“Last night was the first night I could open my windows and enjoy my home undisturbed by the roosters,” a neighbor said to the Los Angeles City Animal Cruelty Task Force (ACTF). He lived near or on the 10400 block of Variel Avenue in Chatsworth where someone tipped the ACTF off to an alleged cockfighter. But when the special task force, made up of Los Angeles police officers and detectives, animal services’ officers and city......

There are many ways to handle a tough break-up with a girlfriend, but torturing and injuring a little puppy isn't one of them. The Daily News reports that a 22-year old Encino man, Steven William Butcher, was arrested yesterday in the 6400 block of Bertrand Avenue for animal cruelty. After a break-up with his girlfriend, Butcher was reportedly distraught and had threatened aloud to harm his small puppy. Worried about the man's mental state, a......

Chino's Westland/Hallmark Meat Company came into the spotlight recently when secret video footage revealed staff was mistreating the animals. On the heels of this week's news that the slaughterhouse's manager could face several years in prison if charged with animal cruelty comes the news that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recalled 143 million pounds of their frozen beef, making it "the largest beef recall in the United States," according to the Daily News. The......

An armed intruder entered an Oxnard home yesterday afternoon -- he left without any loot, but shot the family dog on his way out! The Daily News reports that the would-be burglar first knocked on the front door, but gained no access because the four children in the house (whose parents taught them well!) didn't recognize the man and didn't answer the door. When he couldn't get in through the front door, the intruder broke......

Civic Center developments still struggling amidst Downtown construction boom. Nothing like a good Saturday scandal story: a manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was found to have illegally steered almost $800,000 in contracts to family members and corporate allies. One begets another: an inmate serving a life sentence for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989 was stabbed 11 times by another inmate. Taking animal cruelty to a......

El Segundo's DirecTV is trying to sell us on their better picture through High Definition equipment (and extra monthly service fees, natch) by making us want to see every hair in Burt Reynolds' chest? (Full screen image here) Thank you, but maybe HD is too accurate. Maybe we don't even need television anymore. Maybe we should go back to sitting around the fire and telling tall tales about giants and blue oxes. Although it's......

Today's Long Beach Press Telegram provides chilling details about vandalism at Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Staff writer Tracy Manzer wrote "Police captured three youths suspected of torturing and killing two docile sharks and a ray at the Aquarium of the Pacific after they returned with another boy to the scene of the crime to carry out more mayhem late Monday, an official said. Three 13-year-olds and one 14-year-old were taken into......