Army to shoot pigs for medical drill

No, it never occurred to us that shooting live pigs was a part of the war on terror ... but what do we know. The Associated Press reports:

HONOLULU--The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.

Despite opposition by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Army proceeded to shoot live pigs and treat their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise Friday at Schofield Barracks for soldiers headed to Iraq.

Maj. Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the training was conducted as scheduled under a U.S. Department of Agriculture license and the careful supervision of veterinarians and a military Animal Care and Use Committee. "It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," Cheng said.

The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said.

PETA, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. In a letter, PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, "as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done."

Man charged with slaughtering bison

DENVER (Reuters) — A businessman has been charged with animal cruelty for the slaughter of 32 bison near his Colorado ranch after what prosecutors said was a dispute with a neighboring rancher.

Jeffrey Scott Hawn, 44, the CEO of privately held software company Attachmate Corp, is charged with aggravated animal cruelty, theft and criminal mischief, a spokeswoman for the Park County District Attorney said Thursday.

According to court papers, the bison were killed after Hawn failed to resolve a dispute with a neighboring rancher whose bison herd Hawn claimed trampled fences and caused damage to his property.

Hawn is accused of shooting two bison himself and hiring hunters to shoot the others. His Seattle-based company declined to comment on the charges.

The charges follow the discovery in March of 32 dead bison on a mountain ranch about 85 miles southwest of Denver. Seven of them were pregnant. Police first thought they were shot in an illegal hunt.

Colorado is home to about 14,000 bison. Sacred to American Indians and a symbol of the American West, bison herds once numbered in the millions before they were hunted to near extinction in the 19th century.

Endangered species get new aid

California's Supreme Court gave new protection to the state's endangered species Thursday, ruling unanimously that developers, loggers and other commercial interests may be required to compensate for unforeseen wildlife losses. Times staff writer Maura Dolan reports:

The ruling, which affects both public works and private development, threw out a long-term logging plan approved by the state for 200,000 acres in Humboldt County, a plan that lower courts put on hold several years ago.

The state high court said the Department of Forestry had approved an "unidentifiable" plan that was still a work in progress and then delegated its completion to the logging company. Justice Carlos R. Moreno, writing for the court, called the Forestry Department's action illegal and an abrogation of its duties. The California Department of Forestry "failed to proceed according to law," Moreno wrote.

The decision grew out of lawsuits that followed the historic Headwaters Agreement, a 1996 pact between Pacific Lumber Co. and the state and federal governments. It was designed to resolve litigation and disputes over the logging of old-growth forests.

A rodeo opens in controversy

As previously noted on L.A. Unleashed, the world's largest outdoor rodeo remains mired in controvery. The Associated Press reports:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Western heritage runs deep in this high plains city, and nothing typifies the local cowboy and ranching culture more than the 10-day Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration (the photo at left is from last year's event), which boasts the world's largest outdoor rodeo.

Yet, as this year's "Daddy of 'Em All" rodeo gets under way this weekend, the event is fighting off allegations of animal cruelty, which prompted the rock band Matchbox Twenty to cancel a scheduled performance. Animal-rights activists want certain rodeo events banned. Organizers and competitors are calling it an attack on Western tradition.

"I feel like it's like gun control. If you let him take one event, they're going to try to get another. And then, I think, it's just going to snowball from there," said Brian McNamee, a past rodeo competitor from Wyoming.

The culture clash comes amid a national debate on the treatment of sporting animals following the death of a racehorse in the Kentucky Derby. Animal-rights groups have long fought to eliminate cockfighting, dogfighting and game-farm hunts, and have advocated for better treatment of zoo and circus animals. But rodeos are starting to gain more of their attention, and in some cases protests.

Photo: Michael Smith / The Wyoming Tribune Eagle

What happens when the circus comes to town

L.A. Now blogger Veronique de Turenne reminds us that the circus has come to town (at Staples), complete with acts, animals and controvery. PETA and other animal rights organizations would like all of us to boycott the circus, which has a few problems of its own.

This fall, Ringling Brothers is supposed to go to court for a trial over charges that it abuses its Asian elephants in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. Ringling Brothers denies the allegations, as reported in the L.A. Weekly's article on a most unusual protest against the circus.

Photo: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

Plague threatens black-footed ferrets

The New York Times reports that the plague may be threatening the few remaining black-footed ferrets in the country.

A [South Dakota] colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the country and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals.

A much-publicized endangered species in the 1970s that had dwindled to 18 animals, the black-footed ferret had struggled to make a comeback and had been doing relatively well for decades. But plague, always a threat to the ferrets and their main prey, prairie dogs, has struck with a vengeance this year, partly because of the wet spring.

The ferrets are an easy target for the bacteria. “They are exquisitely sensitive to the plague,” said Travis Livieri, a wildlife biologist here who is trying to save the colony. “They don’t just get sick, they die. No ifs, ands or buts.” Humans can catch plague, but it is easily treated with antibiotics.

Mr. Livieri is working with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s black-footed ferret recovery team, the Forest Service and some volunteers to try to save the colony at Conata Basin by dusting prairie dog burrows with flea powder that kills the plague-carrying insects. Mr. Livieri is also working on a vaccination program, prowling the prairie all night to capture ferrets for injections.

Photo: Associated Press

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

For pets, overnutrition is a serious concern

Think your chubby little puppy is cute? Denise Flaim of Newsday would like to set you straight:

When it comes to our pets, overnutrition is a serious concern. And in many cases the problem is not just how much food you feed, but what kind.

As with any diet change or modification, first consult with your veterinarian or other qualified professional.

Chubby puppies may be cute, but they might very well be priming themselves for health problems down the road.

A 1997 study looked at two groups of Labrador retriever puppies that were fed a high-protein, high-calorie diet for three years: The only difference between them was that one group was free-fed, and the other was not. Not surprisingly, the Labs that were permitted to chow down without restriction were 22 pounds heavier on average than their moderately fed counterparts. They also had significantly higher levels of hip dysplasia.

Weight aside, puppy owners must also be careful not to fuel fast growth spurts: For a dog’s orthopedic health, slow, steady growth is best. For that reason, many experts caution against feeding nutrient-packed puppy food to giant and large-breed puppies, recommending adult food instead.

Adult dogs that pack on the pounds are also imperiling their health, and are at higher risk for everything from heart disease to diabetes.

For the lowdown on cats, read on:

Study says many coral species are threatened with extinction

Nearly one-third of the small animals that make up the most massive and elaborate structures in coral reefs face an elevated risk of extinction from global warming and various local problems, an international group of scientists meeting in Fort Lauderdale reported. The Times' Kenneth R. Weiss has the details on the endangered corals:

     The worldwide assessment of more than 700 species of corals showed that 32.8% were threatened with extinction, especially those that formed large mounds or intricate branches resembling antlers.

     Coral reefs provide hiding places and a habitat for 25% of all marine life and are a major source of food for the poor and of tourist revenue in tropical countries. Some of the threats are global, including elevated ocean temperatures that have stressed corals so much that they are "bleached" bone-white. A massive bleaching brought on by warmer waters in the 1999 El Nino resulted in a vast decline of the world's reefs.

     Corals also face excessive and destructive fishing and polluted runoff that buries them under sediment or bathes them in nutrients that fuel out-of-control growth of algae and bacteria. Compounding the problem are various diseases that kill corals when they are under stress.

Photo credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Small research center provides window into global warming

High on a jungle hilltop, at a unique research center in the middle of the Panama Canal, scientists are studying three-toed sloths (like the one pictured), howler monkeys and jungle flora to better understand evolution and the practical effects of global warming.

The biological secrets being studied at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are more than just thesis fodder. Scientists say some provide clear warnings of a planet in peril and could provide clues to ways to save it. Chris Kraul reports in today's L.A. Times:

Barro Colorado Island was formed in 1911 when the Chagres River was dammed to help create the Panama Canal. The flooding formed an isolated refuge for thousands of plant and animal species.

The Smithsonian set up shop here in 1923, when the canal was under the control of the United States. Its continued existence was assured through the terms of the canal's transfer to Panama in 1999. Now, an average of 300 biologists a year from 15 countries use STRI's uniquely self-contained ecosystem to study animal and plant life.

"It's a precious jewel of tropical biological research," said Kate Milton, a UC Berkeley zoologist who has studied howler monkeys here for 30 years.

Photo: Max Planck Institute

Hawaiian Islands reef fish declining

Sharks, jacks, parrot fish and other colorful reef fish are quickly disappearing from coral reefs encircling the Hawaiian Islands, federal scientists reported Tuesday. The scientists blamed overfishing for the steep decline, which affects three-quarters of the species once commonly found on coral reefs, delighting snorkeling tourists and feeding subsistence fishermen in Hawaii's coastal communities. Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss reports:

Many of these fish, ecologists say, are key to maintaining healthy coral reefs because they keep reefs clean by grazing on algae that can quickly overgrow the stony corals and cause them to collapse. Alan Friedlander, a federal fisheries ecologist, said Hawaii still has relatively healthy reefs. "So everything hasn't collapsed yet," he said. "But we need to protect healthy reefs, because it's so much easier and safer to conserve now than it is to try to rebuild later."

The results of the study, the most comprehensive examination of Hawaiian reef fish, were released at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Nearly 3,000 scientists, managers and conservationists have congregated there to pore over the latest science and wrestle with ways to protect the world's coral reefs, which are in a state of steep decline.

Many prominent scientists believe overfishing represents one of the greatest challenges to maintaining and restoring healthy coral reefs.

--Alice Short

Photo: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times

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 threat to wild salmon

Let us try to explain why you should care that tens of thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon escaped from their pen into an inlet off the British Columbia Coast:

If they survive, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports, they could threaten already dwindling indigenous salmon stocks. Provincial officials are investigating the incident, and the company owning the farm may face charges.

Environmental groups say the mass escape demonstrates the dangers fish farms pose to wild salmon. Strong ocean currents shifted a net holding 30,000 salmon in Marine Harvest's Frederick Arm farm site near Campbell River, pulling down a corner of the cage and allowing the fish to swim free, said Clare Backman of Marine Harvest. The company is not sure whether any fish were left in the pen, but it's possible all 30,000 escaped. ...

Jennifer Lash, executive director of the Living Oceans Society, said if the Atlantic salmon breed, they'll compete with wild salmon, whose stocks have already fallen sharply.

Stem cell treatment for dogs

Humans with a bad hip or shoulder can only dream about a cutting-edge stem-cell transplant. But for dogs, it can actually happen. Time Magazine reports on stem-cell treatment for dogs:

Blue leads an active lifestyle: she runs four times a week around an enormous park in her hometown of Memphis, Tenn.; she likes playing Frisbee and loves swimming. But one day last November, Blue started limping — which was odd because the German shepherd seemed fit and was only 3 1/2 years old.

"She wasn't recovering as quickly as normal from a trek in the park. I thought that was just a sign of aging," says her owner Twila Waters.... In fact, Blue had hip dysplasia, a fairly common and sometimes crippling degenerative condition in dogs and cats. The cure — a complete hip replacement — would keep Blue in recovery for up to six months.

So while Waters mulled the surgery, Blue's regular veterinarian sent Waters to see another local vet, Kathy Mitchener, who was trained in acupuncture, to treat Blue's pain. But Mitchener had a better idea. She offered a cutting-edge stem-cell transplant, a therapy not yet available to humans, that would potentially help Blue's hip repair itself. The treatment took just two days last January.

Mitchener had recently become certified to perform the stem-cell treatment, pioneered by the company Vet-Stem based in San Diego. She removed some fatty tissue from the dog's abdomen and shipped the sample to Vet-Stem's labs, where technicians used centrifuges to extract stem cells from the tissue. The cells were shipped back the next day, and Mitchener injected them into Blue's failing hip, where they adapted and developed into the healthy cartilage and tendon cells the animal needed.

Within 36 hours, Waters says, "Blue was moving well, and you could see an ease in her gait."

One cycle of treatment typically costs between $2,000 and $4,000.

Some species could be wiped out faster than feared

Scientists are now warning that endangered species could become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought. Their findings, presented in the journal Nature, say that up until now, we have dramatically underestimated the speed at which some will disappear. The Guardian has details:

The findings...suggest that animals such as the western gorilla, the Sumatran tiger and Malayan sun bear, the smallest of the bear family, may become extinct much sooner than conservationists had feared.

Ecologists Brett Melbourne, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Alan Hastings at the University of California, Davis said conservation organisations should use updated extinction models to urgently re-evaluate the risks to wildlife.

"Some species could have months instead of years left, while other species that haven't even been identified as under threat yet should be listed as endangered," said Melbourne.

The warning has particular implications for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles an annual "red list" of endangered species. Last year the list upgraded western gorillas to critically endangered, after populations of a subspecies were found to have been badly affected by Ebola virus and the commercial trade in bushmeat. The Yangtze river dolphin was listed as critically endangered, but could possibly be already extinct.

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

A childhood dream (raising hedgehogs) is realized

Some people dream of sailing the globe. Others hope to conquer the highest peaks. A woman in Mansfield, Ill., dreamed of raising hedgehogs (they come in 15 colors!) and, like many in this great nation of ours, she has achieved that dream. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports:

Sarah Roberts lifted a little hut covering Bailey and her offspring and plucked the protective mother off her babies, four tiny hedgehogs that looked like a clump of cactus.

"She has two girls and two boys," said Roberts, who has made a business of raising and selling the playful, trendy and trouble-free African pygmy hedgehogs. She also shelters hedgehogs who have run into trouble in other homes where owners no longer want them, often because they've grown old or become sick.

"I figure I'm putting babies out there, so I think it's only fair," Roberts said.

A University of Illinois animal science graduate, Roberts finally realized her childhood dream of owning a hedgehog when her roommate, Jacqueline Butler, talked about getting a pet. Their apartment building banned dogs and cats, so Roberts, after researching the subject, convinced Butler a hedgehog would be perfect. Three years later, Roberts has 60 of them.

Gourmet dog food at hotels

We love our pets; we love them so much that we cannot bear to be parted from them. For some, that means Take Your Dog to Work Day (which sadly, seems to happen only once a year). For others, it means traveling with pets ... on the road. Some in the travel business see this as an opportunity (!) and a few forward-thinking establishments are coming up with some interesting meals. USA Today reports on gourmet dog food at hotels.

With an increasing number of pet owners bringing their four-legged friends on the road, hotels throughout North America and Europe are responding with tail-wagging gourmet menus fit for a king (or a Cavalier King Charles spaniel). Fifi can feast on Zen Yo ($11), a hearty vegetable stir-fry with poached eggs and steamed brown rice that's designed to help pets adjust to jet lag and altitude, at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix. Or down an organic Buddy Burger hamburger with cheese ($5) at Los Angeles' Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, which offers an organic and locally sourced in-room dining service doggie menu with cooked-to-order items. Or start with an appetizer of chicken liver pâté ($7) before moving on to the braised New Zealand lamb served on a bed of rice ($15) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.

Pretty soon, you might see "premium dog treats" stocked in the mini-bar.

We're spending more on medication for pets

It's a relief to know that, in this age of obesity among Americans, a new diet drug has emerged ... for dogs. Yes, we are spending more and more on medication for pets. Newsweek reports:

Next month this will change when Slentrol, the first diet drug for dogs, hits the market. Developed by Pfizer and approved by the Food and Drug Administration late last year, Slentrol suppresses a dog's appetite and limits fat absorption. ... Pfizer believes the owners of at least 17 million dogs will be willing to try Slentrol. That could be a conservative bet: about one third of the 74 million dogs in the United States are overweight (5 percent are obese). And, increasingly, Americans are willing to open their wallets for Fluffy and friends, spending nearly $40 billion on their pets last year, double what they did in 1994. ...

The FDA has approved more than two dozen new drugs for pets since 2002 alone. Along with Slentrol, Pfizer has a drug to treat motion sickness in dogs that's due out in August. Eli Lilly just launched a new companion-animal division, and plans to develop six drugs in the next four years, in part by reconstituting drugs developed for humans, targeting not physical but psychological ailments.

Some experts caution that today's pets simply spend too much time in the home, sleeping and being slugs and what they really need is a good run through the meadow, chasing sheep.

Photo: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

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

Rating dogs for feistiness

A new study has found that little dogs tend to be "feisty," while certain breeds, like golden and Labrador retrievers, "are as mellow as their reputations suggest." Jennifer Viegas of Discovery News reports on the study that identified the most and least aggressive common dog breeds.

Although certain pooches appear to be more cantankerous than others, the study supports the old adage that "there are no bad dogs," since aggression is often balanced by other more beneficial attributes, such as watchdog skills. "Most dogs are a mixed bag of positive and less desirable traits -- just like people," lead author Deborah Duffy, a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society, told Discovery News.

Duffy and colleagues Yuying Hsu and James Serpell collected basic and behavior-related dog data from two separate groups. The first consisted of members of 11 American Kennel Club recognized national breed clubs, such as The Labrador Retriever Club and The English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association. The second involved an online survey posted at the university's website.

The study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, represents one of the most extensive of its kind and is the first to report replicated findings of breed differences in aggression, since both of its data sets led to similar conclusions.

Chihuahuas and dachshunds scored higher than average for aggression directed at both humans and dogs, putting them toward the top of the list. Akitas and pit bull terriers, which have "bad boy" reputations, mostly scored high for dog-directed aggression. When they did injure humans, however, the injuries tended to be more severe than those inflicted by the scrappy, smaller dogs.

Basset hounds, golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, Siberian huskies, Bernese mountain dogs, Brittany spaniels, greyhounds and whippets were on the "least aggressive" end of the spectrum.

--Alice Short

Photo: Aaron Favila / Associated Press

Tips for calming fireworks fears

What's a July 4th dog? (Hint: we don't mean a patriotic dog, even though this Chihuahua looks pretty decked out). Here's the answer, according the the Humane Society:

Pets often become frightened and frantic amid the noise and commotion of Independence Day. In fact, animal shelters across the country are accustomed to receiving "July 4th" dogs—dogs who run off during fireworks celebrations and are rescued by animal control officers or good Samaritans who take them to the safety of a local shelter.

So to make sure your pets don't get freaked out by the hisses and booms of the fireworks and take off, we'd like to reprint these suggestions from the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.:

          1. Don't take them to fireworks displays.

2. Bring them inside before the fireworks begin.

3. Create an enclosed "safe place" for your pet to hide when the noise starts.

4. If you leave your pet inside, leave a radio or TV on to create some normal background sounds.

--Tony Barboza

Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times

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

Whale watching in Santa Barbara

Catching a glimpse of a majestic humpback whale in the Santa Barbara Channel may be priceless for marine life enthusiasts, but The Times' Pete Thomas reports that for under $100, you can get a front-row seat:

It's a bizarre yet wondrous sight: a 40-foot humpback whale holding position only a few feet beside a 75-foot catamaran.

The whale's radiant white pectoral fins are spread like wings. Its massive body rolls gently as this great leviathan casts a curious glance toward its gawking admirers.

It's one of two "friendlies" providing passengers aboard the Condor Express with encounters so close they can hardly believe their eyes.

These are lively times in the Santa Barbara Channel. Vast blooms of krill and nutrient-rich waters teeming with bait fish have attracted dozens of mammalian species, including humpback and blue whales.

The high-speed Condor Express -- the only vessel making daily forays deep into the channel -- can reach the feeding grounds in less than an hour.

Several minutes pass before a large splash in the distance. Soon the vessel is alongside two humpbacks. Passengers crowd the rails and camera shutters click.

"I finally have proof!" shouts a gleeful Jeffrey Mummey, 11, from Heath, Ohio, explaining that his cousin Nick, who is not aboard, "never believes me when I tell him stuff."

Globally, humpbacks number 35,000 to 40,000. The ones Thomas and his boat mates saw measure 40 to 50 feet and weigh about 40 tons and are among the perhaps 1,300 that migrate between Costa Rica and California.

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Eric Zimmerman

Quite the pet project: Doghouses going green

Even your doghouse can go green, writes Bettijane Levine in today's Home section:

"SoCal landscape architect Stephanie Rubin and her partner, sculptor Chris Isner, sell doghouses with rooftop gardens for $1,000 to $4,000.

Your homemade version will cost a lot less -- and the dog in residence will appreciate a plant-topped refuge that is cooler, in every sense of the word, than anything else around.

To start, Rubin and Isner suggest that you come up with your own general design or scan for ideas on their website, www.sustainablepet.com. They won't mind if you filch. For a closer look at their doghouses, visit City Bakery in Brentwood."

The final touches include vibrant plants:

Rubin's rooftops are filled with pet-friendly, nonpoisonous, mostly native plants that require no pesticides or fertilizers. Her favorites include woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis), stonecrop (Sedum, particularly S. acre), live forever (Dudleya), and common yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Maybe being in the doghouse (at least this kind) isn't all that bad.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Possible gray wolf sighted in New Mexico

The Associated Press reports that a possible gray wolf has been sighted on a ranch in northern New Mexico, raising the prospect that wolves may have migrated into the state from the Northern Rockies ,where they were reintroduced more than a decade ago.

There's been no confirmed gray wolf in the wild in New Mexico since the animals were exterminated from the state in the early and mid-1900s. The animal was seen several times and photographed on Vermejo Park Ranch, which is owned by media mogul Ted Turner. It was first spotted about a month ago, but government biologists have not been able to capture the animal to obtain genetic material to confirm whether it's a wolf.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said that government agencies hoped to capture the animal on the ranch, attach a radio collar and then track it. A gray wolf in New Mexico would be protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.

Photo: Associated Press

A drop in the penguin population

University of Washington professor P. Dee Boersma fell in love many years ago with a flightless bird that does its soaring underwater. Looking at the penguin and chicks above, it's easy to see why. Now she's delivering some heart-breaking news about the focus of her affection and decades of fieldwork. The largest colony of Patagonian penguins, also known as Magellanic penguins, has plunged by about 22% over the last two decades.

Reasons abound. As Boersma explains in the latest issue of BioScience, these sentinels of marine health are being devastated by overfishing, oily pollution and even pressure from hordes of tourists. Read more from Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss at Greenspace, The Times' environmental blog.

Photo:  P. Dee Boersma / University of Washington

Don't save the whale plate, Times board says

Remember the fracas over a Laguna Beach artist named Wyland? He was unhappy because the state commissioned his whale tail artwork for license plates but wouldn't give him a cut of the funds for his environmental foundation.

Well, today The Times' editorial board weighs in, saying that the state should hold a competition among California's art students for a new ocean plate, with a $10,000 scholarship for the winner

And this time, the editorial board opines, "make sure the kid signs a written agreement."

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Reed Saxon/Associated Press

Woman gets prison term for animal cruelty

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

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

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

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

Demand for 'Nemo' puts clown fish in danger of extinction

Clown fish have surged in popularity as pets ever since the movie "Finding Nemo" came out in 2003. But the over-harvesting of wild clown fish to feed the pet trade has depleted the population so dramatically that marine biologists say the fish are now facing extinction. The London Times reports:

The lovable tropical species, immortalized in the smash Pixar movie "Finding Nemo," is facing extinction in many parts of the world because of soaring demand from the pet trade, according to marine biologists.

Parents whose children fell in love with Nemo at the cinema are seeking out the clown fish in ever greater numbers, leading to over-harvesting of wild specimens because captive breeding programs cannot cope with demand.

Dr. Billy Sinclair, of the University of Cumbria, who has been studying clown fish populations for five years, says the species should now be listed as endangered.

Studies of clown fish on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have revealed a dramatic population decline since the release of the movie in 2003. Shoals that used to number dozens of clown fish have dwindled to just a few specimens, leaving them with difficulty breeding, Sinclair says.

Since it looks like Nemo and the likes will be even harder to find in the wild, you can see one in person at the Aquarium of the Pacific. The clown fish is also included in a Times photo gallery titled "10 critters that hate the movies."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Stephen Chernin / Getty Images

Wild horses might be killed in the West

Federal officials are considering euthanizing wild horses to deal with the growing population on the range and in holding pens, authorities said.

Wild horses have overpopulated public lands and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can't afford to care for the mustangs that have been rounded up, said Henri Bisson, the agency's deputy director, in a news conference in Reno, Nev., according to the Associated Press.

Also, fewer people are adopting the horses, Bisson added. The agency is also considering whether to stop roundups to save money.

There are an estimated 33,000 wild horses on the range in 10 Western states, Bisson said, and 27,000 is the maximum the agency can handle. An additional 30,000 are in holding facilities.

Last month, Deanne Stillman wrote in the Times' Opinion section that wild horses, better known as mustangs, are a staple of America's cultural heritage but that federal laws in effect since the early 1970s aren't doing enough to keep the animals from being shipped off by cattle ranchers to the slaughterhouse.

Stillman's new book, "Mustang: A history of the horse in the North America," describes how wild horses became a dramatic fixture on the continent.

Pam Houston, writing this week in The Times' Book Review, sums up some of Stillman's research:

From the jungles of Central America, horses moved north, carrying Catholic priests and tribal scouts across the Rio Grande and into the wild country of the great Southwest, all the way from Texas into California.

Horses broke away from war parties and missions, turned wild, formed bands and flourished in this unfenced, endless land. There were so many horses in the early 1700s that the maps drawn of Texas at the time marked the territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River not as a place but as "Vast Herds of Wild Horses," or simply "Wild Horses."

By the 1840s, Texas ranger John C. Duval reported seeing "a drove of mustangs so large that it took us fully an hour to pass it, although they were traveling at a rapid rate in a direction nearly opposite to ours."

--Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Marilyn Newton/Associated Press

San Francisco denies blame in zoo's tiger mauling

San Francisco officials said Monday that the city is not liable for the death of a San Jose teenager who was attacked by an escaped tiger on Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo, the Associated Press reports.

The city instead referred a claim filed by the parents of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. to the San Francisco Zoological Society, which manages the zoo, and to the society's insurance company, according to a letter issued by City Atty. Dennis Herrera.

Herrera responded in a similar fashion in May to claims filed by brothers Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal, two friends of Sousa who were mauled by the tiger, Tatiana, pictured above. The city's denial now opens the door for the Sousa family to file a lawsuit within six months, according to state law.

The family's lawyer, Michael Cardoza, said the Sousas plan to sue the city and the zoo operators, but would not say how much money they would seek.

Just this week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the San Francisco Zoo is "in such disarray that officials have decided not to look for a new zoo director until they can get things in order," a problem brought to light after the tiger attack incited intense scrutiny in the institution's management.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Penni Gladstone/San Francisco Chronicle

Dog rental company facing resistance in Boston

The company that broke new ground last year by opening its dog renting business in New York, Los Angeles and London isn't exactly being welcomed as it tries to expand to Massachusetts.

Today, the city of Boston, where the company FlexPetz plans to open a new store this year, is considering prohibiting pet renting. A City Council committee was to discuss a potential ban Monday, the Boston Globe reports.

Earlier this month, the state of Massachusetts considered a ban on leasing dogs or cats by the hour or day in response to the company's plans to open a Boston location.

Animal welfare advocates have howled in protest, saying the service treats pets like disposable commodities and resembles Netflix but with dogs.

The company, however, has defended its treatment of its animals, saying the concept is more akin to a vacation time share or a gym membership than movie rental, preferring to call it "shared pet ownership."

-- Tony Barboza

Photo: Katie Morgan / Associated Press

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

Grizzly attacks teen bike rider

A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race in Alaska suffered severe wounds early Sunday morning when a grizzly bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park, authorities said. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl, who was to undergo surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center. The hospital reported she was still in surgery at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. "She was cut up and bit pretty good," said Anchorage Police Officer Jean Mills. Police declined to identify the victim. ..

Police were called at 1:35 a.m. after another bicyclist found the mauled girl down and dazed on the ground. She was among about 60 participants in a 24-hour race sponsored by the Arctic Bicycle Club. The team event began at noon Saturday and was to end at noon Sunday. Organizers canceled it after the attack and were trying to account for all the other riders.

Most likely the grizzly, which has a pair of cubs, was fishing for salmon in the creek and might not have heard the cyclist coming due to stream noise and strong winds roaring through the forest, he said.

A spokesman said this afternoon that the girl was expected to survive.

A shakeup in birds' family tree

News flash: falcons and parrots share a secret kinship. The Chicago Tribune reports:

When a falcon swoops from the sky to seize its prey, no one would mistake the predator for a gaudy parrot. Yet the secret kinship of falcons and parrots is one of many surprises in a landmark genetic study of 169 bird species published by Field Museum researchers.

One likely consequence of the study in Friday's edition of the journal Science is a reordering of the field guides that many of America's 80 million bird-watchers use. "This is the most important single paper to date on the higher-level relationships of birds," said Joel Cracraft, curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not part of the study.

Birds' family tree has long stumped scientists. Many previous studies relied on painstaking comparisons of outward characteristics and behaviors. Genetic comparisons can tell a deeper story, so the Field Museum launched a five-year effort with seven other institutions to do an unprecedented analysis.

They discovered many cases in which seemingly similar birds were merely distant relatives and other birds long assumed to be unrelated turned out to be closely linked. The analysis showed that falcons are more closely related to parrots than to such other hunters as hawks and eagles. If true, the finding would mean that falcons do not even belong in the scientific order originally named for them.

Photos: Associated Press

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

Extending legal rights to apes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-- Alice Short

Photo: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

A reprieve for the pigeons of Wimbledon?

ESPN is reporting that the pigeons around the All England Club are safe -- for now.

Wimbledon organizers came under fire from animal rights groups for using marksmen to eradicate some pesky pigeons Sunday, but they have pledged to use only two hawks to keep the birds away for the remainder of the tournament.

Wimbledon organizers said the extreme pest control response had only been deemed necessary because pigeons were creating a health risk around the players' lawn and a restaurant.

"The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job," Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said Tuesday. "But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the hawks didn't deter the pigeons, so it was deemed necessary to take a harder approach," he explained.

The decision to call in the marksmen was condemned as "cruel and illegal behavior" by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which complained to the tournament organizers and the police.

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.

Because pets don't have BlackBerries

Just like their people, many pets are on daily medications.  And what are the chances that all those owners are dutifully remembering to medicate their pets as well as themselves? 

No