As we've reported previously, the issue of declawing -- though long a controversial one -- has come to a head in California in recent months because of a pending law that gives the state authority over medical scope-of-practice issues. That law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will prevent cities and counties from banning procedures like declawing. 

So, if a city in California wishes to ban the practice, as West Hollywood did a few years back, it needs to act fast. A number of California cities are attempting to do just that; beyond L.A. and Beverly Hills, the Santa Monica City Council took a big step toward banning declawing late last month and is expected to revisit the issue next week. Up north, San Francisco and Berkeley are weighing similar actions.

"I don't think we should allow people at the state level to dictate to us our local actions," L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz, who sponsored the ordinance, told our sister blog L.A. Now.  But Councilman Bill Rosendahl, himself a cat owner, put the issue in more personal -- er, felinal? -- terms. "The bottom line is, you take the claws out of a cat, you take away the cat," Rosendahl said.  

The issue is expected to go to a final vote at meetings of the L.A. City Council and Beverly Hills City Council on Nov. 17.  

Elsewhere in Southern California, the Malibu City Council is weighing a resolution officially opposing the declawing procedure, but if approved, the resolution would stop short of banning it. That resolution is scheduled for discussion at a council meeting Monday, Nov. 9.

RELATED:
L.A. City Council committee asks for ordinance banning cat declawing
Several California cities to look at cat declawing bans
Santa Monica City Council to consider animal declawing issue

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

This Weekend:

Saturday, Nov. 7, spcaLA invites potential "foster parents" to learn about its fostering program from 10 a.m. to noon at its South Bay Pet Adoption Center, 12910 Yukon Ave., Hawthorne. "Foster parents" are needed to care for puppies and kittens that are too young to be adopted, as well as older dogs and cats with special needs. More information at spcaLA.com. (The L.A. Department of Animal Services offers a similar program for underage puppies and kittens; more information on that program is available at the department's website.)

Saturday, Nov. 7, L.A.-based pet rescue group the Brittany Foundation hosts its "A Day in Their Paws" event.  During the event, volunteers will spend a 24-hour period living alongside a rescue dog at the group's Agua Dulce sanctuary, located at Anthony Road and Sierra Highway.  From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., guests can join these volunteers at an open house where they can meet adoptable pets, participate in a raffle and silent auction and enjoy refreshments from Margo's Bark.  (Guests can also sponsor a volunteer's freedom from the kennel facility -- read: bathroom breaks -- at a rate of $1 per minute, with proceeds benefiting the Brittany Foundation's work on behalf of homeless animals.)  More information at the Brittany Foundation's website.

Through Sunday, Nov. 8, learn the truth about spiders at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum's Spider Pavilion, where visitors can enter a walk-through exhibit filled with nearly 100 arachnids of various species.  Tickets are sold in half-hour intervals throughout the day and cost $3 for adults, $2 for students and seniors, and $1 for children; museum members enter free.  More information and directions available at NHM.org.

Upcoming:

Saturday, Nov. 14, join VPI Pet Insurance and approximately 500 other L.A. and Orange County pet owners for the third annual K9K Pet Cancer Awareness Walk.  Pet owners and their dogs will walk a scenic course just shy of two miles long around Long Beach's Shoreline Village Lighthouse Peninsula to raise funds for the Animal Cancer Foundation (ACF).  Cost is $30; check-in at Catalina Landing begins at 9 a.m., with the walk starting at 10.  For more information or to register, head to PetInsurance.com.

Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 14-15, the South Coast Jack Russell Terrier Club hosts its Fun Days event at Orange County's Canyon RV Park/Featherly Regional Park.  All terriers (not just Jack Russells) are invited to participate in just-for-fun competitions including going-to-ground, lure coursing and races over both flat ground and hurdles.  Setup begins at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, with competition to start at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.  Visitors are encouraged to bring an item to share at a potluck lunch to be held at noon both days.  Prizes for fastest terrier and most improved will be awarded.  Entry fee is $10.  For more information, directions and a schedule of events, visit the South Coast Jack Russell Terrier Club's website.

Saturday, Nov. 14 through Earth Day (April 22, 2010), secondhand-clothing store chain Buffalo Exchange and the Humane Society of the United States jointly host "Coats for Cubs."  Animal lovers are encouraged to clean out their closets (or parents' and grandparents' closets) and donate any tacky real-fur items found there (including fur trim, accessories and shearling) back to the animals.  Of course, it's too late to give the fur back to its original owner, but it can still be used as bedding for orphaned and injured wildlife -- and it doesn't do your conscience any harm, either.  Fur in any condition is accepted and can be brought to any Buffalo Exchange location.  (If you'd like to claim your fur donation as a tax deduction, you'll need to mail it directly to the Humane Society rather than dropping it at Buffalo Exchange; mailing information is available at HSUS.org.)  More information available at BuffaloExchange.com.

Sunday, Nov. 15, Best Friends Animal Society hosts its annual fall super-adoption event at the La Brea Tar Pits, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Meet adoptable animals from area shelters and rescue groups, shop for pet merchandise at vendor booths, snack at the food court and see agility demonstrations -- and if you're feeling generous, bring some unopened pet food to drop in a donation bin for L.A.'s needy pets!  More information at BestFriendsEvents.net.

Saturday, Dec. 5, Kitten Rescue holds its second annual "Fur Ball at the Skirball" fundraising event from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 North Sepulveda Blvd.  The event, hosted by "The Office" star Jenna Fischer, features hors d'oevres, cocktails and dinner, live entertainment, a silent auction, a raffle and more.  Tickets will set you back $125 each; an "Angel Table" with seating for 10 is $1,250.  All proceeds benefit Kitten Rescue's work on behalf of needy cats and kittens in Southern California.  More information at KittenRescue.org.

Coming up in November and December, Villalobos Rescue Center offers a free eight-week training course for L.A. pit bulls and pit mixes at the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services' North Central shelter.  (Exact dates of the course to be determined.) The course covers basic commands like sit and stay and progresses to more advanced tricks and an introduction to agility training.  More information at Villalobos' website.

Ongoing:

Through Nov. 28, UC Riverside presents "Intelligent Design: Interspecies Art" at its Sweeney Art Gallery, which features works from 20 artists (most from California) that explore the lives and aesthetics of animals in unique ways.  One featured artist, Sam Easterson, shows video gathered when he attached minicams to creatures including armadillos, falcons, scorpions and sheep.  Another, Nina Katchadourian, explores our ideas of what constitutes a good-looking animal in "Continuum of Cute," for which she chose 100 images of animals which she ranked from uncute to very, very cute.  (Not for the faint of heart: Another artist, Carlee Fernandez, reworked taxidermied animals into shall-we-say-unorthodox pieces of luggage.)  "In the past, art dealing with animals usually addressed issues of representation," gallery director Tyler Stallings told The Times of the exhibition. "I wanted to expand beyond that."  More information at the Sweeney Art Gallery's website.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A neonate puppy is bottle-fed by a volunteer.  Credit: Los Angeles Times

The San Diego Zoo reports that its male giant panda cub, born in early August, is "definitely hitting all the panda milestones," making gains in weight (more than a pound in just the last week, for a current total of 11.7 pounds) and length (24.8 inches from head to tail). 

The zoo held a contest last month to allow the panda-loving public to offer their name suggestions for the cub, who, in accordance with Chinese tradition, won't be officially named until he's 100 days old.  After the submission period was over, keepers, veterinarians, scientists and other zoo staff chose five favorites from the entries. Next, the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. had to approve the five proposed names, and with that done, the zoo allowed visitors to its website and Facebook fan page to vote for their favorite name.

Voting is now over -- the zoo says it received nearly 18,000 votes -- but the suspense continues, because the winning name won't be announced until a Nov. 17 naming ceremony. The five name finalists are Xiǎo Lóng ("Little Dragon"), Xióng Wěi ("Extraordinary Bear"), Fú Shèng ("Blissful San Diego"), Yǒng Xiǎng ("Eternally Blessed") and Yún Zǐ ("Son of Cloud").

RELATED:
Veterinary exam reveals San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is a healthy male
Can't get enough of the San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub? Meet your new friend, Panda Cam

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: The as-yet-unnamed cub at his 13-week veterinary exam. Credit: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

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

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

Wait, what?

UF's College Republicans organization staged the event, which it termed the People Eating Tasty Animals Barbeque, to draw attention to what its members say are the extreme stances of that other PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  "I think it's the best thing ever," Nick Galyon, a junior at UF, told the student-run newspaper the Independent Florida Alligator. "I am a big supporter of eating animals. I think PETA is just ridiculous. It's liberal propaganda."

College Republicans President Bryan Griffin (no relation to the fictional, talking dog from TV's "Family Guy") echoed Galyon's sentiment in an interview with the Gainesville Sun's Chalkboard blog.  "We're against radical environmental extremism," Griffin said. 

But beyond just "radical" environmental stances, the group also seems to be opposed to more mainstream eco-friendly ideals like, say, not littering.  From the Chalkboard:

The group also puts on a Carbon Credit Bake Sale twice a year -- on Arbor Day and Earth Day -- to poke fun at climate-change policy. People who buy a cupcake or cookie get a credit allowing them to litter in a designated area. Griffin made sure to point out that all the trash is cleaned up and the money is donated to the Nature Conservancy.

Griffin brought his own pets, a ferret and a ball python, to the anti-PETA barbeque, telling the Alligator that there "is a balance in the animal cruelty debate.  Loving animals does not exclude you from eating meat."  As if to add insult to injury, the College Republicans staged their event at the same time, and in the same location, as a vegetarian lunch hosted by a local Hare Krishna group. 

As for the real PETA, the group has thus far refrained from commenting on the barbeque.

RELATED:
Strange bedfellows: Glenn Beck, PETA join forces to give Al Gore what for
PETA prances out playmates, but is anyone influenced to go vegetarian?

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Texas hickory-smoked brisket with coffee barbecue sauce. Credit: Kirk McCoy / Los Angeles Times

"Praise the Lord," Wright said, using his favorite expression.

The Sheep Fire, as it was called, was controlled on Oct. 10 after it burned more than 11 square miles of brush and timber and destroyed four structures besides Wright's. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

The community of about 1,000 in Lytle Creek, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, is rallying around Wright, trying to get him a home, furniture, clothes and kennels. A bank account has been set up and there is a furniture drive on Saturday.

In the meantime, Kennedy has taken in Wright, his 23-year-old daughter and the dogs.

Wright, 64, guesses he has rescued close to 600 dogs, cats and other creatures in the canyons in the last 10 years.

The area is a popular dumping ground for pets, because it is so close to heavy population areas. People figure it is a beautiful area and there are streams for water so they will drive by, open the door and kick the dog out, said Steve Boyd, president of the Lytle Creek Volunteer Association.

The dog will usually sit and wait — sometimes for days — for the car to come back, Wright said, or chase cars that remind them of the one they came in. Eventually they will start foraging for food, leaving them in danger as they become a danger to the wild, he explained.

Wright has found homes for the majority of animals he's rescued, but animal control has had to take some, he said.

And it isn't the first time Wright has lost his home in Lytle Creek. His cabin burned down in 2003 in another fire, but his animals were spared that time. Still, he wouldn't live anywhere else now, adding that even when it's covered in ash, there is a beauty to it.

Wright said he had a promising lead on some rental land near his old home. The place even has a few kennels, he said, adding "Praise the Lord."

"My whole life, I have done animal rescue. I enjoy doing it. It's a labor of love. I won't or can't give it up now," Wright said.

As for Smoky, Lady and Bubba, all three should recover from their burns, Wright said. Several of Smoky's toes are blistered and infected to the nub, Lady has no nails left and probably won't climb any more fences, and the burn scar on Bubba's back is there to stay.

But they're not up for adoption anymore, Wright said: "They are family now."

-- Associated Press

A Cal Fire firefighter marks the site, at on 1700 block Mount Zion Road in San Bernardino on October 06, 2009, where they buried the remains one of the 20 dogs killed in Sheep fire belonging to Bobby Wright. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Westchester three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

Most of his worshippers, though devoted, were in their 60s, attendance had bottomed out and the once-vibrant church was fading as a community touchstone in its bustling neighborhood.

So Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising idea: He would turn God's house into a doghouse by offering a 30-minute service complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats. He hopes it will reinvigorate the church's connection with the community, provide solace to elderly members and, possibly, attract new worshippers who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends.

Before the first Canines at Covenant service last Sunday, Eggebeen said many Christians love their pets as much as human family members and grieve just as deeply when they suffer -- but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love. And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion," said Eggebeen, himself a dog lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."

The weekly dog service at Covenant Presbyterian is part of a growing trend among churches nationwide to address the spirituality of pets and the deeply felt bonds that owners form with their animals.

Traditionally, conventional Christians believe that only humans have redeemable souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

But a growing number of congregations from Massachusetts to Texas to California are challenging that assertion with regular pet blessings and, increasingly, pet-centric services, said Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of animals in Christian tradition.

She recently did a survey that found more than 500 blessings for animals at churches nationwide and has heard of a half-dozen congregations holding worship services like Eggebeen's, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

"It's the changing family structure, where pets are really central and religious communities are starting to recognize that people need various kinds of rituals that include their pets," she said. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."

The pooches who showed up at Covenant Presbyterian on Sunday didn't seem very interested in dogma.

Animals big and small, from pit bulls to miniature Dachshunds to bichon frises, piled into the church's chapel to worship in an area specially outfitted for canine comfort with doggie beds, water bowls and a pile of irresistible biscuits in an offering bowl. There were a lot of humans too -- about 30 -- and three-quarters of them were new faces.

The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing.

But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn "GoD and DoG," one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened. Eggebeen took prayer requests for Mr. Boobie (healing of the knees) and Hunter (had a stroke) and then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before launching into the Lord's Prayer.

At the offering, ushers stepped over tangled leashes and yawning canines to collect donations and hand out doggie treats shaped like miniature bones in a rainbow of colors.

Donna Lee Merz, a Presbyterian pastor at another Southern California church, stopped in with Gracie, her 14-month-old long-haired miniature Dachshund. The puppy with ears soft as silk was overcome by the other dogs and wriggled across the floor on her belly, quivering with excitement. She finally calmed down when Merz held her in her lap.

"She knew it was a safe place and a good place to be, a place to be loved," Merz said, gently petting Gracie after the service. "I'll be back."

Emma Sczesniak came to Covenant for the first time, lured by the promise that she could worship with her black Lab, Midnight, and her wire-haired Dachshund-terrier mix, Marley.

Marley sat on her lap during the service, while Midnight checked out the other big dogs and sat patiently waiting for his biscuit. Sczesniak said the dog-friendly service came at the perfect time for her: she's been thinking about getting back to church, but wasn't sure how or where to go.

"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," she said of the dog-inclusive service. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

But Midnight, Marley, Gracie and the other pups probably had something more important on their minds as Eggebeen intoned his benediction and the service drew to a close: Just where could they find more of those delicious treats?

For Eggebeen, the night was a spiritual success -- and the rest is out of his hands.

"It's important for a church like us just to do good things. The results, we'll just have to see," he said. "Ultimately, that belongs to God."

-- Associated Press

Top photo: A sign in front of the Covenant Presbyterian Church welcoming parishioners with their dogs.  Credit: Richard Vogel / Associated Press

Middle photo: Parishioner Ruth Fleming Stevens sits with her dog Roxy during Sunday services Nov. 1.  Credit: Richard Vogel / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Parishioner Donna Merz with her dog Gracie during Sunday services Nov. 1.  Credit: Richard Vogel / Associated Press

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.

For the humans involved in the parade or cheering on the sidelines, it was special. For the dogs in the parade, it was a moment to shine. It was their moment to say, "Look at me. I may be homeless, but I feel beautiful right now." You could see it written on everyone's faces. The moment will always be a part of my life!

In the end, 14 babies found a new home. It's not what I was hoping for. I wanted all of them to find a family, but I know Rome wasn't built in a day. My question for you: How can we change that?  

[Editor's note: The spider, cop and hot dog Parker mentioned are all still available for adoption. Meet them in person at the South L.A. shelter, 3612 11th Ave., or call (888) 4LAPET1 for more information. To see photos of all the animals awaiting homes at L.A.'s city shelters, check out LAAnimalServices.com.]

-- Lu Parker

Parker is not just an animal lover, but also an Emmy-winning journalist who can be seen anchoring and reporting the news at The Times' sister station, KTLA. She's a former Miss USA, an author, an actress and a former teacher, and (best of all, in our opinion) she shares her home with Monkey, a rescue dog from the South L.A. shelter. Learn more about Parker at LuParker.com or follow her on Twitter @LuParker.

Top photos: Three adoptable dogs show off their costumes. Credit: Elizabeth Aguilera.
Bottom photo: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and friends lead the pet parade. Credit: Elizabeth Aguilera.  

It's not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural highways. But an elephant?

An Oklahoma couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.

"Didn't have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said today. "At the very last second, I said, 'Elephant!' "

Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female Asian elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history."

The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined today for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

"I thought this can't be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can't be happening. The good Lord was with us," Carpenter said. The elephant's tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.

After sideswiping the elephant, his wife, Deena, flagged some people down and used their cellphone to call police.

"The dispatcher didn't believe her: 'You hit a what?' " he said. "I told my wife, I don't know whether to cry or laugh."

Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said the elephant was hiding in some bushes just off the highway when he arrived shortly after the accident. Handlers from the circus were able to calm it down, and Olson cleaned the leg wound and gave it some painkiller.

The elephant was taken today to the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University for a follow-up exam.

"I don't believe there's a broken bone, but I don't have an X-ray room big enough to examine it," Olson said.

The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant, Olson said.

A booking agent for the circus, Rachael Bellman, said she was unaware of the incident, and a telephone message left with circus officials wasn't immediately returned.

Carpenter joked about being involved in such a bizarre accident on what is usually a peaceful church night.

"I don't know what was in the wine, but it must have been pretty strong," he said.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Billy Hefton / Associated Press

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

All right, so Beck's strange leap onto PETA's bandwagon just so happens to give him some ammunition against another of his regular targets, former Vice President Al Gore.

PETA has long held that Gore, whose work on behalf of the environment is well-known and who has apparently become the world's first "carbon billionaire," is remiss in failing to promote vegetarianism as an effective means of helping the environment.  ("Gore should have named his movie Sorta-Inconvenient Truths if he didn't want to cover the environmental destruction that his meaty diet causes," PETA blogger Shawna Flavell wrote earlier this year.)  Odd as it may sound coming from him, Beck says he agrees.

The Fox host explained last week that he's "siding with PETA on this one -- once again asking Al Gore: If you really want to save the planet, put down the cheeseburgers and pick up the veggie burgers. Time for soy milk and [Tofurky]. No more delicious chocolate cookies -- how about a nice bean-thing. That is, if you want to save the planet."  (Apparently Beck hasn't tried the host of delicious and widely available chocolate cookies that are free of animal products, but we digress.)

"I've said before I disagree with PETA," Beck continued, "but I respect them because they are not hypocrites: They say what they mean and mean what they say. I just disagree with what they say -- except when it calls for Al Gore to eat tofu."  To cement the point that he sides with PETA rather than Gore on this issue, Beck even invited PETA cofounder and president Ingrid Newkirk to appear on his program.  (Newkirk lost no time in asserting that "you can't be a meat-eating environmentalist" before calling Gore a "baby" and "basically a steakaholic.") 

The media-savvy animal-rights group seems, predictably, over the moon about having Beck as a strange bedfellow. "Makes me wanna send Mr. Beck some vegan chocolate kisses," another PETA blogger, Karen Bennett, gushed last week.  But others are less than thrilled; environment site Ecorazzi tweeted today, "I know PETA loves publicity, but Glenn Beck? Really? You have got to draw the line at conversing with this fool."  PETA promptly tweeted the response, "We'll do whtvr it takes 2 show ppl the connection between meat production and the environment."

For his part, Gore addressed the meat-vs.-environment issue in an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer this week, chuckling at a clip from Beck's show before describing concerns over the meat industry's environmental effects as legitimate.  Though not a vegetarian, he said, he is eating less meat than he used to.  (You can see the full interview at ABCNews.com.)

"So, Tofurky for you? Thanksgiving?" Sawyer asked. 

"I don't ... I don't plan to," Gore responded.  That's no surprise to us, or, we'd wager, to Beck and Newkirk.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Top photo: Gore speaks at the Leaders in Dubai conference on Oct. 27.  Credit: Kamran Jebreili / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Beck attends the Time 100 Gala in New York.  Credit: Evan Agostini / Associated Press

A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday, and it is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline.

The domestic shorthaired cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets -- one in Oregon and the other in Nebraska -- but they died.

"We've known certainly it's possible this could happen," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  spokesman Tom Skinner. "This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs."

The veterinarian who treated the cat, Dr. Brett Sponseller, said two of the three people in the cat's Iowa home had flu-like symptoms before the cat became ill. The case was confirmed at both Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Other influenza strains have been known to crossspecies, but Sponseller cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from the cat including whether other pets could also get the swine flu.

"It's well documented in influenza in general, but this is the first highly suspected case of H1N1 going from humans into a cat," he said.

The indoor cat was lethargic, had a loss of appetite and appeared to have trouble breathing after it became infected, Sponseller said. Its owners declined to comment.

Officials said pet owners should take the same precautions against spreading swine flu to pets as they would with humans.

Getting children vaccinated for swine flu can also help prevent the illness from spreading to pets. There is no swine flu vaccine for pets.

Dr. Ann Garvey, Iowa's state health veterinarian, said it is not yet known how sick cats or other pets could get from swine flu.

"Because we haven't seen that many cases, it's difficult to give a blanket assessment on how sick it can make an animal," she said.

Officials also stressed that there is no evidence that swine flu can be passed from pets to people.

"But it's so early in the game we don't know how it's going to behave. But that doesn't appear to be the concern. There's no sense of them passing it on to people," said Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

-- Associated Press

Photo of an unrelated cat using The Pet-Temp ear thermometer / File

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday in favor of an ordinance to ban cat declawing within the city and county. Supervisors are due to have a final vote on the issue next week, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The measure had been introduced by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who called the practice torture and a form of animal cruelty.

Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who voted against the measure, told the San Francisco Examiner: "I don't support the board making those types of medical decisions."

In Southern California, the Beverly Hills City Council will look at the issue at its meeting Thursday night. Los Angeles also is considering an ordinance banning cat declawing within city limits. 

Starting Jan. 1, a state law will prevent municipalities from banning such procedures.

RELATED:
L.A. Council committee favors law against declawing cats
Several California cities to look at cat declawing bans this week
Santa Monica moves closer to cat declawing ban

-- Anne Colby

Photo: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

At Australia's Taronga Zoo, the birth of an Asian elephant calf this summer was a cause for celebration. The calf, a male, was the first of his species to be born in an Australian zoo. 

The zoo held a contest to name the baby, for which it received about 30,000 entries. In the end, the name Luk Chai (pronounced "Look Chai") was selected for him. "We liked this name as it reflects his Thai heritage and means 'my son,'" according to the Taronga Conservation Society. "A word that sounds similar to Chai also means triumph, and our boisterous and inquisitive boy certainly is a triumph for the conservation breeding program."

Zoo staff report that Luk Chai loves swimming. He "learned really quickly not to get out of his depth in the water," keeper Lucy Melo said. "He goes into the moat at the end near the elephants' barn, which has steps making it easy for him to control how deep he gets."

He also enjoys wallowing in the mud and, if you can believe your eyes, soccer! See a photo of him playing with a giant soccer ball after the jump.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo credits: Rick Stephens / AFP/Getty Images

About Marley: She's between six months and one year old, weighs around 30 pounds and is described by the Baldwin Park shelter's head volunteer, Ric Browde, as calm and sweet.  Marley has probably received some training already, walks well on a leash, and word on the street is that she may already be housebroken.  "Marley is eager to please and super affectionate," Browde says.

For more information: Meet Marley in person at the Baldwin Park shelter, located at 4275 N. Elton in Baldwin Park, or call (626) 962-3577 with her ID number for more information.  Want to see more of Marley?  Check out a video of her in action (complete with adorable, slowly wagging tail) after the jump.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care & Control
Video: baldwinparkdogs via YouTube

It's a tough time to be a spectacled bear at the zoo in Leipzig, Germany -- at least, it's a tough time to be a female spectacled bear.  Veterinarians are struggling to determine why the zoo's female spectacled bears have suddenly lost nearly all their fur, which is typically shaggy for both females and males of their species.  There has been speculation that a genetic defect could be responsible, but beyond the obvious hair loss and its accompanying itchiness, no other symptoms have been noted in the affected bears.

The U.K.'s Daily Mail reports that zoogoers have turned out in droves to see the bizarre, as-yet-unexplained sight of the balding bears.  Dolores, above, and Lolita, another female, have retained tufts of fur around their faces and chests.  Meanwhile, according to the Sun, keepers have contacted a number of other zoos worldwide to ask for advice on the bizarre malady.

Spectacled bears are native to South America and are sometimes called Andean bears, after the mountain range they occupy.  They are South America's only native bear, and they're typically distinguishable (though you wouldn't know it from the photo of poor Dolores here) by eyeglass-shaped markings on their faces. 

Due in part to the species' shyness, it's difficult to get an accurate population count, but estimates range from as low as 2,400 to as many as 20,000 left in the wild.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable to extinction, largely because of human encroachment into their once-remote habitat. 

"Thirty percent of its habitat has been lost since the 1990s," Russell Van Horn, an applied animal ecologist with the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.  "Three [percent] to 6 percent more habitat is lost each year."

Here's hoping Leipzig's spectacled bears are sporting their fur coats again soon!

-- Lindsay Barnett

Top photo: Dolores stands in her enclosure at the zoo in Leipzig.  Credit: Jan Woitas / European Pressphoto Agency

Bottom photo: A healthy spectacled bear at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2000.  Credit: Tad Motoyama / Los Angeles Zoo

What's hot in Hollywood?  Well, beyond just the vampire trend that, erm, will not die, we've noticed a definite surge in pet-related media lately.  (Evidence?  Look no further than the Fido Film Awards, in which animal-focused movies compete in categories like "historical hound," "rom-com rover" and "comedy canine.")

Even with that in the back of our minds, we were surprised by two recent bits of animal-themed-project casting: Owen Wilson (whose previous credits include another dog movie, "Marley & Me") as the voice of Great Dane Marmaduke in a film adaptation of the ages-old comic strip?  Former "That '70s Show" star and onetime Lindsay Lohan paramour Wilmer Valderrama as an animal trainer modeled on "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan in a forthcoming Fox TV series?  What gives, Hollywood?

The "Marmaduke" adaptation, from Fox and New Regency, "sees Marmaduke navigate a volatile Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf war, woo the purebred of his dreams and overcome a fall from grace" and will combine live-action and computer-generated graphics, according to the Hollywood Reporter.  Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch blog appeals to Wilson directly when it pleads, "Marley & Me was fun, if a little trite, but another 'fun' dog-centric movie sort of puts you in a box you might not want to be in. Branch out, voice a cat or a chimp or an animated race car, for pete's sake." 

The actor, it seems, has opted not to heed EW's warning.  (The cast also features William H. Macy, Jeremy Piven and Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie.)

Variety recently reported that the details of the comedy series based on the "Dog Whisperer" are "still being ironed out," but Valderrama is expected to star as the Millan-inspired dog trainer character.  (Fox, Variety notes, also operates the National Geographic channel, which airs Millan's own "Dog Whisperer" series.)

RELATED:
'Twilight' actress Rachelle Lefevre films PSA for Best Friends Animal Society
In wake of Tweet the giraffe's death, PETA calls on Adam Sandler to forgo the use of animal actors
Does 'Marley & Me' teach irresponsible pet ownership?

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo, left: Owen Wilson in "Drillbit Taylor."  Credit: Suzanne Hanover / Paramount Pictures.  Photo, right: Wilmer Valderrama.  Credit: Los Angeles Times

A Vermont slaughterhouse ordered closed Friday after video showed calves kicked, shocked and cut while conscious had its operating license suspended three times earlier this year for similar conduct.

U.S. Department of Agriculture records show Bushway Packing Inc. of Grand Isle was shut down for a day in May, again in June and again in July after an inspector cited it for inhumane treatment of animals.

The revelation came Monday as the Humane Society of the United States released more video footage taken with a hidden camera this summer. The video shows days-old male calves culled from dairy herds being dragged, kicked, repeatedly shocked with electric prods and apparently cut while still conscious.

"We found even two calves who appeared to be skinned alive while they were still conscious," said Michael Markarian, the Humane Society's chief operating officer.

The video also appeared to back up a Friday statement in which U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack described the conduct of a USDA inspector at the slaughterhouse as "inexcusable."

It showed an unidentified inspector appearing to coach a plant worker on how to avoid being shut down by another inspector and failing to stop an animal being cut while awake.

A call to the slaughterhouse on Monday was not immediately returned, ane neither  was a call to a Ronald Bushway listed in Grand Isle.

USDA spokesman Caleb Weaver said Monday he could not comment on the inspector's conduct because it was a personnel matter.

Markarian said it appeared several calves were abused because they would not or could not stand up to be prepared for slaughter. The slaughterhouse specialized in "bob veal" -- meat from days-old calves that ends up in hot dogs and lunch meats. Meat sold as veal usually come from animals raised to about 4 months old.

Some in the Vermont dairy industry said they worried the revelations would give an enterprise generally viewed as wholesome a black eye. Bushway Packing was certified as an organic processor, raising extra concern in that sector.

"That's not right, that's really nasty," said Paul Stecker, an organic dairy farmer from Cabot, after watching the video on the Humane Society's website. "I wouldn't be in this business if that's the way it was. That's not the norm, I can tell you that."

Stecker said the slaughterhouse's problems also would bring attention to an aspect of dairying most farmers don't like or talk about much: The vast majority of male calves born on dairy farms face very short lives.

"That kind of thing hurts us all, like our industry really needed that," he said.

Dairy farmers nationwide have been struggling as a global milk glut has resulted in dramatically lower prices for their milk.

The Humane Society said it would propose tighter rules for the meatpacking and related industries, including a requirement that male calves born on dairy farms be kept there until they are 10 days old to ensure they are strong enough to travel.

Kelly Loftus, a spokeswoman for the state Agency of Agriculture, said she expected there would be strong opposition to such a measure.

"There are labor costs involved. There are feeding costs involved," she said. With the current crisis in dairy farming, "any extra expense could mean that a farm has to close."

Nicole Dehne of Vermont Organic Farmers, a group that certifies Vermont farms as organic under an agreement with the USDA, said the group's national counterpart is meeting in Washington this week and will discuss humane treatment of farm animals.

Organic rules now are geared mainly toward ensuring meat labeled organic comes from animals raised without hormones or chemicals.

"I think consumers expect organic regulations to cover all aspects of animal welfare, including slaughter and transportation," Dehne said. "If we need to tighten the regulations in regard to processing facilities, and come up with guidelines to address more humane transportation, I think we would respond to the expectations of the organic consumer."

-- Associated Press

Video: Since the Humane Society's video is graphic (you can see it here if you'd like, but don't say we haven't warned you), we elected instead to show you Pinto, a rescued veal calf, enjoying a bottle of milk.  Credit: Voltalocke via YouTube

Monks at the Tung Luang Buddhist temple in Thailand's Chiang Mai province recently began caring for a 3-month-old macaque monkey whose mother was killed by a hunter. 

Helping them with the task of raising the young monkey is Tan, a resident "temple dog" who, Metro U.K. reports, has not only taken the monkey under his wing but even voluntarily shares his food with it!

RELATED:
Your morning adorable: Dachshund adopts tiger cub in German zoo
Your morning adorable: Dog nurses red panda cubs in Chinese zoo

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: European Pressphoto Agency

The Los Angeles City Council's Public Safety Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend that City Atty. Carmen Trutanich draft an ordinance banning cat declawing within city limits. 

The proposal was put forth by Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, who said the procedure caused "unnecessary pain, anguish and permanent disability" to cats, according to the report from the L.A. Times' David Zahniser. 

The California Veterinary Medical Assn. is opposed to local cat declawing bans and says they could lead to increases in owners relinquishing, abandoning and euthanizing their cats.

Read Zahniser's post on the L.A. Now blog, and check back at L.A. Unleashed for more updates on the issue.

-- Anne Colby

Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times