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Two-legged dog is a symbol for problems with traps

Andre the two-legged dog was rescued last winter when a woman noticed the animal trailing blood across a country road. The mutt lost most of the lower half of his left legs after getting caught in an animal trap or snare. Now Andre has become a symbol in Alaska for what pet owners and animal lovers say is a gruesome and growing problem: pets accidentally caught in traps and snares meant for wild animals. Mary Pemberton of the Associated Press reports:

The problem, animal owners and advocates say, is increasing as more people move into and use areas of Alaska that were once wild. But the problem is not new. Tension between dog owners and trappers has been percolating in Alaska for decades, said Cliff Judkins, chairman of the Alaska Board of Game.

“I don’t know what the long-term answer is to it really. The Board of Game is caught in the middle between two groups,” he said. “This thing has been going on for a long, long time.”

Karen McNaught of Palmer, Alaska, nursed Andre back to health, although she initially didn’t think he would make it. “No one had seen a dog with two legs cut off like that,” she said. “The bone was sticking out on both of them. It was horrible.”

Now, Andre bounces around her back yard like a Pogo-Stick. When tired, he leans against the house or the fence. The plan is to fit him with artificial legs.

More pigs rescued from Iowa floods

Perhaps you remember the pigs that were stranded in Iowa because of severe flooding? That volunteers from four animal welfare agencies were trying to reach the animals with feed, apples and Gatorade? Well, the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch column reports some success:

After nearly three weeks on the ground undertaking an unprecedented disaster response effort, animal protection groups are bringing the last of the 69 pigs rescued from the floods in the Midwest to their new home in Watkins Glen, New York.

These remaining 53 pigs pulled from areas in and around the "Big Ditch" levee in Oakville, Iowa will find safe haven at Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen, New York shelter. This rescue was facilitated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, American Humane Association, Farm Sanctuary, and Animal Rescue League of Boston.

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Wrangling wandering sea lions and elephant seals

As The Times noted earlier this year, pinnipeds have a way of getting themselves into some unexpected places. Above, those are two elephant seals near San Simeon, just off California 1. In a story with the unbeatable headline "Where Blubber Meets the Road," Catherine Saillant described how the elephant seals somehow worked their way onto the highway, surprising more than a few motorists.

In late June a 150-pound female sea lion found its way into a Santa Clara creek and stayed there for 10 days until it was rescued this week by police officers and volunteers from a marine life organization. The San Jose Mercury News described the sea lion rescue:

The sea lion was first sighted June 27 in the shallow water of a concrete-lined channel along the San Tomas Aquino/Saratoga Creek Trail, near the San Tomas Expressway.

Monday, a half-dozen police officers herded onlookers to one side as volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito wrangled the 150-pound female sea lion from the channel into the kennel, and then onto the bed of a pickup.

Jim Oswald speculated that fatigue on the part of the sea lion may have contributed to the success of her capture today. The animal appeared healthy, despite her 10-day ordeal.

"She swam around like a bullet this morning," said Linn Johnson, a Marine Mammal Center volunteer who assisted in the rescue.

This sea lion swam about three miles upstream before it became trapped. In 2005 another sea lion traveled five miles up San Diego Creek in Orange County, reaching the Irvine Civic Center. That creature, a 195-pound female, was captured, nicknamed "Irvine" and returned to the ocean.

But Irvine's exploits hardly compare to the wanderings of "Chippy," a 321-pounder that swam about 100 miles up the San Joaquin River. In 2004 a farmer discovered the male sea lion lounging along a road in Merced County -- a half mile from the nearest water.

-- Steve Padilla 

Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times

Whatever happened to Michael Vick's dogs?

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted last year by a federal grand jury in relation to the dogfighting investigation that took place at his Virginia residence.

When Vick's home was first raided in the spring of 2007, dozens of malnourished animals were discovered; later raids turned up buried remains of several pit bulls. It was suggested that dogs that wouldn't fight -- or lost their fights -- were shot, drowned, electrocuted, strangled or hanged.

So what happened to the dogs that didn't die? A federal judge involved in the case ordered each dog (that's one of them pictured) to be evaluated individually. And he "ordered Vick to pony up close to $1 million to pay for the lifelong care of those that could be saved." The Washington Post reports:

Of the 49 pit bulls animal behavior experts evaluated in the fall, only one was deemed too vicious to warrant saving and was euthanized. (Another was euthanized because it was sick and in pain.)

...Of the 47 surviving dogs, 25 were placed directly in foster homes, and a handful have been or are being adopted. Twenty-two were deemed potentially aggressive toward other dogs and were sent to an animal sanctuary in Utah. Some, after intensive retraining, are expected to move on to foster care and eventual adoption.

Pit bulls seem to end up in a great many headlines that involve animal attacks, so how can it be that some experts believe some of these animals can eventually be placed with people, possibly people with families? Post writer Brigid Schulte has some of the answers.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press

More on the condor evacuations in Big Sur

This weekend, L.A. Unleashed told you about how the wildfires in Big Sur and Goleta are affecting animals -- pets having to be sheltered, animals forced from their habitat and some condor chicks may have been lost.

The Times' Steve Chawkins updates us on the endangered birds, which are very much still in danger:

Two weeks ago, the Coast Guard airlifted eight young birds that were not ready for release from a holding pen at Andrew Molera State Park to another shelter at Pinnacles National Monument.

But wildlife experts are worried about the 43 condors living in the wild in the Big Sur area -- particularly three chicks in nests within the fire zone.

"We can’t presume anything, but those chicks have a major uphill battle to survive," said biologist Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society.

Sorensen said the fire has kept observers out of condor territory for a week. Aerial surveillance indicated that one of the nests, high in a redwood tree, may have burned.

Thirty of the more mature condors living around Big Sur are all banded with transmitters that beam a radio signal a short distance. Of the remaining 10, which carry more sophisticated GPS devices, one has been spotted as far away as Atascadero, about 100 miles southeast of Big Sur.

"It’s a really challenging time -- not only for the birds but for us," said Sorenson, who said his organization is the only nonprofit group releasing condors and managing them in the wild. Its base of operations, which includes a staff cabin and two large pens for the condors -- is located in a Big Sur canyon that has been severely burned.

Below is a video of the Associated Press' report on the condor evacuation effort.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Orville Myers / Associated Press

More background on Riley the greyhound

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound named Riley that used to race at the Caliente track in Tijuana. She periodically posts updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed.

Adopting a greyhound is a little like getting married. You don't just get a dog -- in my case Riley, my beautiful 4-year-old retired racer -- you get an extended family as well.

And soon after I started writing about my journey to adopt Riley (at left in the photo), the family started checking in. There was Theresa Padilla, who is Greyhound Pets of America-CA's foster coordinator for L.A. and Orange County. She filled in some of the blanks about the day Riley arrived from Mexico: "I was processing the dogs the day Monty (a.k.a. Riley) came off the track," she wrote. "When we saw Monty both Beverly (my adoption coordinator) and I were quite taken with him. When I was assigning dogs to the fosters I asked Beverly if she had someone in mind for Monty and she said yes. So I swapped him out for the dog I had originally assigned to Beverly for fostering. I truly believe everything happens for a reason."

So my first gift from the family was courtesy of Theresa, who just had a feeling about Riley's future.

Then there was the note from Carey Theil, who's the executive director of a national greyhound protection group, Grey2K-USA , based in Massachusetts. Because of Grey2K's efforts there is a remarkable amount of documentation available on greys who race in the state.

A sanctuary for animals in the Arabian desert

When you think of an animal sanctuary, the Arabian desert is probably not the first location that comes to mind. But Ronel Smuts runs such a place in the United Arab Emirates. Times staff writer Jeffrey Fleishman reports:

Life can be tough on the edge of a desert emirate where sand stings and the sun hangs like misery by 9 a.m. Ronel Smuts oversees a menagerie of exotic and endangered animals rescued from smugglers, airports, bazaars, palaces.

Some arrive bone thin, others were abused, like the lioness whose teeth were filed down by a sheik. Two African baboons were found in a car in Dubai; a jaguar was shipped in from Kazakhstan.

When they get here, they meet a South African divorcee with a tin feeding bowl and an ornery side who jokes -- one assumes it's a joke -- that she'll throw her crew, eight Arab men in khaki shirts and matching caps, into the crocodile pond if floors aren't swept and cages aren't repaired.

Smuts has a soft heart for animals and a tart tongue for most everyone else; she once had 14 cheetahs living in her villa, and she's installed mosquito zappers in the lion's den, which, incidentally, is air-conditioned.

Photo: Gulf News

Animals suffer in California fires; condors may be lost

The fires burning in Big Sur and Goleta are forcing evacuations, destroying thousands of acres and threatening more damage. Among the victims of the wildfires are animals--both wild, like this deer in Big Sur, and domestic. Pets have had to be sheltered, animals have been forced from their habitat and some condor chicks may have been lost.

The Salinas Californian reports on fire-related issues in central California:

As authorities order mandatory evacuations due to a fire that has scorched more than 50,000 acres in Big Sur, organizations are lending a hand to owners of animals, both small and large. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Monterey County is opening its doors to evacuating residents who need a place to shelter their pets or livestock, whether it's a tiny turtle or a large cow.

Beth Brookhouser, director of community outreach for the organization, said Thursday the SPCA has rescued and sheltered roughly 227 animals affected by both the Basin Complex Fire in Big Sur and the Indians Fire in more remote parts of the Los Padres National Forest.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported that "so much forest has burned near Big Sur that animals have been forced out of their habitat and onto the roads. Buzzards flew overhead to snatch up dead rodents and squirrels, and residents reported that they'd seen bear, deer and other big animals migrating toward the sea."

And finally, the Monterey Herald is reporting that the fate of condor chicks near the fire zone is unknown.

One rare California condor chick may be dead and two others are in areas too dangerous to be saved, as the Basin Complex Fire creeps into their once-serene canyons. "It is horrible, but there is nothing we can do," said Kelly Sorenson of Ventana Wildlife Society, which monitors each bird along the vast Central Coast.

Thick smoke thwarted a rescue attempt early Tuesday. "We're just waiting, watching and hoping for the best. Our hands are tied," he said.

The chicks are about 2½ months old, covered in downy gray feathers and already the size of chickens. Too young to fly, they are confined to their nests.

--Alice Short

Photo: Robert Durell/Los Angeles Times

Woman creates private animal shelter in China

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in China, the Associated Press has a report on something very unusual in that country: A former businesswoman has created a private animal shelter.

The white short-haired mutt was found dragging his crushed hind legs through rubble-clogged streets after the massive earthquake devastated China's Sichuan province.

The shy terrier mix was lucky to live through the May 12 quake that killed nearly 70,000 people. He was even more fortunate to survive the squads of police and soldiers who were gunning down homeless canines for fear they would spread disease in the disaster's aftermath.

But his luckiest day was when he was picked up by Chen Yunlian.

Now he's among some 100 "quake dogs" rescued by the former businesswoman, who has created something extremely rare in China: a private animal shelter.

Chen is also on the vanguard of a new movement in China of citizens who start their own groups to deal with social problems that were once mostly handled — or ignored — by the Communist Party-led state. Click here for more photos of injured animals who have been helped by Chen.

Photo: Andy Wong / Associated Press

Hundreds of threatened salmon rescued on Central Valley creek

State Department of Fish and Game crews have rounded up more than 300 stray salmon and returned them to their rightful spawning path, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports.

The migrating spring-run salmon are supposed to swim up Butte Creek Canyon to find cold water in which to spawn in the fall, but got stuck in two pools just west of Highway 99.

Rescue crews on Wednesday used nets to capture the fish, one by one, and drive them to the canyon.

Department of Fish and Game officials said the cold water fish probably would have died in the pools when the water got too warm.

Authorities said they rescued the fish because there are fewer salmon returning to the Central Valley this year.

Along the West Coast this year, a slew of international, U.S. and California officials have carved up strict rules on salmon fishing.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

The search for Moe the chimp continues

The Times' Bob Pool gives us the latest on the disappearance of Moe the chimp:

St. James Davis, who rescued the chimp from poachers in the 1960s, sat in a wheelchair and struggled to speak as he told of the hunt taking place above Jungle Exotics, which houses wild animals used in the movie and television industry.

It was Moe's fourth home since authorities removed him from the Davises' West Covina home after he mauled a police officer's hand and bit off a woman's fingertip in two 1998 incidents.

"From the helicopter they did find a couple of water holes up there," Davis said. "They did see three black bears. Moe's quite friendly with dogs and cats, but I don't know if a wolf or a bobcat or something comes up, what's going to happen. Hopefully he'll run away or get in a tree."

Davis and his wife met with reporters at lawyer Gloria Allred's Wilshire Boulevard office. She represented them in their earlier struggle to keep the chimp in their home.

So far the search has been a privately organized affair, although San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies and firefighters have joined in the hunt, according to LaDonna Davis, St. James' wife. A chartered helicopter has flown low over the San Bernardino National Forest in hopes of scaring the chimpanzee into the open.

There have been scattered reports of missing chickens and garden hoses turned on in the vicinity of the hunt -- but no solid evidence that Moe is to blame.

L.A. Unleashed will keep you posted on developments on the case that started last Friday.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times

Amid the flooding, a pig rescue effort

As the Midwest continues to suffer from severe flooding, many recovery efforts have focused on animals. The Associated Press reports that a rescue effort was launched Friday to save about 50 pigs stranded on a levee near Oakville, Iowa, where the Iowa River raged out of its banks. (The pig at right was trying to cross a nearby levee.)

About two dozen volunteers from four animal welfare agencies were attempting to reach the animals with feed, apples and Gatorade, said Colleen Cullen, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare.

That group, the American Humane Assn., Farm Sanctuary and the Animal Rescue League of Boston have been working in Illinois to help care for abandoned animals. They kept a small staff in Illinois and sent the volunteers to Iowa to help with the pig rescue. The Iowa Department of Agriculture confirmed that it asked the volunteer groups to step in and help rescue the pigs.

Today, the IFAW reported 15 pigs have been rescued and are being transported to their new home at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Moe the chimp escapes from wildlife facility

A well-known chimp named Moe -- whose chimp companions brutally attacked Moe's owner in 2005 -- is missing from the Devore wildlife facility where he lived, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department reports.

"I have a chimp missing. I don't know if he escaped or not," said Tom Betty, a supervisor with the Sheriff's Department. Betty told The Times on Saturday night that Moe was believed to have fled into the San Bernardino National Forest and was being sought by animal control officers.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin has more:

On Friday afternoon, the chimp featured in several news stories over the years, escaped from Jungle Exotics near Devore. On Saturday, San Bernardino County animal-control officers and volunteers were searching the heavily forested area, while a privately owned helicopter circled overhead.

Michael McCasland, who said he was a friend of the West Covina couple who raised the chimp, likened the search to looking for a missing child. "These 24 hours since he got away are crucial just like looking for a child," he said. "He has never escaped into the wild before and has no food or water out there." McCasland, who was at the scene Friday and Saturday, said Moe might have escaped into the San Bernardino National Forest after being spooked by a recent fire.

Almost 700 dogs removed from puppy mill

Animals taken from a dog breeding operation in Tennessee have been surrendered to the Humane Society of the United States. The Nashville Tennessean reports:

It’s unclear when the animals would become available for adoption, said Scotlund Haisley, senior director of emergency services for the Humane Society. Local animal shelters would announce availability, he said.

Investigators found nearly 700 dogs Wednesday at Pinebluff Kennels on Ed Lyell Road in Lyles, Tenn. Many of the dogs suffered eye injuries, broken bones and skin conditions. Several were found dead. The dogs were being sold on a Web site for as much as $400. (The Humane Society of the United States has posted a video of the puppy rescue.)

Most of the dogs offered on the site were small breeds, such as Chihuahuas, Terriers and Miniature Pinschers.

The Hickman County Humane Society is seeking volunteers to help with sheltering and caring for the animals. They especially need veterinarians and veterinarian technicians, Haisley said. PetSmart Charities has donated enough food for the animals, but there is a need for blankets and towels, he added.

$2,500 reward for a stolen Yorkie

Here's another reason to never, ever leave your dog in the car. KTLA reports:

A $2,500 reward was being offered by a woman whose Yorkshire Terrier was stolen through the sunroof of her Cadillac Escalade. At the time of the crime, the vehicle was parked in a structure at the Shops at Mission Viejo Thursday afternoon.

The dog's owner, Erin Murphy, says she returned to the vehicle about 4 p.m. to find the 3-year-old dog gone -- along with a pair of pants she planned to return, according to the Orange County Register.

"I just hope someone finds it in their heart to return him to us," Murphy said. "We miss him." Tips can be called in to Orange County sheriff's deputies at (714) 628-7170.

The dog hasa microchip, which could help identify him if he landed at the pound or veterinarian's office, the newspaper reported. "He's an expensive breed," Murphy said. "I don't know what else the draw would be." Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said deputies are on the case, and they even dusted the Cadillac Escalade for fingerprints.

The Obamas and the goldendoodle

We received a number of comments from readers of L.A. Unleashed on the possibility of Barack Obama and his family acquiring a goldendoodle (part poodle, part golden retriever). Several folks urged the Obamas (including daughters Sasha and Malia) to consider the merits of a rescue dog, or one from the pound. A few others had some different priorities. Consider:

A goldendoodle in the White House? What a great idea! It can chew up Michelle's shoes, repeatedly jump on visiting dignitaries and run away from the secret service when someone opens the back door... fun for the whole family and staff!

If the Obamas want an affectionate, devoted, intelligent, compliant, allergy-friendly companion for the White House, they should go "old school" and get a standard poodle.

--Carol

I hope this does not mean that suddenly the goldendoodle will become the "in dog" and then consequently show up in shelters just as the beagle is now populating all animal shelters.

--Mary Ellen

Good researching Malia! I am impressed with the current trend to seek out dogs that are selectively bred as a superior companion to man...not as bird dogs, not as pit dogs, not as pursuers of vermin or to win blue ribbons in the conformation show ring, but dogs that embody qualities most appropriate for becoming a treasured part of one's family...affectionate, devoted, intelligent, compliant, allergy-friendly (if that is an issue for your family), with the good health and sound conformation to sustain them. ...

I notice another comment posted here voices the complaint that Malia and others should rescue the animals in shelters rather than considering the purchase of a dog from a breeder. While deeply disturbed by the plight of shelter dogs, there has never been a time when the practice of "rescue" has been more risky. The purchase price of the most expensive purebred is quickly dwarfed by the cost of modern veterinary treatment when a dog proves to be unhealthy or unsound...or the tragedy of an innate temperament that is not conducive, or in some cases even safe, to being an integral part of ones family...

I have adopted many pets from shelters in my long life, and most have enriched my life experience in spite of the unexpected veterinary bills and character flaws that sometimes accompanied the unknowable aspects of that method of acquisition. ...but... it's never been as risky a proposition as it is now.

Even with the most well-planned matings, nature sometimes throws in an unexpected disappointing surprise, but with no plan or knowledge of an animals innate pre-dispositions...the potential for problems is myriad. Your study of the nature of the breeds is smart, admirable and sensible. Just check the reliability of the breeder, ask the right questions and add lots of love and good training. Those are a winning combination. I hope you find the dog of your dreams!

--Susan Christen

Riley the greyhound enjoys the superstar life

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound named Riley that used to race at the Caliente racing track in Tijuana. She periodically posts updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed.

I've been lucky when it comes to my canine companions; they've all been the sorts of dogs that draw attention. Rosie, my Neapolitan mastiff, was 128 pounds of silver sheen, a wonderfully wrinkled face and soulful green eyes. She moved with a fluid grace that was more lion than dog and never lived a moment of her 12 years under the radar.

My English setter puppy Max, with a big black patch over his left eye and the personality of a renegade pirate to match, has been attracting crowds since the day in November when he landed at LAX straight from Havelock Setters in North Dakota when he was 2 months old.

But Riley? Well, he's just turning out to be superstar material. All greyhounds are blessed with beautiful lines -- deep chests that sweep up into an amazingly trim body, sleek heads that look aerodynamically perfect, ears that are as expressive as their eyes, slender prancing legs and a tail that makes a long graceful "J" to cap it all off.

Even there, Riley is extraordinary -- at certain angles he looks like a pen-and-ink drawing, with precise rivers of black coursing through an underlying palette of reddish brown. But it's more than that. Riley has presence.

When people come up to him, and they do in droves, it's as if he radiates a sort of magnanimity that just encircles them, draws them in. They don't talk to him exactly -- they talk about him, around him, in reverent tones.

A benefit for Dogs in Danger

Several dozen reality TV personalities and their pooches put on the dog at a Beverly Hills mansion Saturday at a benefit for Dogs in Danger, a group that promotes the adoption of canines in shelters.

Kristen Renton, an actress on “Days of Our Lives,” pranced down the red carpet set up on the driveway with Roxy, one of two boxers she has rescued. Jai Rodriguez of the Animal Planet show “Groomer Has It” turned up with his 5-year-old Yorkie, Nemo. Ryan Seacrest was there too -- but with no dog or date in tow.

Maria Menounos of “Access Hollywood” (at left) came toting her handicapped poodle, Noelle, in a pet-purse. The aging dog’s back legs are crippled and the front ones are prone to sores, so she wears yellow protective pads made by Menounos’ mom. Though Noelle can’t walk, Menounos said the poodle keeps in shape with daily swims.

Also in the crowd were two local guys about to get their 15 minutes of reality-show fame on a new CBS show, “Greatest American Dog,” which is set to debut July 10. Part “Survivor,” part “American Idol,” the show pits 12 human-dog teams against each other in a competition for $250,000 and the title of America’s greatest dog. Considering that they were cooped up for about 40 days in a house in Agoura Hills with 10 other human-dog pairings during filming, they seemed surprisingly normal.

Ron Davis, 39 (at right) went on the show with his 3-year-old English bulldog, Tillman. Davis, a construction manager from Oxnard, said the gig came along for him at just the right time -- he was laid off from his job on the first day of the shoot.

He and Travis Brorsen, 29 (at left), a bartender from Hollywood who went on the show with his boxer, Presley, weren’t allowed to divulge many details about the TV show. But Davis did reveal that there was no behind-the-scenes team keeping up with the doo-doo. The rule on the show, he said, was simple: “You poop, you scoop, and you hope it’s hard.”

-- Julie Makinen

Photos: Cliff Smith

Animal rescue efforts underway in Iowa

Iowans are attempting to cope with some of the worst flooding in the state in years, and some of that coping means dealing with thousands of stranded animals. The Des Moines Register reports:

Officials from the Humane Society of the United States boarded a plane from Washington, D.C., on Friday morning to assist local animal rescue efforts because of the flooding in Cedar Rapids and throughout Iowa.

By today, the Humane Society will have at least seven staff members operating statewide and will have deployed a 75-foot animal transport semitrailer truck capable of housing 100 animals, three boats, a mobile command center and a pickup truck.

"We're trained to respond to any disaster of any size - land, fire or water - year-round," said Scotlund Haisley, senior director of emergency services for the Humane Society in Washington. Haisley said the society responded in less than 24 hours to a request that came Thursday from the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

Josh Colvin, operations manager for the Animal Care and Control Center for the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, said there is a need for help in Cedar Rapids. "From what I'm understanding, Cedar Rapids is overwhelmed with animals because of so many evacuations," Colvin said. Des Moines Animal Control Unit Supervisor Scott Raudabaugh said the city and Animal Rescue League of Iowa are working to keep pets safe.

A puppy airlift from the Caribbean

Todd Weller visited the sandy beaches and turquoise waters of the Caribbean last fall, intending to kick back and relax. But he returned to his Bay Area home with more than just the usual souvenirs.

A wiggling, 9-week-old puppy named Mardi made the trip with him. In bringing the animal back to the United States, Weller became part of an international puppy airlift, an ongoing rescue effort that transports homeless Caribbean island dogs to the United States and Canada. The mixed breed dogs are known as potcakes.

Read all about the puppy airlift program in the Times Travel section at latimes.com. At right, Judy Smith, a visitor to the Turks and Caicos Islands, bonds with a young potcake.

Photo: Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times

An eagle gets a beak

Perhaps you remember the wounded bald eagle named Beauty? More than three years after poachers shot off her upper beak, she's got something to crow about, according to an Associated Press report at Discovery News.

A team attached an artificial beak to the 15-pound eagle in mid-May, improving her appearance and, more importantly, helping her grasp food.

"She's got a grill," joked Nate Calvin, the Boise engineer who spent 200 hours designing the complex beak. The "grill" was exposed when a bit of the synthetic beak broke off during application. But the new beak is only a temporary fix, designed to nail down precise measurements. A final beak made of tougher material will be created and attached later, though her saviors don't plan to release her back into the wild. They say that she has spent too much time with humans and that the final beak will still not be strong enough to tear flesh from prey.

But getting this artificial beak now was key to Beauty's survival. A wild eagle that must be hand-fed by humans would eventually have to be euthanized, especially since her life span could run four more decades, said Jane Fink Cantwell, who took Beauty to her raptor recovery center in Idaho two years ago. ...

Some critics question such an extraordinary effort to save one bird that is no longer on the endangered species list. But Cantwell pointed out that Beauty has the potential to breed or be a foster mother to orphaned eagles.

Photo: Young Kwak/Associated Press

Urban jungle threatens rare gibbons of Saugus

A self-taught expert on gibbons -- acrobatic primates with expressive eyes -- is now trying to find a new home for the 34 gibbons housed at a research center that he founded in the Santa Clarita Valley decades ago. The problem, Times staff writer Ann M. Simmons reports, involves encroaching development:

When Chloe the gibbon and her mate Ivan hear trucks rumbling along nearby streets and helicopter propellers clacking overhead, they dart and leap erratically.

Betty, Truman, Sasha and Tuk soon join the frenzy, along with 28 other apes. But the residents at the Gibbon Conservation Center aren't just monkeying around.

It's a stressful situation for them," said Alan Mootnick, founder of the nonprofit center just outside Santa Clarita. "They don't know which direction to turn. It's like they're trying to get away."

It's also distressing to Mootnick, a soft-spoken, self-taught expert on gibbons who has won praise from zoologists and who has published dozens of scholarly papers in peer-reviewed publications, such as the International Journal of Primatology.

Professional primatologists say the center is home to the largest and rarest group of gibbons in the Western Hemisphere. The collection includes Hylobates gibbons, the only non-human primates to naturally walk on two limbs; Hoolock gibbons, distinguished by their bushy white eyebrows; and Nomascus, that have fluffy light-colored checks that resemble sideburns.

But now encroaching urban development is threatening the health and well-being of the gibbons, which originally hail from Southeast Asia, Mootnick said. He is trying to raise funds to relocate the zoo-like facility that he founded in 1976 in then-sparsely populated Bouquet Canyon.

Check out a photo gallery of the Antelope Valley-based gibbons:

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times

Funeral for panda killed in China quake

Nearly a month after China's devastating earthquake, the Associated Press reports that the Wolong Nature Reserve held a funeral today for a panda that was crushed in the temblor.

The world famous panda center was badly damaged by the May 12 quake, but officials initially thought all 64 pandas had survived. They later discovered that two were missing.

Nine-year-old Mao Mao, the mother of five at the breeding center, was found Monday, her body crushed by a wall of her enclosure when the river behind it swelled with landslide debris. Today, panda keepers and other workers placed her remains in a small wooden crate and wheeled her quietly to a patch of ground outside the breeding center where a freshly dug hole waited.

Forty-seven pandas continue to live at Wolong, while one other panda, Xiao Xiao, remains missing.

--Alice Short

Photo: Chen Xie/Associated Press

Bakersfield fire kills dog, reveals 30 pets in house

Firefighters in Bakersfield put out a house fire only to find 25 cats and five dogs inside the smoky home, the Associated Press reports:

Fire Capt. Bryan Perry says one dog died of smoke inhalation but firefighters revived four other pets by using oxygen masks adapted for animals.

Perry said an oven fire is believed to have started the blaze at about 9:30 a.m. Friday in a home on Marsha Street. The man living there fled and wasn't hurt.

Perry said the pets were found after the flames were extinguished.

The fire caused an estimated $80,000 in damage.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

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.

Puppy mill survivor on tour -- tonight at Borders in Pasadena

The sign on the door of the Barnes & Noble at The Grove proclaims: "NO PETS ALLOWED."  But Baby, a 14-year-old snow-white poodle, sauntered through, wrapped in Jana Kohl's arms, trailed by an entourage and greeted by an eager store official. 

That's because Baby, a puppy mill survivor, was on her way to an autograph-signing for Kohl's new book, "A Rare Breed of Love,"  which has made a cover girl out of the little canine -- who is attractively shaggy and sans that overly manicured poodle cut. 

The fact that Baby has only three legs hobbles her walk but not her presence.  Despite Kohl's fretting over how many people pet her as she takes her on tour, Baby seems relaxed and calm.

Tonight, you can see Kohl and Baby at 7 at Borders in Pasadena at 475 South Lake Ave.

Finding homes for older dogs

The singer Tom T. Hall has a song about the virtues of old dogs, children and watermelon wine.

But in real life, older dogs, and cats that have lost that kittenish charm, are often the least likely to be adopted.

So the San Diego County Department of Animal Services is dropping the adoption fee for dogs over 5 years old, cats over 6 months old, or any animal that has been at the shelter for more than 30 days. The offer lasts through Aug. 30.

There is also a "Better with a Buddy" offer: one cat for full price, the second one at half-price. Fees are usually $69 for a dog, $58 for a cat, which includes spaying and neutering.

For older animals unable to find homes, the end is grim. With limited space at its shelters in Carlsbad, San Diego and Bonita, the department is forced to euthanize older animals considered unadoptable.

"Our goal is not to euthanize any adoptable animal," said John Carlson, the department’s deputy director. "We want to find a home for every animal that is healthy and friendly."

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo credit: San Diego County Department of Animal Services

A conference on animals in times of disaster

The Humane Society of the United States is hosting the National Conference on Animals in Disaster in Sacramento starting Tuesday. Among the attendees are animal response specialists, emergency managers, vets and volunteers.

Highlights include a talk from FEMA deputy regional administrator Karen Armes and breakout sessions on such topics as "Animal First Aid for Disaster Responders."

The two dogs above were photographed floating on wood after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

A brief history of Riley the greyhound

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound named Riley that used to race at the Caliente racing track in Tijuana. She periodically posts updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about Riley's racing stats.

His racing name was Collegiate. His dad, Craigie Whistler, was a one-time derby champion. In a course 5/16th of a mile, Collegiate's fastest win was 30.78 seconds.

How does that rank in the world of racing greys? According to D. Caroline Coile's book, "Greyhounds: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual," one of the record setters was Be My Bubba, who ran 5/16 of a mile in 29.33 seconds, but the book's a decade old so I'm sure that number is dated.

These days Collegiate, the 4-year-old greyhound I recently adopted, is living life as Riley and the fastest move he makes is to the bowl at feeding time.

In his racing life, Riley was a Class A racer, the top of the sport's A to D rating system. He raced 73 times, won 6, and came in 2nd place in another 14.

Thus far, Riley's dad, Craigie Whistler, has sired 4,504 pups; 457 have run in major races.

Despite his handful of wins, Riley didn't make it into the best of the litters list. Ironically, the dog among Craigie's offspring with the most wins is one named Will Ferrell. I kid you not.

American zoos seek to raise money for Chinese pandas

The San Diego Zoo, the National Zoo in Washington and two other U.S. zoos that have giant pandas are launching a fundraising effort for colleagues in the earthquake-ravaged region of China, home to a famous panda facility. The Washington Post reports:

The Wolong National Nature Reserve, in Sichuan province, was a short distance from the epicenter of the earthquake that struck May 12. National Zoo officials said five workers at the reserve are believed to have died in the disaster.

Two of the approximately 50 pandas at the reserve's breeding center escaped, though one was found, a zoo official said. There was extensive damage in the region, and staff members are living in tents, the zoo's website says. An appeal for donations has been posted.

Photo: Teh Eng Koon   AFP/Getty Images

A baby red-tailed hawk is rescued in Griffith Park

This baby red-tailed hawk was rescued from a tall redwood by rangers in Griffith Park.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the red-tailed hawk is the most common and widespread hawk in North America.  The university's web site also says:

In the courtship display a pair of Red-tailed Hawks soars in wide circles at a great height. The male dives down in a steep drop, then shoots up again at nearly as steep an angle. He repeats this maneuver several times, then approaches the female from above. He extends his legs and touches or grasps her briefly. The pair may grab onto one other and may interlock their talons and spiral toward the ground.

Photo: Albert Torres/Chief Park Ranger, Park Ranger Division, Recreation and Parks

Finding a way to help the fledglings

It's a common scenario in spring: You spot a baby bird on the lawn or on the street. Your first instinct is to try to find its parents or its nest, perhaps to move the fledgling or nestling to safety. What do the experts say?

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers a helpful list of suggestions for fledglings found by humans:

1. Look the young bird over for signs of physical trauma.

2. If it is seriously injured, take it to a veterinarian. If it looks slightly injured, contact your state's Department of Fish and Game for the name and telephone number of the nearest wildlife rehabilitator. The Camarillo Wildlife Rehabilitation organization has compiled a list of rehabilitators licensed by the state Department of Fish and Game.

3. Carry the animal in a small enclosed box, such as a shoe box, lined with paper towels. Poke a few holes in the top of the box for ventilation.

And is that bird really abandoned or an orphan?

Here's what Cornell experts say:

Nearly always, the answer will be no—most baby birds that people find are actually recent fledglings that cannot fly well. The first thing to do is determine whether it is a nestling or a fledgling.

Let the young bird perch on your finger. Is it gripping firmly? If so, it is a fledgling. The best thing to do, to get it out of harm's way, is to place the baby bird in a shrub or tree—somewhere above the ground—and leave it alone.

If the bird seems unable to cling well to your finger or to branches, it is most likely a nestling. Look around in nearby shrubbery or trees for the nest the bird came from. It will probably be well hidden. If you do find the nest, simply put the young bird back in it. If you can't find it, you can provide a substitute nest by tying a berry basket (the kind with holes in the bottom, for drainage) in a tree. Line it with some tissues or other soft material, put the baby bird inside, and leave it alone.

What about the fear that if you touch the baby bird, later it will be disowned?

"It's an old wives' tale that the parent birds will reject the baby birds touched by humans, because most birds have a poor sense of smell and wouldn't be able to tell humans have touched them," said Nicky Thole, director of Camarillo Wildlife Rehabilitation, a rescue group that Ventura County Animal Services uses as a reference on bird matters.

Courtesy of the L.A. Audubon Society, a list of local wildlife rehab agencies to call when you find a sick or injured bird is on the jump below.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Kevin P. Casey/Los Angeles Times

After the crash, a family is reunited

Emmy is back with her family in San Diego.

The 11-year-old Jack Russell terrier was ejected from her owners' car as it crashed and rolled off Interstate 15 early Thursday. MaryBeth Zmuda and her husband, Timon Martin, were not injured but soon became frantic when they couldn't find Emmy.

They searched, they called. Finally they placed an ad, with Emmy's picture, on Craigslist and called KUSI-TV. Complicating matters, the couple has just moved to San Diego and not had time to get tags for Emmy.

A woman recognized Emmy as the dog she had spotted about three miles from the crash site and had called county Animal Services to report. Calls were made, and pet and people were reunited Friday.

"It's really beyond belief, it's heaven," said Zmuda.

Before they took Emmy home from the Animal Services shelter in Carlsbad, Zmuda and Martin got some insurance against her being lost again: a microchip implanted in her skin. If she ever shows up at a shelter, workers can use a scanner to read her address and phone number.

--Tony Perry

Photo: Zmuda/Martin family album

Ailing condor chick rebounding after blood transfusion

For decades the Los Angeles Zoo has worked to save the endangered California condor. As shown in the 1995 photo above, zookeepers there occasionally helped a chick out of its shell. Now zookeepers at the Oregon Zoo in Portland are also working to raise condors, and the Associated Press reports on recent efforts to save an ailing chick.

According to the AP, Oregon Zoo officials say that after a week of antibiotics and a blood transfusion from an adult condor, the chick has turned the corner and is getting stronger:

Zoo staff have worked feverishly this month to hatch the underweight and shell-bound bird. Monitoring the egg at the zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, keepers determined it would not be able to hatch alone.

Fearing the chick would suffocate, they stepped in and helped - a worst-case scenario for them. Keepers broke away part of the shell and removed the chick.

Condor Curator Shawn St. Michael and condor keepers provide around-the-clock care.

A video of the condor chick’s assisted hatch is featured on the zoo's website.

California's condors almost became extinct last century, dwindling to 30, and have benefited from a vigorous effort the last two decades by bird lovers and environmentalists to save the iconic bird.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Associated Press

Betsy brings Riley the greyhound home

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound, Riley, at right, that used to race at the Caliente Racing Track in Tijuana. She will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about bringing Riley home.

Riley: The real world. This is where the fantasy stops. Riley's coming home.

It was one of those precision military affairs. I would pick him up Friday afternoon at 1:30 so that by the time I got back to the house, the gardeners would be gone -- critical since the backyard was the first stop he would need to make to begin learning the rules of the house, and more specifically, what you couldn't do in the house. Besides, I didn't want him to enter his new life to the sound of leaf blowers.

I'm not sure what I expected, but it was a pretty quick transfer. His paperwork, racing stats, a flannel blanket Beverly had made for him, a new toy, a toothbrushing demo, an info packet that included Greyhound 101, all the basics you need to know about your retired racer, and a greyhound rescue decal for the car.

All were handed over while Riley nuzzled up against me and Max raced and tumbled around with Beverly's dogs. Within minutes, she was on her way to an emergency pickup of the next greyhound she would foster and I was on my way to life with Riley.

One thing Max absolutely excels at is getting into the car, so despite a dozen distractions, he hopped in like perfection. Riley loves car rides, but is not so keen on the getting in part -- a dog treat and some pleading finally convinced him. Soon we were home and suddenly I was faced with the prospect of getting two dogs from the car into the house.

Betsy meets Monty the greyhound -- soon to be renamed Riley

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound, Riley, at right, that used to race at the Caliente Racing Track in Tijuana. She will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about meeting Riley.

"I think I've found the perfect dog for you." It was Beverly from Greyhound Pets of America calling about another greyhound for me to consider adopting.

It had been about a week since the wrenching meeting with Bobby, the wily white and red greyhound that I had walked away from. Just too much energy to combine with my English Setter puppy, Max. Perfect was good. But still I hesitated.

After Bobby, I'd decided to hold off any adoption until Max finished another 5 weeks of puppy obedience school. At 8, this grey, Beverly assured me, was much much calmer than Bobby. We could meet at her house then drive over to La Habra Heights, where this dog was in foster care.

And so, late on a Sunday afternoon, I started the journey to find my perfect greyhound again. I hadn't even asked the dog's name -- not a good sign.

As Max and I pulled up to the house, Beverly walked into the front yard with a handsome red and black brindle greyhound who'd just come from the track the day before. Greyhound rescue groups call it "Retirement Day," and they turn it into a celebration of dog washes and naming and placing the new greyhounds into foster homes. Beverly had taken this one.

All the GPA greyhounds who retired on April 19 from Caliente were named in some way after "The Simpsons." This beautiful boy was dubbed Monty, I'm guessing he was named after the classic "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" episode. At least that's the "Simpsons" memory it conjured up for me...

Another greyhound tale

If you've been following the saga of Riley, the greyhound that's in the process of being adopted by Times entertainment editor Betsy Sharkey, you may recall the moment when Betsy fell in love with greyhounds. It was during a visit to her veterinarian, with her 7-month-old English setter Max, when she first met George, a "black & white greyhound, dignified, elegant and calm."

"George," Betsy recalls, "was a newly adopted retired racer, with elegant tuxedo markings. He was there with a volunteer from GreySave, a Pasadena-based greyhound rescue group."

Well, it turns out that George has a new home, and L.A. Unleashed has heard from his new owners, Art and Dee Rinaman:

We saw the story about George [that] Betsy Sharkey had written on your Web site L.A. Unleashed and wanted to let you know what has happened to George.

As you can see by the picture, George has found a permanent home. He is now living in La Crescenta with his new sister Koda, a 10-year-old dalmatian.

George has been living with us for almost two months now. One day about a month and half ago on one of their walks, my wife, Dee, and George were discussing his name, and they both decided he would like to be called Hank. So George is now Hank.

He is a very lovable dog, and I world like to thank Greysave for helping us find the right greyhound to fit into our family.

-- Art and Dee Rinaman

The (greyhound) adoption process continues: Betsy and Max meet Bobby

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound, Riley, at right, that used to race at the Caliente Racing Track in Tijuana. She will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about meeting her first possible match, a greyhound named Bobby.

Seven nail-biting days after clearing all the hurdles to adopt a greyhound, the call finally came. Beverly of Greyhound Pets of America thought she'd found a possible match for me.

His name was Bobby, a big white boy with red patches, who had a reputation for loving puppies. Four years old, but still playful enough to take on my crazy 7-month-old English Setter, Max.

Bobby had been in a foster home since January, so would come with all the social graces -- understands basic commands, walks well on a leash, housebroken and used to the daily decorum of sharing indoor space with humans. Sounded ideal.

And so, with a growing sense of excitement (I was really going to do this...) and fear (would two dogs be too much to handle?), I headed out with Beverly, Pattie, another GPA volunteer, and Max to meet Bobby.

After an hour drive, most of it with me locked in an intense debate with Max over why he had been relegated to the back of the van, we were there.

Bobby was a beauty -- a sweet face making the classic greyhound smile, which I learned involves showing a lot of teeth. There were two other greyhounds in the home, so we took Bobby and Max out back for a kind of speed dating for dogs.

Here's how it went -- they raced around at breakneck speed, jumped, played, rolled in the dirt. For the first time ever, Max was actually the quieter one sensing, it seemed, a power greater than his. On they went ... racing, rolling, panting, then starting all over again. It looked like a version of dog heaven.

Me? I was agonizing. Here was a lovely dog that needed a home. How could I reject him? But the energy and intensity of Bobby combined with Max seemed potentially combustible. I had visions of the 5K that I was witnessing here taking place in my house.

I vacillated, I equivocated, I talked myself in and out of taking Bobby a dozen times. In the end, ambivalence won over guilt. I just didn't think Bobby was right for me. I told Beverly I needed time to think about it.

And, as usual, I did nothing but think about it: I was making a huge mistake. Max needed more time to mature. Bobby needed a different environment. Or maybe, I just wasn't cut out to handle more than one dog in my life.

It's a long-term commitment and not one to be taken lightly. And I couldn't imagine what I would do if it didn't work out. Take Bobby back? That seemed unthinkable.

In general, rescue groups will have you meet and consider two or three greyhounds before making a placement, so Bobby wasn't the only option. But for now, I had decided to put my search for one on indefinite hold.

Next up: Then along came Riley.

Home evaluation for a potential greyhound owner

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is in the process of adopting a greyhound, Riley, at right, that used to race at the Caliente Racing Track in Tijuana. She will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about her home evaluation:

I knew I was in trouble when I rushed out at the last minute to buy fresh flowers for just about every room in the house. One of those strangely obsessive moments that you're pretty sure you'll be discussing in a therapist's office one day.

Beverly from Greyhound Pets of America was coming to interview me and check out my home to make sure we were greyhound compatible. Somehow I had decided that fresh flowers would make the difference in getting my application to adopt approved.

Or maybe I was subconsciously hoping the flowers would distract from the coiled energy that is Max. I went out again with Max in tow, hoping that a quick run would suddenly turn him into the docile, mellow breed that English Setters are known to be.

I'm seven months into life with Max, a three-walk-a day puppy who never seems to tire, so clearly I'd completely lost touch with reality.

Back from the walk, I'm flagging, Max is bouncing and there is Beverly waiting with a beautiful, calm (there's that zen quality again) black and white greyhound that she'd named Patches. Beverly, I learn, has a minimum of four dogs at home -- two greyhounds and two collies that are hers, and the greyhounds she takes in to foster. I think she must be a saint.

We talked for a couple of hours about why I want a greyhound, the pros and cons of adopting this breed, my background as a pet owner (very good, by the way). All the while, Max is in perpetual motion, Patches is unfazed and Beverly doesn't blink an eye. This is good. I'm breathing easier. Maybe the flowers are working.

On to the yard evaluation. My backyard, with its 6-foot-high fences and dog path, gets an A. The pool, my favorite thing about the house, is not a plus. There's a myth that greyhounds can't swim, that their body design and muscle-to-fat ratio makes them sink. Not true, it turns out, so the pool can stay. Whew!

All of the greyhound adoption groups I looked at have a fairly detailed application process, including a list of about 30 different behavioral problems that might lead you to return a dog (most groups require that if for any reason you can no longer provide for your greyhound, you return it to them).

It was hard to admit that there were things that would cause me to give up a dog, but I tried to be brutally honest, checking things like aggression, uncontrolled urges to pee in the house, plays Metallica at midnight. ... Thankfully, no one held that against me.

I went through a similar process with GreySave, being interviewed by Judy, who it turns out had been the volunteer at my veterinarian's office with the handsome tuxedo greyhound, George. Judy fosters both dogs and cats and pretty much makes herself available 24/7 to greyhounds in need.

In the end, I was approved by GPA, but put on hold by GreySave until Max matures a little more. (All the reading I've done on greyhounds, English setters, puppies, rescue adoptions, etc. has taught me is that if your dog is a problem, the problem is most likely you. Sorry Max, but thanks for taking the fall.)

Now I'm just waiting for a call from Beverly to see if they've found a greyhound match.

Next up: Why not Bobby

Seeking a greyhound, and remembering Eight Belles

Los Angeles Times Entertainment Editor Betsy Sharkey is going to adopt a racing greyhound from the Caliente Racing Track in Tijuana. She will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family at L.A. Unleashed. This is her first report:

Meet Riley. He's a 4-year-old racing greyhound just days off the track -- 17, to be exact. I'm in the process of adopting him from a local rescue operation, Greyhound Pets of America, and maybe that's why the death of filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby over the weekend hit me especially hard.

Riley, like all racers whether horse or canine, was at constant risk not only of career-ending injuries, but also of life-ending ones. And so it was for Eight Belles -- fractured ankles at the end of a race that she literally gave everything for. No happy ending.

Racing greyhounds, even injured ones, stand a much better chance of survival; a broken leg can be set, and most greys manage to hobble around in a cast during recovery. And because of the aggressive efforts of various greyhound rescue groups, who pick up the medical costs for many injured greys, the tracks don't automatically euthanize them anymore.

I'm still waiting for Riley's racing stats, which will come when I pick him up Friday, after shots, neutering, teeth cleaning and my foster care training. The rescue group thinks he must have been a pretty consistent winner for the track to have kept him racing that long. But success, as we saw this weekend, can exact a high price. I'm just glad the race is over for Riley and that in just a few days he'll be coming home forever.

Next: How I found Riley

-- Betsy Sharkey

Snickers, the shipwrecked dog, is saved at last

Snickers is only 8 months old.

But the cocker spaniel already has spent three months adrift on a 48-foot boat and survived four months on a tiny Pacific atoll, where his owners had to leave him behind when they were rescued by a cargo vessel that wouldn't allow the dog on board.

Now Snickers is in Honolulu, rescued by cruise ship workers, the Humane Society, an airline and others who united to find him a home.

"It's an amazing story of a lot of people working together to save this puppy," said Evans Hoyt, captain of Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of Aloha. "He's a very, very lucky dog."

Get the details here.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Christina Failma / Associated Press

Can reflective collars save the burros?

Former rodeo rider and jockey Kim Terry, at right, has been around all sorts of animals his whole life, but it's the wild burros that have snorted and kicked their way into his heart, Times staff writer David Kelly reports. He loves their moxie, respects their survival skills and is smitten with what he calls their "fantastic personalities."

Terry and a handful of Reche Canyon residents are trying to save the feral burros prowling the badlands of the rural enclave between bustling Colton and sprawling Moreno Valley.

They have become major hazards on increasingly busy Reche Canyon Road, a convenient shortcut between the two cities.

Can reflective collars do the trick?
Kelly's story, also available in the print edition of Sunday, April 13, features a photo gallery and video.

Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times

This just in: Why did the ducklings cross the road?

Fourteen ducklings were rescued from an Orange County storm drain early this afternoon, making for a feathery disruption to traffic along West Street and Lampson Avenue in Garden Grove.

After a driver reported the trapped ducklings, two animal control officers and a police officer arrived at the scene, using a rope and a tilted trap to coax them out of the sewer, said Jennifer Phillips, director of Orange County Animal Care Services.

The officers stopped traffic to walk the ducklings, along with their mother, across the street to the rainwater basin they had been living in, about a quarter-mile away.

"Once they got to the basin, the father duck joined the family and now all of them are safe," Phillips said.

So how did so many ducklings get in the sewer in the first place?

They crossed the road, Phillips said.

But as the chicken joke goes, why?

"Who knows?" says Phillips.

KNBC has a photo gallery of the rescue.

--Tony Barboza