Cougar kills foal near Acton, officials say

Authorities believe a mountain lion prowled onto a ranch early Sunday morning and killed a newborn horse.

Residents at the home in the 32000 block of Angeles Forest Highway near Acton heard a noise about 3 a.m. and found a trail of blood leading to nearby hills, said L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Daryl Bonsall.

The state Department of Fish and Game was asked to investigate.

-- Stuart Pfeifer

A cats vs. coyotes dispute at Cal State Long Beach

At least two coyotes have been preying on feral cats that live on the Cal State Long Beach campus. But the real clash is between animal activists and university officials, who are at odds over which species should have to go, the Times' Ann Simmons reports:

University officials say the cats are attracting the coyotes, and it is the cats that need to be removed. That has outraged many cat lovers who fear the felines will be killed. They say the coyotes present the danger, so they should be evicted.

On Sunday, a small group of cat lovers lined a curb outside the university, waving handwritten signs with slogans such as "Save The Cats" and chanting their message as motorists hooted and whizzed by.

Cal State Long Beach spokesman Rick Gloady said he hoped that the cats could be "trapped and removed from campus," and that homes could be found for them in shelters.

University officials said in a written statement that the cats had been fed and well cared for. But the felines tend to cluster around the multiple campus feeding stations -- which coyotes had discovered and started visiting, leaving behind several dead cats.

The activists who care for the cats, which have lived on the campus for decades, argue that trapping the coyotes would be easier than rounding up the cats and taking them to shelters where they might be euthanized.

-- Tony Barboza

Toll of suspicious cat deaths reaches 6 in La Quinta

Riverside County sheriff's officials are investigating the suspicious deaths of three cats recently reported in the La Quinta area, bringing the total to six felines found gutted, mutilated or shot in recent weeks.

Lt. Raymond Gregory, a Sheriff's Department spokesman, said investigators believe the first three cat slayings, which took place within a one-mile radius in the northern part of La Quinta, are linked. He said in those cases the cats had not been attacked by an animal.

Gregory said it was less clear whether animals could have killed the cats found more recently.

The first cat's carcass was found with gunshot wounds on May 29 in the gated community of Starlight Dunes. The next day, a second cat was found gutted on Desert Stream Drive near La Quinta Park. The third incident occurred June 18, when a resident told police his cat was found with its stomach slit open in front of his home in the 44000 block of Foxtail Circle.

Gregory said the owners discarded the animals before the Sheriff's Department could examine the carcasses.

"We didn't have any physical evidence on the cats," Gregory said. "And a few weeks went by, and it looked like isolated incidents until the third killing."

Gregory said the initial news reports about the killings generated more calls from cat owners about additional incidents, raising concerns by law enforcement officials that a cat killer -- whether human or not -- is on the loose.

The fourth suspicious cat death was reported Saturday, he said. The cat's body was found torn apart in Bermuda Dunes, an unincorporated area north of La Quinta.

"Animals may have had access to the body in that case," Gregory said.

A fifth cat's carcass was found Sunday at the Renaissance Housing Development, at Avenue 50 and Jefferson Street in La Quinta. Its location, in the heart of the small town, and the way the carcass was placed suggest that a human may have caused the death, Gregory said.

The sixth cat death was reported Monday when a mutilated cat was found near a housing development in La Quinta at Washington Street and Miles Avenue.

"That one is the most suspicious," Gregory said. "There were numerous cuts to the body and the skin was partially removed. And its location is more urban."

Unlike the first three cat deaths, in which the animals' carcasses were discarded by the owners, authorities have the bodies of the three most recently killed. As in human homicide investigations, officials photographed the scene of each death.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

A dead pet skunk at the center of family violence

For most people, a skunk is an animal you keep at a good distance. But an Arkansas man's love for his deceased pet skunk caused him to raise quite a stink, one so violent that it led to his arrest.

Scott Tolles Sullivan, 35, accused of assaulting and tying up his mother because he was reportedly mad about the death of his pet skunk, was arrested Saturday in his attic after police shot him with a bean bag, the Associated Press reports:

Sullivan's mother, 56-year-old Maria Sullivan, called police Wednesday night after freeing herself from duct tape and rope, authorities said. Maria Sullivan told police that her son became upset when he learned that her dog had killed his pet skunk.

According to police, Sullivan said her son hit her with a homemade club and tied her up. She says Scott Sullivan also tied up a 14-year-old disabled boy who is under her care. Scott Sullivan was arrested on suspicion of two counts of kidnapping and domestic battery.

-- Tony Barboza

Bee swarm attacks hikers, kills dog in Chatsworth

A swarm of bees stung a group of teenage boys hiking in a San Fernando Valley park Tuesday, sending one of them to the hospital and killing a dog that disturbed the beehive, according to the Associated Press.

The five boys and the dog, a boxer named Rocky, were hiking in Stoney Point Park in Chatsworth when the attack occurred, said Jane Kolb, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

The bees stung Rocky and the boys numerous times, Kolb said.

One of the boys, who tried to pick up the dog and carry it to safety, was stung "as many as 200 times," Chris Jones, the father of one of the teenagers and the owner of Rocky, told KCAL-TV.

"He carried the dog as far as he could and then collapsed," Jones said.

The injured teenager, Brian Magbitang, was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was given pain medication and released.

Magbitang told KCAL that he saw blood dripping from Rocky's mouth when he grabbed the dog. He said Rocky collapsed in his arms, and he later dropped the dog when "the bees were way too much. They were in my mouth and I tried to wave them off."

The bees continued to swarm near Rocky, prompting authorities to close access to the trail so they could retrieve the downed animal.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Robert Durell /Los Angeles Times

Coyotes attacking relocated desert tortoises

The military recently began moving endangered desert tortoises from a portion of the Mojave Desert to make way for an Army base expansion. But now the creatures are facing a new threat.

Coyotes have killed 11 relocated tortoises, like the one pictured above, since March, when federal officials began moving about 770 of them to make way for Army tank training at Ft. Irwin north of Barstow, the Associated Press reports.

A dozen tortoises already living in the relocation area also have died. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife expert says three tortoises survived attacks, although two lost a leg.

Authorities say the coyotes may be attacking tortoises out of desperation because a drought has depleted their usual prey: rabbits. Federal authorities plan to track the coyotes and kill or capture them to protect the tortoises.

Read the whole story in the Riverside Press Enterprise.

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times