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......

Photo by corndog_au via Flickr 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. Maze says it's "distracting" to operate a motor vehicle with a dog or another pet in your lap, and took his cue to put the bill in motion after "seeing a woman driving with three dogs on her lap," reports......

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. Perhaps the most anticipated event, though, is the agility contest, in which cats lured by fuzzy toys run an......

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......

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......

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. According to cbs2.com, Angelenos are getting ready to lend a helping......

Over the weekend, we received this below e-mail from a reader about a neighborhood parrot that repeatedly screams annoying the neighborhoods: "Over here just south of Melrose and Heliotrope there is a runaway parrot named Appo. He is jumping from tree to tree from alexandria to heliotrope refusing even his favorite treats of cheetos and gatorade from his owner [name redacted]. We've already had the fire folks out here to no avail. He is a......

Photo by cnynfreelancer via Flickr The 11-part no-kill animal shelter workshop series has gotten quite a buzz around town already, so we decided to talk to the man who is helping to facilitate the dialogue at these workshops, Rabbi Allen Freehling. For a little background, Rabbi Freehling was first asked to serve as the Director of the Human Relations Commission by then-Mayor Jim Hahn in 2002 and was asked to remain in this position......

That was fast. I guess this proves that billboards and a massive, massive, massive amount of flyers put around the neighborhood can get your dog back. For background on Hedkayce (that's the dog's name), check out yesterday's story.......

Tomorrow is the first public workshop of an 11-part series called "Creating a Humane LA," which seeks to help people better familiarize themselves with LA Animal Services’ efforts to achieve “No-Kill” in their shelters. Currently, with the high volume of animals, shelters euthanize them to make room for more. To that end, tomorrow's topic explores high volume, low-cost, spay/neuter programs. The 6:30 p.m. meeting is in at the Constituent Service Center in the South LA......

The streets of Sherman Oaks recently got plastered with signs announcing a new Thursday night Farmers Market coming to the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square property starting on August 7. It's been years since the weekly market in another part of the neighborhood closed down, so this could be a fresh awakening and good complement to the already popular Studio City Farmers Market on Sunday mornings. They expect over 4,000 people to attend and it suspiciously......

While the heat wave has obviously curbed many local hikers' routines, it hasn't put a dent in the routine of one SoCal resident: the rattlesnake. Although it's easy to get used to signs posted at local hiking spots, stumbling upon a rattlesnake can cause the exact type of reaction you seek to avoid. The adage "Don't bother them and they won't bother you," may be all you need - what person wants to provoke......

Photo by WTL photos via Flickr As temperatures easily reach over 100 in some parts of the region, it is affecting those who are vulnerable. An 90-year-old woman driving in San Bernardino County died when she stepped out of her car to search for her husband who left the car for unknown reasons. They were found 50 yards from their car and the 116 degree heat killed Virgil Sanders and the husband had 2nd......

Photo of an unrelated cat in Downtown by briansisepuede via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Florence Handley runs a cat adoption service in Pomona, and the 81-year-old has been taking her work home with her, even when her "work" involved animals who had gone on to pet heaven. A recent inspection of her business led the Inland Valley Humane Society to dispatch officers to her home on Thursday, where they discovered "115......

In the latest of bulldog audits by City Controller Laura Chick, she finds that the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services is "struggling to move forward." With an nearly a million dogs estimated in the city, the department only has 123,000 dogs licensed. "The largest source of revenue for the department is dog-license fees and, yet, the department tells us that it is not their top priority," quoted the Daily News. Among a myriad of......

Photo by nailmaker via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 22-year-old Alan Hamai from Redondo Beach had just been awarded his degree in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and was celebrating when he fell to his death from the third floor of a dorm building. Hamai is the second student from SoCal to die at UCB this month; two weeks ago Christopher Wootton was fatally stabbed after a party on campus. The folks at......

Photo by phogel via Flickr After a one year hiatus, one of the best green festivals, Worldfest, is back. Two years ago, the solar-powered festival scheduled near Earth Day was a gem among the numerous green events around the city. Located at Woodley Park in Encino, steps away from the eponymous Metro Orange Line station, a slew of eco-friendly vendors showed off their wares, vegan chefs shared their creations and music and recognizable faces......

Probably not the best marketing for public transit in Los Angeles, but it's quite a sight anyway. LAist Featured Photos contributor Fire Monkey Fish was riding a Metro bus last week in Hollywood when she saw this man. "I guess you can't look too happy riding the bus with your pet spider," she wrote below the photo. We can't imagine anyone else being too happy either! To join LAist Featured Photos, visit Flickr......

Photo by HeathBiter for LAist Right where the 134 meets the 5 is an atrocious dilapidated dirt lot known as The Griffith Park Dog Park. Despite being visible from the 134, and located at the intersection of two main freeways, it is near impossible to find or get to. On a recent beautiful Sunday afternoon, me and my Labradordle (half-Labradoodle, half-Labrador) drove around for 45 minutes trying to find the entrance to this place.......

On the heels of the recent SoCal beef recall and a property being sold abut the Hollywood Sign, PETA announced an idea yesterday of buying or, at least, renting the next-door land to place 5-letters to the left of the Hollywood sign. If all becomes said and done (they wish), Hollywood's icon would read "Go Veg Hollywood." PETA does not have the $20 million needed to purchase the property, but they "did write to the......

As you prepare to watch some new Super Bowl ads (we hear there's a game, too -- but only if New England decides not to use the forward pass), can you remember the classics from 2000? Probably not. Several of the dot-coms that advertised (a/k/a blew their wad on the $2.1 million average cost of 30 seconds) were lampooned in a 2001 E*Trade commercial (above). According to SuperBowl-Ads.com, 17 coughed up "their seed money......

"Found on sidewalk near Hope & 8th" Ball-busting: The City of Los Angeles is considering mandating spaying and neutering for all cats and dogs because shelters are overcrowded and so many animals go unadopted. Enforcement is expected to be easygoing, as in if your pet minds its own business you'll stay under the radar, but if your neighbor logs in a complaint about your barking dog and his junk is still ready to make......

Just two of the many dogs found this past weekend on a Lancaster ranch. Photo by Laura Gunn Over the weekend we told you about the 400 animals rescued from a Lancaster ranch, and the need for help with donations or adoptions to save the many abused and neglected animals. One of the volunteers who was at the ranch helping with the rescue, Laura Gunn shared with us an update and the photos she......

As reported earlier today, Los Angeles is America's favorite city to own a Bulldog as a pet. With the high concentration of the breed and their close relative, the pit bull, there's bound to be a few bad seeds. And when we say that, we do not mean the dogs. From CBS2: Police arrested a 55-year-old man after the Los Angeles City Animal Cruelty Task Force found scarred pit bulls and equipment related to dog-fighting......

The 21-year-old man who caused the insane and deadly crash that killed two early Saturday morning in Hollywood at Highland and Sunset has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving. Speaking of crashes and cars, a Los Angeles Airport Police officer crashed his squad car into a car that was stopped at the scene of another accident. The vehicle's lights were off. No one was hurt and the officers canine partner, a......

In National Treasure: Book of Secrets when Nicholas Cage and his buddy break into a house, it was mentioned that the best security system was a dog. That turned out to be spot on when a mountain lion popped into a San Juan Capistrano home to say, "hello, dear.". Authorities said the young cougar wandered into a San Juan Capistrano home Monday. Homeowner Jo Ann Merrell said she was watering her plants when she saw......

In Yermo, a small town east of Barstow in San Bernadino County, a woman was found Tuesday night lying in the street after she was attacked by a pack of Pit Bulls. She later died at the hospital.After the mauling, the dogs ran to a nearby house. Deputies shot one dog to death when it returned to the scene and acted aggressively as paramedics were trying to save Caldwell's life, authorities said. A second dog......

An “acid bomb” is capable of a 300-foot blast radius. So why did a 12-year-old bring one to school today in the OC? Cal State Northridge (CSUN) is building a 1,700-seat, performing arts center and just received their largest donation of one million from Attorney and civic leader David Fleming and his wife, Jean. Oh noes! Charlize Theron's home got robbed last week! Save up those quarters, DASH will not be accepting Metro passes......

After LA Animal Services released their latest statistics, The Daily News ran a story with this headline: "Animal Deaths Rise in L.A. Shelters". Yet, the number of animals euthanized in Los Angeles has dropped by 20% this year - a hard-won statistic for Ed Boks, general manager for LA Animal Services. Since Los Angeles adopted a no-kill policy 10 years ago, the number of euthanized animals has dropped from 65,000 to 15,000 a year.......

For your lunch time viewing pleasure, Tyson, the bulldog who can skateboard, surf and pretty much do all the things a surf dude should be able to do. Of course, Tyson is a dog, so that's a little out there. But nonetheless, a man at the dog park this morning tells me he saw this once with his own eyes in Huntington Beach. Whatever floats your boat man.......