Results tagged “wildlife”

The Thanksgiving holiday may find locals and their out-of-town guests alike taking in the beautiful outdoors as afforded to us with places like the historic Griffith Park and other wilderness recreation areas here in Los Angeles.

Just like in a recent episode of Weeds, deep within public lands are some major areas prime for cultivating marijuana. Yesterday, local and federal officials eradicated two sites, one in a state park and another on National Park land. Likely to be worth close to $10 million on the street, 2,088 marijuana plants were found in Malibu Creek State Park and another 1421 in Zuma Canyon.

Since 2002, the National Park Service has been tracking Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, studying their movements, pinpointing their ranges and observing how human development impacts their population. Twelve have been tracked in that time with some remarkable finds.

It was April 17th, 2006 when a contractor working on a Bel Air home looked over into Stone Canyon and swore he saw a bear. He immediately reported it to the LA Department of Water & Power, who own and operate the reservoir and in turn told the California Department of Fish & Game.

After a year of restoring its wildlife and native habitat, Bull Creek, between Victory Boulevard and the LA River in the San Fernando Valley, re-opened to the public this morning. As with the LA River, the Army Corps of Engineers adjusted the creek for flood control purposes years ago leaving the ecosystem and habitat weakened.

Long Beach's Animal Care Services could not be more correct: "It’s a People Problem, Not a Wildlife Problem." As human development encroaches on wildlife habitat, coyotes and other animals become part of a neighborhood's fabric as they search for food and water. And easy to find trash and kitty cats keep those coyotes coming back. On Saturday, a cat was nabbed from the front yard of a Long Beach home. The owners, hearing their cat scream, went outside to find Bear--that's the feline's name--in a coyote's mouth.

For the second time today, a North American Black Bear entered an area residential neighborhood. This time one was found in a La Verne, probably in search of water and food, before officials tranquilized and transported it to an undisclosed location in the San Gabriel Mountains. Earlier today, a 300-pound bear was found and captured in a Camarillo apartment complex.

Last month, Customs and Border Protection were waiting when Song Dong of Garden Grove returned to Los Angeles from Vietnam. During inspection, they initially noticed bird feathers and droppings on his socks and upon a further look, "14 live birds attached to two flat pieces of clothe that were wrapped around his calves," according to the United States Attorneys Office.

Three wildlife bills, passed yesterday in a rare Sunday session of the Senate, paved the way to give California more than 700,000 acres of protected land. "It would designate as wilderness -- the government's highest protection -- about 190,000 acres in Riverside County, including parts of Joshua Tree National Park; about 450,000 acres in the Eastern Sierra and San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles; and about 90,000 acres in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, including John Krebs Wilderness," reported the LA Times.

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.

It was just last month when coyotes reportedly killed Paris Hilton's dogs (she denied it, though), as well as pets owned by Demi Moore and Halle Berry. And yesterday, a jogger was bitten by a coyote, but her injuries were not serious and she did nothing to provoke the incident.

Pelicans in Huntington Beach have apparently been targeted by someone who is deliberately breaking their wings, leading ultimately to the birds' deaths. 11 brown pelicans have died in a three-day span, which has alerted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who are investigating the deaths and looking for the responsible party. According to MyFox Los Angeles, "The Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, which is caring for the lone surviving pelican, has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible."

Getty has its first fridays program. So does the Natural History Museum. However, there's a smaller First Friday in Los Angeles, one with a less grandiose budget, little advertising, but is worth a look at. For the past couple years merchants of Abbot Kinney in Venice stay open until 10pm and often host art gallery openings, live music, or in store events.

When you drive north on Balboa from the 101, you may notice a constant stream of joggers and runners passing on the right. If you turn in the driveway there, you will stumble upon one of the valley's hidden gems. Lake Balboa was built in the 1990s (in Encino) and attracts a surprising array of birds and other small wildlife. Just before sunrise, a heavy fog blankets the area. As the sunrise approaches, the...