South Bay Pets

Check out the Humane Society's video about feral cats being rescued from San Nicolas Island off the coast of Los Angeles.

The organization DoGreatGood.com made the project possible.

You can read more about it at this Humane Society page  -- they have more pics also.

 H/T:

Critter News 

For those of you following the debate about allowing leashed dogs  in municipal parks in Redondo Beach, the Los Angeles Times published a story today.

The Daily Breeze story on the same issue ran Thursday.

Our Daily Breeze colleague Kristin Agostoni has written a front-page story today about an effort by the Catlina Island Conservancy to control the bison population on the island off our coast.

She reports that the original 14 bison were brought to the island in 1924 by a film crew working on a silent movie. The footage with the animals wound up on the cutting room floor, but decades later the bison's offspring still roam on Catalina. They once reached about 600 in number.

The conservancy is trying to reduce the annual growth of the herd from nearly 10 percent to 4 percent -- about equal to the mortality rate -- and has embarked on a birth control program that uses a vaccine for the females. That could avert having to ship excess animals off the island by stabilizing the numbers.

Read more about it in today's story headlined "Reining in the herd".

(And be sure to check out the accompanying online photo gallery.)

Photo above: The Catalina Island Conservancy is introducing a contraception plan for its female bison with a vaccine that will control the buffalo population. A male bison waits in a holding pen before the vets and scientists put it through a series of pens to draw DNA. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)

Here it is, that time of year again. Already. 

The first of several pets-with-santa photo sessions takes place this Saturday (Nov. 21) to benefit the Peter Zippi Fund for Animals.

It all happens at the VCA Coast Animal Hospital, 1560 Pacific Coast Highway, in Hermosa Beach. Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Bring your pets to pose for a professional photo session with Santa. Photos can be loaded onto CDs or used to make unique, one-of-a-kind holiday greeting cards.

The $15 donation supports the Peter Zippi Fund's work with homeless animals.

I don't know who will be playing Santa. But good luck to you, sir.

(Photo from Dogster )

The donation to GRACE Animal Rescue Inc. will help the nonprofit manage the population of 200 felines that has developed from household pets abandoned on the Chevron property.

"In today's economy, when it's actually cheaper to kill, they chose life," said Vanessa Bell, executive director of GRACE. "It made me rethink everything I used to think about oil companies."

I don't know how they do it over there, but Long Beach is getting its fifth off-leash dog park. Opening festivities are set for 10 a.m. Saturday.

From Justin Rudd's latest newsletter:

new opening of the Uptown Dog Park in Long Beach
located at the western end of Scherer Park, 4600 Long Beach Blvd., this Saturday, Nov. 21 at 10 a.m.

And from our sister paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram:

The Uptown Dog Park will provide separate areas for small and large dogs to play off leash. The fenced area is near picnic areas and a parking lot. Uptown Dog Park will be open from 5 a.m. to dusk; Scherer Park hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For more information about the opening of the Uptown Dog Park, call 562-570-6685.

Here's a map.

The (9/20/09) comic strip "Off The Mark" by Mark Parisi

It's true.

Apparently "a growing number" of U.S. businesses are giving their most valued employees the option of getting health care for their pets. Google, Disney, AOL, HSBC, Home Depot and eBay are among them.

"We know that pets can be an important and valued part of our employees' lives and we want them to have the option to enroll in this benefit," said Google spkesman Jordan Newman.

.....

Following the lead of the British market, the sale of veterinary insurance for animals has grown exponentially in the United States over the last decade, with more than a million U.S. policy holders in 2009, double the figure in 2002 ...

Check out the rest of the story.  

Thanks to our friends at Dogster for posting this poem (author unknown). It carries an important message about our roles as stewards of creation -- and the benefits of adopting unwanted pets from your local shelter or rescue groups.

It's called I Adopted Your Dog Today:

I adopted your dog today

The one you left at the pound

The one you had for seven years

and no longer wanted around.

I adopted your dog today

Do you know he's lost weight?

Do you know he's scared and depressed

and has lost all faith?

I adopted your dog today

He had fleas and a cold

But don't worry none

You've unburdened your load.

I adopted your dog today

Were you having a baby or moving away?

Did you suddenly develop allergies?

Or another reason he couldn't stay?

I adopted your dog today

He doesn't play or eat much

He's very depressed

But he will learn again to trust

I adopted your dog today

And here he will stay

He's found his forever home

And a warm bed on which to lay.

I adopted your dog today

And I will give him all that he could need -

Patience, love, security and understanding.

Hopefully he will forget your selfish deed.

- Author Unknown