The Obamas get some (unsolicited) advice on their dog search

Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have promised their young daughters -- Malia, 9, and Sasha, 7 -- that they can have a dog when this hectic campaign is over. Now, two big animal groups want to lend a hand in the search.

First up was the venerable American Kennel Club, keeper of canine pedigrees, which has posted on its website a list of five "hypoallergenic" breeds -- allergies are an issue for the Obama household -- and asked folks to weigh in with their choices: "In the true spirit of doggy democracy, the AKC is asking Americans to vote on the breed they think the Obama family should select." 

Among  the five choices: the Chinese Crested (pictured right.) Calling the Chinese-African pedigree "exotic," the AKC added that "with its unique appearance, it's certain to turn heads."

The other four choices are the poodle, the miniature Schnauzer, the soft-coated Wheaton Terrier, and the Bichon Frise. The AKC considers Bichons sociable and "likely to get along with just about everyone (including members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation.)"

The AKC suggests voters take into account which dogs would be most child-friendly and suitable for rides on Air Force One. (The last we checked the voting, the poodle was slightly ahead of the Wheaton Terrier.)

But whatever the Obamas choose, the national animal welfare group Best Friends Animal Society wants them to adopt that dog from an animal shelter -- not buy the pooch at a pet store. (The Obamas could also try finding one at various pet adoption events -- like the one, sponsored by Best Friends, pictured at the top of this item.)

"There are thousands of affectionate loyal dogs of all sizes, shapes and colors trapped in the animal control system who need a way out," said Julie Castle of Best Friends. "There are also plenty of purebred dogs that can be adopted from breed rescue organizations, without purchasing one from a pet store." 

Best Friends launched a website, obamafamilydog.com, with an online petition to convince the Obamas of the joys of mutts, as well as the importance of eschewing pet stores: "In a country where millions of dogs are killed each year in shelters, purchasing from a breeder or pet store is not an ethical choice."

However, Malia Obama, according to her father, has already done some research and settled on a goldendoodle, the hypoallergenic cross between a poodle and Golden Retriever.

We have our own suggestion for the Obamas: what about ...

Find a Pet at the Zoo

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services is offering up adoptable animals at the LA Zoo on Saturday, June 28, from 11am-5pm.

No, you won't be able to take home a chimp or a gerenuk. (Although you can see them on exhibit.) But you will be able to choose from 100 dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, and rabbits brought in from shelters across the city. Charlie, pictured above, is up for adoption. And if Animal Services runs out, they have others on standby, says Ed Boks, general manager of Animal Services.

The event will be held at the main entrance to the LA Zoo located in Griffith Park at the junction of the I-5 and the 134 freeways.  There will be carpeting and canopies to protect pooches from the heat.

Adoption fees will also be reduced: $15 off usual canine fees of $86-$91; $28 off feline fees of $64-$68. $10 off the $50 rabbit fee.

Animal Services holds mobile adoption events at various locations on weekends but Boks is hoping this event could be an annual signature event.  "I think domestic pets are our connection to the wild," Boks says. "Following a day at the zoo where people really invest their time and energy and intellect into viewing all these wild animals, there's a natural connection to giving serious thought to adopting a pet--and bringing that little force of nature home with you."

Also this weekend, on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles is sponsoring a low-cost vaccination and microship clinic at the spcaLA's South Bay Pet Adoption Center, 12910 Yukon Ave., in Hawthorne.

--Carla Hall

Photo: Los Angeles Department of Animal Services

Lassie lobbies Sacramento

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- Carla Hall

Photo: Hector Amezcua / Sacramento Bee

Grand jury calls for fire prevention upgrades at Lake Elsinore shelter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times

Adelanto man accused of throwing puppy against doghouse

An Adelanto dog owner has been arrested, accused of repeatedly throwing a puppy against a doghouse while drunk, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department officials said.

On Sunday night, after hearing yelps from the 12-pound pit bull-Labrador mix, neighbors confronted the puppy's owner, Donald Brown, said sheriff's spokeswoman Staci Johnson.

When Brown, who appeared intoxicated, didn't stop throwing the puppy, his neighbors called police, Johnson said.

"Brown was throwing the puppy in the doghouse with enough force to move the house," Johnson said. "He did this numerous times, and between each throw, hit the dog on the head causing it to yelp."

Brown, 55, was arrested Sunday night and booked for investigation of animal cruelty and being drunk in public. He is being held at West Valley Detention Center with his bail set at $30,000.

Johnson said authorities don't know why Brown was angry at the 3-month-old puppy, which is now in the care of the Adelanto Animal Control Division.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

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

Shelter pulls promotion offering black animals at cut rates

A Texas animal shelter canceled a program promoting the adoption of black cats and dogs at a reduced rate after critics complained that the event would have taken place the same week as Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating freedom for enslaved blacks in that state, the Associated Press reports:

The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter planned to reduce adoption fees June 14-20 for black-coated animals to $25 through a "Black is Beautiful" promotion, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition Wednesday...

...[Shelter director Cheryl] Schneider put a stop to the adoption program after learning about the controversy. "It was just bad timing," Schneider told the AP.

"It's just a known fact that black cats and black dogs are difficult to adopt," Schneider said. "I think it is very unfair to the dogs and cats that are here."

Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, told the Austin-American Statesman that the shelter should have addressed why black animals weren't being adopted instead of offering a promotion based on color.

Commentators on the paper's blog had plenty to say.

"Whoever thought of this one should be put out to pasture! No excuses about unintentional offense. Not planned out well? Give me and everyone else a big break!" wrote one.

Another reader thought critics were being hypersensitive: "Poor animals -- deprived of a chance at a loving home, at life, because someone was offended by the phrase “Black is Beautiful” in reference to the color of the animals’ fur? What’s next -- protesting candy stores selling chocolate? Cafes selling smooth mochas?"

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Bob Grieser/Los Angeles Times

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

O.C. grand jury urges mandatory spay, neuter laws

The Orange County grand jury says cities need to adopt mandatory spay and neuter laws to cut the number of abandoned animals put to death at shelters, the Associated Press reports:

The burden of taking care of abandoned, lost or neglected animals often falls on Orange County Animal Care, the only open-access shelter in the county.

It cost the county $322,478 in 2006-2007 to kill more than 13,000 animals.

The report wants cities and unincorporated areas of Orange County to enact laws similar to the Los Angeles spay and neuter ordinance.

Los Angeles requires dog owners to have their pets sterilized or obtain an unaltered dog license that costs three times more than one for a spayed or neutered animal.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Humane Society's resident alligator a 10-year fixture

An alligator taken in as a temporary visitor at a Pasadena Humane Society shelter is marking her 10-year anniversary, the Times' Francisco Vara-Orta reports:

Normally when animals land in the cages of the Pasadena Humane Society, the goal is to get them out and in a home. But Tina, a 7-foot-long, 100-pound American alligator, never moved out.

This month, she celebrates her 10th year at the shelter. Left homeless in 1998 when a traveling wildlife education exhibit closed down, Tina was taken in by the private facility in what they thought would be a temporary arrangement, said shelter spokeswoman Ricky Whitman.

Instead, she settled in as a permanent resident after larger zoos said they had no room and petting zoos interested in taking her in were deemed unsuitable.

"I think visitors are surprised when they see her," said Hillary Gatlin, the Pasadena Humane Society's community resources assistant, of the gator's spot near a row of chihuahuas and across from the cages full of terriers.

"She's fairly mellow -- despite the loud red-and-black 'will bite' sticker on her ID tag," Gatlin said as Tina sunbathed in her cage marked by a small metal sign reading "Gator Crossing." ...

Lax dog licensing costing L.A. millions, audit says

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services has lost $2 million because of uncollected fees on dog licenses -- the largest source of revenue for the agency -- City Controller Laura Chick said in an audit released today. The Times' Francisco Vara-Orta reports:

She also said the department needed to tighten spending on equipment -- citing two X-ray machines that cost $150,000 each and are sitting in storage -- and contracts with outside firms without sufficient paperwork.

"The department is not taking advantage of what they're supposed to," Chick said at a press conference at her City Hall office this morning. "I'd say this audit is a strong reprimand to the department."

Chick said the $2 million in losses occurred between July 2005 and this March.

While this audit focused on the fiscal responsibility of the department, it is the agency's sixth audit in the last 10 years. Earlier audits have narrowed on adoption, licensing, and spaying and neutering programs, and the process for hearings on problem pets.

Animal activists, upset over what they view as a lack of reduction in the number of animals euthanized, or "kill rate," in city shelters, have for years been critical of the department.

Chick said a performance audit this summer would focus on the department's spay-neuter program.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Riley the greyhound digs 'American Idol'

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 will periodically post updates on his assimilation into her family here on L.A. Unleashed. Today she writes about how Riley's personality is starting to emerge.

I think in another life Riley must have been a cat burglar, or a spy, or maybe he's more spirit than flesh and bone. All I know is that at 73 pounds and climbing, he can slip into a room without making a sound. You just suddenly feel him there.

In the week since I brought home Riley, the 4-year-old greyhound I adopted through Greyhound Pets of America, he's eased into our days and nights as soundlessly, as softly as a cloud. No thunder or lightning with this one.

It's an amazing thing to see his personality emerging as he adjusts to life beyond the regimen of the track with its endless hours in a crate, broken up by little more than feeding, exercise, training, and a race on occasion.

At a nearby dog park the other day, Riley tried out his legs -- probably the first time he's run just for the fun of it since he was a puppy. Seeing a greyhound running, for the sheer joy of it, is truly poetry in motion.

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

Low-cost pet clinic open tonight in Rancho Palos Verdes

The L.A. County Department of Animal Care & Control and the city of Rancho Palos Verdes are holding the annual Pet Vaccination Clinic today from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall, 30940 Hawthorne Blvd.

Low-cost vaccinations (rabies $6, DHLPP 6-in-1 $14, Bordetella $11), license renewal, and microchipping services will be available for dogs. Microchips will be offered free of charge. Rabies vaccinations are required by law for all dogs older than 4 months.

For license renewals or initial licenses, bring proof of your pet’s spay or neuter. Most dog licenses expire by June 30.

Dogs must be on appropriate leashes with adequate collars to receive vaccinations, microchips or licenses. Payments are accepted by cash or check.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

L.A. animal events this weekend

Around the Los Angeles area this weekend, animal lovers can head to the local zoo to meet the Berenstain Bears (and a few real ones too), adopt cats and dogs, and help raise funds to save a range of animals, from emus to tortoises in need.

The Los Angeles Zoo is hosting a meet and greet with the cuddly Berenstain Bear characters on Saturday and Sunday. As for real bears, visitors can see the zoo's American black bears eat some special treats at 11 a.m. both days.

Also this weekend, Los Angeles City Animal Services has a handful of mobile pet adoption sites set up in South Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, the West Valley and Moorpark.

On Sunday, dog lovers can head over to the La Brea Tar Pits for the Walk for the Underdog, an hour-long, 2-mile walk that kicks off at 10 a.m. for a daylong celebration of canines with food, adoptions, and a dog/owner contest. Proceeds go toward raising money for the nonprofit efforts by 30 organizations to save dogs. You can bring your own dog, or come alone and find one to adopt there, organizers say.

Also on Sunday, Hope Ranch Animal Rescue will hold its first annual fundraiser in the Malibu countryside to help raise funds to care for  80 animals: sheep, dogs, emus, horses and tortoises, among others. Donations are $25 per person and the event will take place at the Morris Ranch from 2-6 p.m. with jazz, a petting zoo, and a silent auction.

-Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times

An update on the adoption of Riley, a greyhound

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 at L.A. Unleashed. This is her second report:

It all began with George. An unexpected encounter that became life changing.

OK, it was 8:30 in the morning. I was at the vet's office with my 6-month-old English Setter, Max, who falls madly, deeply in love with every dog he meets, when in walks George, a black & white greyhound, dignified, elegant and calm.

When you're with the wild one (that would be Max), it's easy for observation to turn to envy ... I wanted one of those! George was a newly adopted retired racer, with elegant tuxedo markings. He was there with a volunteer from GreySave, a Pasadena-based greyhound rescue group.

Max immediately loved this dog and I have to say, I did too. The zen of George just filled the room. And besides, I told myself, dogs are pack animals and Max and I aren't exactly a pack.

The prospect of adopting a greyhound was seductive, but I wasn't quite ready to commit.

Thank God for Google -- I could read, explore, imagine and learn long before I made the first move toward commitment.

Greyhounds are lucky; they seem to have one of the most active and nationwide communities of rescue organizations. All have websites are filled with amazing dogs who've survived the grueling world of racing and now are just waiting to find a home.

There are the back stories, some heartbreaking, told by the foster families, who are helping them make the transition from track to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath life in the burbs.

But deciding to adopt a greyhound is just the beginning. The next step is to find out whether your home, your lifestyle and, most important, whether you will measure up. With so many dogs available, it had never occurred to me that rejection was a possibility.

Next up: The home evaluation.

Sick of animal cruelty? Observe Be Kind to Animals Week

Animal news this week has been especially grisly, with kittens in freezers, a dog set on fire and a camel-punching man. So you might be surprised to learn that we are also in the middle of Be Kind to Animals Week.

If you'd like to focus on respect for animals instead of wallowing in all the recent animal cruelty, stop by this event promoting the humane treatment of animals this Saturday at the North Central Animal Care Center in Los Angeles.

L.A.-area politicians will be there, as will Cesar Millan, the so-called dog whisperer. You can also bring your dog or cat and get it spayed or neutered for free, which as readers have reminded us, is a good way to help prevent the influx of baby cats we're seeing now that it's kitten season.

For more information call (213) 485-8855 or (888) 452-7381

--Tony Barboza

Photo: Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times

Dog from Long Beach shelter now a San Diego hero

Helene Shaughnessy's 4-year-old shepherd mix Ellie normally sleeps downstairs in her San Diego home, but on Oct. 21, 2006, the dog barked and nuzzled her owner, waking her up -- unusual for the normally shy animal.

Although the Witch Creek fire had been about 20 miles from her home when she went to sleep, Shaughnessy looked out the window when Ellie awakened her and realized the flames were just hundreds of feet away. Shaughnessy quickly collected Ellie and her cats and fled the home, which was destroyed by fire within hours.

One of several wildfires that devastated Southern California last fall, the Witch Creek fire burned 197,000 acres, destroyed 1,125 homes and killed two people.

On Tuesday, Ellie was honored in downtown Los Angeles with the 26th National Hero Dog Award by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. The award is presented to an animal that is not formally trained for rescues or law enforcement. SPCALA President Madeline Bernstein is on the left in the photo, and Shaughnessy is on the right with Ellie.

Jeff Blodgett, spokesman for the organization, said the presentation marked the first time in the history of the award that the honor has been given to a dog adopted from an SPCALA shelter. Helene adopted Ellie from agency's P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village in Long Beach in August 2006. 

-Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles

Kitten season is upon us

We've written about this before, but the message bears repeating: Warm weather yields a bumper crop of kittens each year, usually starting in late spring and peaking by summer.

"Considering that in just six short years, an unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce 67,000 kittens, we –- like most animal shelters across the country -– have our hands full during Kitten Season," writes Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty Los Angeles.

What causes the overflow of kittens like the one above, a 3-week-old bottle-feeding at a Los Angeles shelter last April, is another question, according to the Humane Society:

"The warm weather coincides with female cats' heat cycles," says Cory Smith, program manager of animal sheltering issues at the Humane Society of the United States. "When female cats go into heat, male cats come running from near and far. Cats' reproductive hormones are very powerful."

The result: a flood of kittens into animal shelters and rescue groups, making spring and summer the best time to adopt.

You can browse listings of kittens in need of homes at L.A. Animal Services and spcaLA. If you live out of the L.A. area, try Petfinder.

Another way to help out is to become a foster parent, providing a temporary home and bottle-feeding a kitten until it is old enough to be adopted.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- Alice Short

Photo: Anne Cusak/Los Angeles Times

Creator of "Mutts" has some "Shelter Stories"

John Woestendiek, our colleague at the Baltimore Sun and the author of a blog called Mutts, has spotlighted the creator of a comic with the same name. Patrick McDonnell, who draws "Mutts," has a new book out that features his comic strips alongside the stories of animals adopted from shelters.

"Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed." is a collection of more than 100 of McDonnell's "Shelter Stories" strips, accompanied by photos of 70 rescued animals -- dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds.

The book also includes a reference guide with tips for adopting the right pet and a list of useful website links.

About 7.5 million adopted dogs and 16.2 million adopted cats live in U.S. homes; yet another 6 million find themselves in shelters every year, about half of whom are euthanized.

McDonnell's book contains an introduction by Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, an organization on whose board of directors McDonnell serves.

His official website, muttscomics.com, receives roughly 1 million visits each month. The book is available from Andrews McMeel Publishing.

-- Alice Short

Cover photo courtesy of Andrews McMeel Publishing

Microchipping your pet is no panacea

The microchips now commonly implanted in pets may be reuniting a lot of pet owners with their stray dogs and cats, but misconceptions about how they work and competing technology have limited their effectiveness, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Microchips--devices about the size of a grain of rice that are implanted between a pet’s shoulder blades and can help trace an animal back to its owner--haven’t been a panacea. And generally, the problems lie not with the chips but with the pet owners, who often make wrong assumptions or fail to do what’s necessary to be reunited with a lost animal. In addition, competing products and technologies also leave cracks through which lost animals can fall.

...

“Lack of identification is probably the most common cause of death for animals in this country,” said Dan Knox, a veterinarian and director of companion animal operations with AVID Identification Systems, the leading supplier of microchips. “And that microchip is that animal’s phone call home--if the information is current.”

Some animals that were found and scanned would languish in a shelter or be euthanized because their owners could not be reached.

Animal professionals say that while the technology is a huge step forward, as a backup, there's still nothing better than a good collar and tags.

-- Tony Barboza          Photo: Iris Schneider/Los Angeles Times

Read on for the full story: