Video goodness: Confused dog moos like a cow

When the news stories of the day are less than uplifting, we often find that it brightens our mood substantially to take a short funny-animal-video break.

We think we've found the perfect spirit-lifting video, in which a little dog seems to think he's a cow when surrounded by a mooing herd.

This pup's immersion in bovine culture seems to have an immediate effect on his vocalizations, rather like a trip to Canada can make an American start ending declaritive sentences like questions.

We dare you to watch this and not crack a smile. Go ahead and try!

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— Lindsay Barnett

Video: cycone via YouTube

Iowa agriculture committees approve bill that would limit animal groups' undercover investigations

DES MOINES, Iowa — Angered by repeated releases of secretly filmed videos claiming to show the mistreatment of farm animals, Iowa's agriculture industry is pushing legislation that would make it illegal for animal rights activists to produce and distribute such images.

Agriculture committees in the Iowa House and Senate have approved a bill that would prohibit such recordings and punish people who take agriculture jobs only to gain access to animals to record their treatment. Proposed penalties include fines of up to $7,500 and up to five years in prison. Votes by the full House and Senate have not yet been set.

Doug Farquhar, program director for environmental health at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said Iowa would be the first state to approve such restrictions but Florida is considering similar legislation. The Iowa measure was introduced after a number of groups released videos showing cows being shocked, pigs beaten and chicks ground up alive.

"It's very transparent what agribusiness is attempting to do here," said Bradley Miller, national director of the Humane Farming Assn., a California-based group dedicated to protecting farm animals from abuse. "They're trying to intimidate whistleblowers and put a chill on legitimate anti-cruelty investigations. Clearly the industry feels that it has something to hide or it wouldn't be going to these extreme and absurd lengths."

Five out of 5 pigs object to the National Pork Board's new slogan: 'Pork: Be inspired'

We love pigs -- for petting, not for eating. But not everyone shares our high opinion of the humble pig -- certainly not the National Pork Board, which recently announced a new marketing campaign for pork. The pork board is moving beyond its "other white meat" campaign with a new slogan: "Pork: Be inspired." The Times' business blog Money & Co. reports:

The Des Moines-based industry group, which unveiled that tasty little morsel Friday, is getting ready to throw some hefty cash behind its marketing makeover -- to the tune of more than $11 million for an advertising campaign that will include print, TV and online ads.

"Moving from a functional to a more emotional positioning, the campaign voice is proud, energetic, approachable and unapologetically optimistic about the unique attributes of the world's most popular protein," reads a news release announcing the new slogan.

"Our research shows that pork's top consumers are looking for more than basic education; they're looking for inspiration," Ceci Snyder, vice president of marketing for the pork board, said in a statement. "With its great taste and versatility, pork is the ideal catalyst to inspire great meals."

We suspect we're not alone in thinking that pigs have a lot more going for them than the ability to inspire hungry people with their flesh -- their often untapped talents include sitting on command (and looking darn cute doing it), performing impressive feats of agility, playing with dogs and synchronized ear-twitching. Plus, these interesting animals are smarter than many people give them credit for; a 2009 study showed that pigs were able to learn how mirrors work and use the reflected images they saw in them to investigate their surroundings and find food.

RELATED FARM ANIMAL NEWS:
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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Pigs in an enclosure at the Internationale Gruene Woche (International Green Week) agriculture and food fair in Berlin on Jan. 20. Credit: Thomas Peter / Reuters

Charo says she had to give up her pet bull after Beverly Hills neighbors complained

Charo says she has a beef with her neighbors. The Spanish-American guitarist and entertainer says she had to give up her pet bull after a neighbor in Beverly Hills, Calif., complained about the smell of its feces.

Charo says she adopted the bull calf after they filmed an anti-bullfighting video together for the animal rights group PETA in 2009. Now that the bull has grown, she says, "Beverly Hills people complain" about the aroma.

A Beverly Hills spokeswoman confirms that officials advised a resident that livestock isn't allowed in the city.

Charo says the bull is named Manolo. She says it lives at a Malibu horse farm but is still allowed to visit her.

The entertainer appears in the SiTV series "Latino 101." She just released the single "Sexy Sexy."

RELATED NEWS ABOUT CELEBRITIES AND ANIMALS:
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-- Lauri Neff, Associated Press

Photo: Charo on Feb. 23. Credit: Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Justin Bieber's hair helps rescued farm animals -- wait, what?

Devoted friend to animals Ellen DeGeneres, a former PETA Person of the Year who was instrumental in the donation of a million servings of pet food to homeless animals through the U.S. Postal Service's "Stamps to the Rescue" campaign last year, has done yet another nice thing for animals in need.

It's a strange one, and it involves Justin Bieber's hair.

Allow us to explain. After the recent premiere of his new movie "Never Say Never 3D," the teen star cut his famous hair and gave it to DeGeneres to auction on eBay, our colleagues at The Times' celebrity news blog Ministry of Gossip report. (The winning bidder, who hasn't been identified publicly, also gets to meet Bieber the next time he appears on DeGeneres' talk show.)

Bieber's hair brought in a staggering $40,668 in the auction, proceeds from which will benefit local farm-animal rescue charity the Gentle Barn. The charity, which houses more than 100 rescued farm animals at its Santa Clarita sanctuary facility, has been featured on DeGeneres' show and is a favorite charity of the comedian and her wife, Portia De Rossi.

DeGeneres and De Rossi are both longtime supporters of animal-friendly causes; De Rossi has been a spokesperson for the feral-cat advocacy group Alley Cat Allies. Bieber is no slouch in the animal-loving department, either; he recently partnered with PETA's youth division, PETA2, on a campaign to promote companion animal adoption.

MORE CELEBRITIES HELPING ANIMALS:
• 'Cove' star Ric O'Barry meets with Sting about Taiji dolphin slaughter
• Paul McCartney asks India's prime minister to declare a national Vegetarian Day

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Bieber at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 16. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Animal friends: Annabelle the sheep and Boomer the dog play a rousing game of chase

We can't get enough of friendships between animals of different species, whether it's a dolphin and a dog, a deer and a cat or a puppy and a duckling. One of the sweetest examples of inter-species friendship we've seen yet is the one between a ewe named Annabelle and a dog named Boomer.

Despite the fact that she's an adult sheep, Annabelle is "still a lamb who thinks she's a dog," explains owner Suzanne McMinn, who writes a blog called Chickens in the Road about her experiences living among sheep, goats, cows, miniature donkeys, dogs and other animals on a farm in West Virginia.

Annabelle doesn't have many friends among her fellow sheep, but she loves both people and dogs. "You can't walk into the pasture without her bouncing right over to you, following you around," McMinn writes. "You might even call her obnoxious occasionally, like when she almost knocks you down -- except that she's so sweet and cute."

Cute she definitely is, especially when she's hopping around like mad, chasing Boomer around a pasture -- and Boomer seems to be having a great time too.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: ChickensintheRoad via YouTube

Unsinkable Molly B, cow who escaped Montana slaughterhouse in 2006, moves to a new home

BILLINGS, Mont. — Five years after a cow dubbed the "Unsinkable Molly B" leapt a slaughterhouse gate and swam across the Missouri River in an escape that drew international attention, the heifer has again eluded fate, surviving the collapse of the animal sanctuary where she was meant to retire.

Molly B was among an estimated 1,200 animals removed from the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in recent weeks as part of a massive effort to bail out its overwhelmed owners.

Animal welfare groups said they were forced to euthanize dozens of starving and ill cattle, horses and llamas found on the 400-acre sanctuary in rural Sanders County.

The bovine celebrity herself -- an overweight black Angus breed said to be sore in the hoof but otherwise relatively healthy -- was removed to a nearby ranch and is headed this week to a smaller farm sanctuary.

"Molly B made it OK. She's a tough old broad," said Jerry Finch with Habitat for Horses of Hitchcock, Texas, who participated in the rescue effort. "She had bad feet, but she was not anywhere near as bad as some of the others."

South Korean Buddhists pray for animals killed during foot-and-mouth disease epidemic

SEOUL — Hundreds of South Korean Buddhist monks and believers offered prayers Wednesday for more than 1.93 million cows, pigs and other animals that have been put to death in the country's worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The Buddhists endured subfreezing temperatures to hold the rite at Jogye Temple, the headquarters of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect.

Some monks clad in gray-and-saffron robes offered white chrysanthemums -- a traditional Korean symbol of grief -- and bowed in front of photos of animals inside the temple in central Seoul.

They also bowed toward two big golden statues of Buddha and chanted sutras before circling around a pagoda and burning mortuary tablets and incense.

The animals -- mostly pigs -- have been killed in an attempt to halt the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which was reported in November, according to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

The highly infectious disease is often fatal for cloven-hoofed animals including cows, sheep, pigs and goats, causing blisters on the mouth and feet.

South Korea culls animals on huge scale in response to foot-and-mouth disease, avian flu outbreaks

South Korea's ongoing epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu have led the country's government to call for the culling of animals -- pigs and cows because of foot-and-mouth, chickens and ducks because of avian flu, as well as smaller numbers of other animals like goats -- on an enormous scale.

Reports list the number of slaughtered pigs at well over a million; the total number of all animals killed seems to be several million and growing. Worse still, a large percentage of those -- representing virtually all the culled pigs, according to the group Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) -- were buried alive, in part because the country doesn't have enough euthanasia drugs to go around and a large dose is required to kill a pig.

The situation has also led to nightmarish reports about water quality in the affected regions.

According to the Guardian, nearly 70,000 soldiers have been tasked with helping regional forces conduct the livestock culls. Many of the killed animals appeared to be healthy, but came from farms in close proximity to confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth.

One bright spot is that the country, which began to vaccinate large numbers of cows against the disease last month, has recently begun to vaccinate pigs as well. But, KARA cautioned in a statement on its website, "mass vaccination does not include piglets. It is likely that pigs will remain the least protected animals" from the dangers of foot-and-mouth.

Spain's state broadcasting network announces it will no longer show bullfights

MADRID — Spain's leading broadcaster said Saturday it will no longer show the country's centuries-old tradition of bullfighting in order to protect children from viewing violence.

Spain's state network, RTVE, lists its new ban on transmitting bullfighting programs under a chapter called "Violence with animals" in its latest stylebook and says it "will not broadcast bullfighting."

One of the reasons given by RTVE is that bullfights "generally coincide with hours protected or specially protected for young viewers."

"Children can view violence exerted over animals with anxiety and we must therefore avoid it by all means," the stylebook says.

Spain has seen a fierce debate over the blood-soaked pageant that has fascinated artists and writers such as Goya, Hemingway and Pablo Picasso.

In July, the influential northeastern region of Catalonia became the second Spanish region to ban bullfighting, joining the Canary Islands, which outlawed the practice in 1991.