Results tagged “pets”

On the heels of West Hollywood and Santa Monica, Los Angeles councilmembers will consider banning the practice of declawing. "Declawing is not a simple cosmetic procedure akin to a manicure or a pedicure," says the motion, authored by Councilmember Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl.

Hello, People's Republic! Santa Monica this week passed a new law banning cat declawing within city limits, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press. When it goes into effect in December, the city will be the second in California with such a ban. West Hollywood already has the law on the books and as of January 1st, 2010, a state law will go into effect restricting cities from making such a ban.

Pet hotels, pet groomers, pet spas, and pet boutiques cater to the needs of dogs and cats--or rather their owners' needs--for the finer things in life. The OC Register profiles Carrie Hyde, the owner of The Spaw, which is a a dog daycare and grooming business in Tustin, as she preps to open up her latest pet-venture, which is described as a "Whole Foods for dogs and cats."

Evacuation enters have already been established as the fast-moving Guiberson Fire burns through brush in eastern Ventura County between Moorpark and Fillmore. "Affected person can go to the Goebal Senior Center at 1385 Janss Road in Thousand Oaks for shelter," according to a Ventura County Sheriff's Department advisory.

Those who own horses are likely to get less strict water usage laws under a motion going through Los Angeles city council right now, but on a more national level congress looking into tax relief for pet owners.

On Sunday evening, Jessica Amen and Kyle Kushner lost just about everything when their two-story unit apartment in Brentwood went aflame. Over 100 Los Angeles firefighters fought the aggressive blaze for nearly an hour before extinguishing it, keeping it contained to only their unit. One resident and one firefighter sustained injuries, but nothing life threatening.

Amid controversy over canceling a spay and neuter fee waiver program, LA's Department of Animal Service's General Manager has resigned. “I thank Ed Boks for his years of service," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a statement. "Under his leadership, this City has revamped the way we treat and care for our pets and animals. The ‘no kill’ policy has become a central component of our animal services strategy. Pet adoptions are up and shelters have expanded at a rapid rate. And ‘spay and neuter’ has become more than just a call to action; it is the law in Los Angeles."

He beat it with a sledgehammer, took a chainsaw to its head and fed it to his dogs. Jack Ziniuk, 64, of Anza in the 909 951 was arrested today for felony animal cruelty. “He told us he was having an argument with his neighbors and some dogs had attacked his horse but when deputies got out there they found the horse already dead,” a Riverside County Sheriff’s said to the LA Times. “He essentially admitted that he did it and that no dogs had attacked the horse.” Ziniuk has a long list of animal related violations, but each citation was never enough for officials to legally take away his animals. By the paper's count, he has at least 33 dogs, eight puppies, 10 goats, peacocks and geese, which will be taken care of by two other men that live on the property.

              

Last Saturday at the annual Blessing of the Animals hundreds of pet and animal owners journeyed to Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles where Cardinal Roger M. Mahony presided over the ceremony steeped in tradition.

Richard Alarcon and others on the Los Angeles City Council are fed up with Ed Boks, the General Manager of the Animal Services Department. This month's drop of coupons for city mandated spaying and neutering apparently was the last straw. "[The city] faces a continuing crisis in the management of the Department of Animal Services," began Alarcon in a motion he introduced today. "These problems range across a gamut of issues: facilities, management and operations, and priority setting and follow up. These problems have caused a severe problem for the City in implementing its laws, policies and procedures."

Budget cuts recently led to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department announcing they would no longer be able to offer low-cost spay/neuter services, despite the fact that just a year ago the City made spaying and neutering mandatory--a law that went into effect last October.

            

On Sunday, hundreds of bulldogs, both English and French, gathered to compete in multi-tasking Long Beach resident Justin Rudd's Bulldog Beauty Contest, a main attraction at the Haute Dog Pageants and Pet Adoption Fair. To brighten your Thursday a little, enjoy the cuteness...

Some heavy fist beating and a 12-pound rock hurt the six-month German Shepherd mix so badly last month, the owner had to bring the dog to a veterinarian where the she was euthanized. LA County assistant fire chief Glynn Johnson, 54, was helping bring the runaway dog back to the owner, his neighbor in Woodcrest, when the dog clenched onto his thumb. Johnson, who was charged last week with felony animal cruelty and other counts, said his only choice was to hit the dog in self-defense, his lawyer said in court today. They also said the media and animal activists unfairly characterized the incident as an attack on an unprovoked puppy. Half a year old or not, the lawyer said the dog was big enough to do damage.

Vice President-Elect Joe Biden has a new puppy.

$150 million in voter approved money toward animal shelters was the subject of the latest audit by City Controller Laura Chick today. Her letter to the Mayor and City Council wasn't as scathing as other audits (think about LAPD's rape-kit backlog audit), but she did reveal some problems:

The LAPD's Animal Cruelty Task Force--a group formed three years ago--announced today a successful break up of a profitable dog fighting ring in South LA. Since February 2007, detectives have looked into the location on the 600 block of West 85th Street where they say they found "mistreated dogs living in horrendous conditions at the residence" along with "equipment used in the training, breeding and exercising of the animals." 17 dogs in all were rescued and two men have already been arrested, tried and convicted.

A six-month-old German shepherd mix allegedly bit a neighbor's thumb as he tried to bring the puppy back to its owner after it escaped into a Woodcrest neighborhood street. Glynn Johnson said the dog, Karley, wouldn't let go and said he did whatever he had to do to protect himself.

One thing that stuck out from Obama's Election-night speech Tuesday was his promise to his two young daughters that they could get the puppy they've wanted for so long when they moved to the White House. Yesterday, Obama gave his first post-Election press conference, and was asked what kind of dog the Obama family had in mind. He explained that they were hoping to get a dog from a shelter, but that one of his daughter's allergy to dander meant they'd need to get a dog who was hypo-allergenic.

              

The annual Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade in Long Beach's Belmont Shore was held this past Sunday drawing more than 600 costumed dogs and thousands of onlookers. Event organizers say it is the world's largest Halloween pet event, but whatever it is, one thing rings true: these dogs are damn cute. Here are some of the cute dogs LAist photographer Tom Andrews saw...

Animal Services sent out a warning to residents this weekend telling them to keep an eye out and maybe keep their pets inside a little more often. "Many animals that are driven out by fire may appear more frequently around homes. We ask the public to exercise caution when seeing wild animals as they may be frightened, distressed or injured. Some of these animals may have suffered burns from the fire and some may have a condition known as Mange which leaves open sores and bald patches that resemble burns." So far, the spooky images of dead animals seen after the Griffith Park Fire have yet to be documented in the latest fires. Oh, and watch out for those coyotes.

Kim Sill and the volunteer protesters and so-called investigators of Last Chance for Animals have already shut down four alleged LA area puppy mill pet stores since May. So why stop there? Their next could-be victim is The Puppy Store on trendy Melrose Avenue.

As people are dealing with the effects of the local wildfires, there are also organizations making sure the four-legged victims are being looked after. Especially since there are so many horses in the fire-stricken neighborhoods.

It's already law that your pooch must be snipped, but starting tomorrow it is enforceable. If you didn't know about this, that's because "though Animal Services is charged with enforcing the mandatory spay-and-neuter law, it does not intend to do so," according to City Controller Laura Chick's scathing audit released in the summer. The purpose of the law is help control pet population growth. In theory, the less the little buggers are born and in turn not adopted, the less Animal Service shelters will have to practice euthanasia in overcrowded shelters. Fines start in the triple digits.

Although Republican Assemblyman Bill Maze of Visalia introduced a bill that would fine people driving with animals on their laps $35, the Governor is giving it the ol' veto.

The fur will be flying, literally, Saturday and Sunday at the Pasadena Convention Center for the CFA Allbreed and Household Pet Cat Show. There'll be rescue kittens for sale, plus exotic cats on display, and household cat judging--though no word on whether criteria such as "spazziness" or "litterbox aim" will be used to award prizes.

One of those pesky quality of life complaints we hear a lot about are people who don't clean up after their dog. And trying to get the city to enforce a repeat violator is pretty hard too. You've got to catch the person in the act on film or photo, follow them to their home address or somehow obtain where they live, write a letter to the Department of Animal Services with the evidence and where this person lives. Then the city will send a letter telling that person you can't do that. If they continue, grab that camera for round two.

Ed Boks, the seventh General Manager in ten years at the city's Animal Services department, is now the focus of the latest animal controversy regarding the department heading towards a no-kill animal shelter policy, something that everyone wants except the dwindling city budget. A large group of employees gathered last week at city council asking for him to be removed from his post. "In the past we were divided about past general managers. Today we are united," one employee said during public comment last Tuesday.

Texas is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, now downgraded to a tropical storm, which made landfall last night and wrecked havoc in the state. Many individuals did not heed warnings to evacuate, and rescue teams are going door-to-door in cities such as Galveston to try to get aid to those in need. In Houston the streets are flooded with stormwaters and debris.