Results tagged “animal”

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.

First the Station Fire, then the threat of mudslides, now a bear roaming the streets? La Crescenta residents can't seem to get a break from being in danger these days. Last night several "residents reported seeing a large black bear roaming through an apartment complex" on the 4300 block of Ocean View Boulevard, reports the Pasadena Star-News.

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.

This past week, Food & Wine magazine announced their selections for the Best New Chefs in America for 2009. Said Editor in Chief Dana Cowin: "We sought out great chefs in every corner of America, from Memphis, Tennessee to Portland, Oregon, and found some extraordinary cooking. Some of our winners are in seriously elegant restaurants. Others are in small, quirky, casual spots. But they’re all immensely talented, creative and driven.”

The New York Times' Frank Bruni came to Los Angeles, and all he got was pork. Well, that's not entirely true, but he did get a menu's worth of pig-meat when he dined at Animal in West Hollywood, and deemed the restaurant so-so, unless you have a pork fetish:

[It] isn’t a great restaurant, or at least it wasn’t when I tried it. But it’s the epitome of a promiscuously meaty approach to cooking that might well be called the carniwhore school.

Bruni recounts the plethora of pork belly on the app menu ("pork belly with kimchi in an Asian preparation" or "house-smoked pork belly with lentils") then noted the pig-plenty on the entrees list ("a pork chop, pork ribs or a pork foot, also known as a trotter"), and even found a little piggy available for dessert (" the house-made bacon chocolate crunch bar"). Other pork names being dropped: "chorizo (with melted Spanish cheese), slab bacon (as an accessory for fried quail), veal sweetbreads, marrow bones or chicken livers," and "foie gras" that "comes on a biscuit that’s doused in maple syrup and gravy, and the gravy includes pork sausage."

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.

For the second time in recent years, animal activists have incorrectly targeted UCLA employees involved in animal research.

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.

One of the slaughterhouse workers at Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chino was sentenced this week to nine months in jail and probation after secret video footage (warning, it is graphic) revealed staff was mistreating the animals leading to the largest beef recall in U.S. history (the U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of the company's frozen beef). "Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, was sentenced after pleading no contest in June to two felony counts of animal cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to downed animals," according to the Associated Press via LA Unleashed.

Yesterday evening at sunset, the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived to Ocean Front Walk at Venice Blvd. on a bird rescuing mission. A caller from her fourth story patio saw a seagull (gannet? heron?) dangling in a palm tree across the walk and called Animal Services, who in turn called for the help of a fire truck ladder. Here's what happened...

A 21-year-old hiker who spent some time lost in the San Bernardino Mountains over the weekend told a local newspaper that while she was in the area of Raywood Flat she saw a monkey. Now people are wondering if this "monkey" was actually Moe the chimp, who escaped from the Jungle Exotics animal sanctuary in Devore at the end of June--a location about 20 miles from where the hiker says she spotted the animal she called a "large monkey." Searchers are continuing to look for the missing chimp, and are now focusing on the area where the hiker saw the mysterious monkey.

A 34-year-old chimpanzee that was raised in a West Covina family's home for three decades escaped from a wildlife sanctuary in San Bernardino County Friday night.

Sometimes even a 300-pound orangutan needs a break from the dreary routine of life.

...there will be no bubble after all.