Reader photo of the day: A broken back didn't slow down Anna Marie, a rescued dog from Romania

Submitter Nancy Janes shares this wonderful shot of Anna Marie, a rescued dog with an amazing story we couldn't keep to ourselves. 

Janes found and rescued Anna Marie in Galati, Romania, when she was just a puppy; Anna Marie had suffered a broken back as a result of being hit by a car. "Now, she is the 'wild child' of our family," Janes says of Anna Marie, who lives alongside six other rescued dogs from Romania.

Janes, a California resident, founded the group Romania Animal Rescue after visiting Romania on a hiking tour in 2001. In the capital city of Bucharest, she took time out to feed some stray dogs -- an abundance of strays is one legacy of Nicolae Ceauşescu's rule -- and encountered a young Romanian woman who was also feeding the animals. 

"I told her I would go back to America and help Romania's dogs," Janes explained of the encounter. "She said, 'Everyone says they will help the Romanian dogs. Then they go home and forget.' Well, having heard this, I had to keep my word!"

Injured sea lion seen near Sacramento River on Wednesday is still missing

A sea lion with an eye injury has been eluding rescuers since it was sighted near the Sacramento River on Wednesday. Rescuers haven't seen the animal since, says an article from the Sacramento Bee.

The sea lion was sighted on a dock near Old Sacramento's Tower Bridge, but slipped into the river after volunteers gauged that the dock was too small to safely net the animal.

Based on photographs that observers took, Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, guessed that the injured sea lion is a male weighing between 350 and 500 pounds.

Oswald and other volunteers traveled to Sacramento on Wednesday hoping to help the marine animal, which appeared to be injured near its right eye. According to the article, the Marine Mammal Center's volunteers have helped many sea lions during 1,500 marine animal rescues this year.

Despite the sea lion’s disappearance, Oswald remains optimistic about the animal's wounds.

Main Line Animal Rescue takes its pro-pit bull, anti-Michael Vick message to San Diego

Pennsylvania-based group Main Line Animal Rescue, which famously opened Oprah Winfrey's eyes to the problem of puppy mills, has more recently turned its attention to the plight of pit bulls and the NFL career of Michael Vick.  Back in September, Main Line decided to try a new tactic to help animals and started taking out newspaper ads in cities where Vick and his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles, were scheduled to play. 

The ads, the first of which ran in the Washington Post to coincide with an Eagles-Redskins game, urge animal lovers to "Consider volunteering at your local shelter on the day of the game. Spend some time walking, or brushing, or bathing, or hugging a homeless Pit Bull."  But beyond the call to volunteerism, they also feature a pledge from Main Line: For each time Vick is sacked in the upcoming game, the group offers a donation of five bags of kibble to an area shelter.  

The Washington Post ad produced results far greater than Main Line envisioned; dog food donations poured in and, when all was said and done, the donated-kibble tally was measured not in bags but in tons.  (In all, four tons were donated to the Washington, D.C., Humane Society.)

This weekend, Vick and the Eagles come to Southern California to play the San Diego Chargers; naturally, Main Line is at it again.  The ad above ran in the San Diego Union-Tribune today, and the group plans to donate dog food to a San Diego-based shelter at a later date.

RELATED:
Berkeley Breathed's new book was inspired by one of Michael Vick's pit bulls
Pit bull group says Vick won't see his former dogs when Eagles visit Oakland

-- Lindsay Barnett

54 feral cats on San Nicolas Island relocated to Ramona in order to protect native animals

Fifty-four feral cats captured on San Nicholas Island are settling in at a wildlife center northeast of San Diego.

The Navy decided to remove the cats from San Nicholas, one of two Channel Islands owned by the Navy, to help nesting seabirds. The felines are now living at the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center.

Feral cats are usually euthanized, but the habitat was agreed upon by the Navy, Humane Society of the United States, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Game.

The Web site DoGreatGood.com donated more than $100,000 to build a habitat at the center.

Most of the cats are unadoptable because they are so wild, but 18 kittens may find homes.

Trapping started in June and will continue until February.

-- Associated Press

Photo: An aerial view of San Nicolas Island, located 60 miles off Point Mugu, in 2001. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Halloween fun for a good cause: Costumed pets strutted their stuff, got new homes at shelter event

We were honored to help judge Long Beach's Howl'oween dog-costume contest Saturday, but while we were having a blast with L.A.'s most pampered pets, our colleague Lu Parker of KTLA News was busy helping homeless pets find new adoptive families. We had a great time -- but three guesses on which of us had a more fulfilling Halloween! Here's Lu's account of the adoption event:

A spider, a cop and a hot dog. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but what I'm about to tell is no joke. It's reality. For thousands of homeless dogs, reality means living in a cage day and night. It's a fact that keeps me awake many nights, but I'm happy to say that for one special day this past weekend things were different.

It was billed as Howl-O-Ween at the South Los Angeles animal shelter, a day to come see the beautiful dogs and cats who need a home. We wanted to spread the word: Adopt; don't buy. What it turned into was a day of many moments we will never forget.

For this one day, dozens of dogs got a chance to leave their cage and feel sunshine on their faces. They got a chance to smell the grass and to experience a little affection outside the cage. Volunteers and employees gathered to make it all possible. Local firefighters showed up to line a parade route. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa led the pet parade. We all ate candy. I was lucky enough to be able to emcee the event, and as I was talking on the microphone about each dog passing in front of me with a human attached to them, I couldn't help but smile inside.

Your morning adorable: Orphaned baby sloths get an assist from Costa Rica sanctuary

Talk about specialized -- the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica rescues and rehabilitates sloths, sloths and only sloths. Back in 1992 neighbors of the sanctuary's bird-enthusiast founders brought an orphaned baby three-toed sloth to their doorstep. With little information available about caring for sloths, the fine folks of Aviarios made things up as they went along, successfully hand-raising the baby they named Buttercup. 

After that, the sloths just kept on coming. So far, Aviarios has hand-raised more than 100 baby sloths and helped many more adult sloths recover from illness and injury at its wonderfully named Slothpital facility. (Since sloths are slow-moving -- so slow-moving that algae even grows on their fur -- it's not uncommon for them to be injured by cars.) Sloth orphans like the astoundingly cute creatures above get great care at the Slothpital and, thanks to Aviarios, they have great lives to look forward to.

Aviarios offers tours to the public -- and sloth fans can even "adopt" an animal, with their financial contributions funding further care and conservation efforts for Costa Rica's sloths.  

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: BernieKnightRider via YouTube

'Twilight' actress Rachelle Lefevre films PSA for Best Friends Animal Society

If you've been paying much attention to pop culture over the past few years, you have at least a passing familiarity with the juggernaut that is the "Twilight" series. "Twilight," first a widely popular-among-the-teens series of fantasy novels by author Stephenie Meyer, is now becoming an equally popular-among-the-teens series of movies (a sequel to last year's "Twilight," the film version of Meyer's first book, is due out later this year).  What's a media-savvy pet-rescue group to do?

For Best Friends Animal Society, the answer was simple: Film a public service announcement with one the young stars of "Twilight," urging viewers to adopt a needy animal rather than purchase from a pet store or breeder.

Enter Canadian-born actress Rachelle Lefevre, who plays Victoria in both "Twilight" and its sequel, "New Moon."  In an interview with Modern Dog magazine, Lefevre explained that, when she and her boyfriend decided to bring home a dog of her own, they "wanted to get a rescue. That was non-negotiable."  (We can't say we're into the whole vampire-movie phenomenon, but we give Lefevre major bonus points for that!)  Now, she told Modern Dog, when she's not with her beloved pet, "my heart hurts."  

Here's hoping Lefevre's pro-rescue PSA will help convince a new generation -- might we call it the Robert Pattinson generation? -- to remember homeless animals when looking for their new pets.  

RELATED:
New ad campaign aims to dispel myths about shelter pets

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Best Friends Animal Society

Pennsylvania rescue group makes good on its Michael Vick offer, donates 4 tons of food to Washington, D.C. shelter

We told you last month that the Pennsylvania-based group Main Line Animal Rescue, best known for using a Chicago billboard to convince Oprah Winfrey to air an exposé about the cruelties dogs endure in puppy mills, is trying a new tactic in its battle on behalf of dogs. 

Furious over the Philadelphia Eagles' signing of convicted dogfighter Michael Vick, Main Line opted not for a billboard but for dog food: It offered to donate five bags of kibble to feed needy dogs in a Washington, D.C., shelter for each time Vick was sacked in the Eagles' game against the Washington Redskins.

Turns out, the plan worked out even better than expected -- and that's an understatement.  Dog-food donations poured in from sources including a Pennsylvania pet store and even celebrity chef Rachael Ray, who offered up a supply of her own brand of dog food, Nutrish.  Earlier this week, Main Line made good on its offer when volunteers delivered a whopping four tons of dog food to the Washington, D.C., Humane Society.  (According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the humane society plans to share the bounty with other area rescue groups.)

"Considering how little Vick's being played, we couldn't wait for him to be tackled," Main Line's founder, Bill Smith, told the Inquirer. "So we thought we'd just go for it." Go for it they did -- and a lot of homeless Washington-area pets stand to benefit. That's a lot more than we can say for most other stories involving Michael Vick!

RELATED:
Berkeley Breathed's new book was inspired by one of Michael Vick's pit bulls
Pit bull group says Vick won't see his former dogs when Eagles visit Oakland

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Main Line Animal Rescue

Pets rescued in Puerto Rico after fuel explosion

Animal activists in this U.S. Caribbean territory say they have rescued more than 60 pets from the homes of people evacuated following an explosion at a fuel-storage site.

A total of 32 birds, 22 dogs and 10 cats are being temporarily housed at an animal shelter in the city of Carolina, just east of San Juan.

Maritza Rodriguez is the president of the adoptionmascotas.com pet-adoption agency. She says all the animals were found in good condition.

Rodriguez says that shelter officials will care for the animals until residents are cleared to return to their homes.

More than 1,500 people were evacuated and another 530 sought shelter after fuel tanks at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. caught fire Friday.

-- Associated Press

Photo: A gasoline warehouse and distribution center burns in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Friday, Oct. 23.  Credit: Associated Press

The Heidi Chronicles, Chapter 52: Stay tuned ...

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

As of last Friday, I am no longer a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. Ergo, this is the last chapter of "The Heidi Chronicles" for L.A. Unleashed. I'd like to thank the blog for unleashing an obsessed doggie stage mother, and providing a forum for documenting the approximate first year of Heidi's attempt to take Hollywood by storm.

I'd also like to thank Heidi's fans and her entourage of one, Layla the Labrador mix, for sticking by Heidi through thick and thin. However, I visited Layla and her parents, Jim and Irene Dorsey, recently and Layla seem thrilled to enjoy a little quality time without Heidi, just this once. Recently, the patient Layla has been somewhat taxed by the many canine guests at the Dorseys, including small and frequent visitor Kiki Newberg, a Norwich terrier cute enough to get away with murder one.

But I encourage Layla, Kiki Newberg and all of your dogs to be sure to tune in for "Don't Walk on the Grass," the Nov. 1 episode of "Desperate Housewives." Heidi and I are waiting to see whether our background appearance in a restaurant scene made the cut.

And despite my own recent career change, let it be said that Heidi fully intends to continue her pursuit of Hollywood stardom.