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 

The Daily Breeze story on the same issue ran Thursday.

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."

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

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.  

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

So here's some update info on last night's trio of meetings regarding dog- and park-related issues in the South Bay:

• Redondo Beach: Dog owners probably face an uphill battle to get the City Council there to overturn or relax a longtime ban on canines in that city's parks, according to a post this morning on the Daily Breeze Pipeline blog by Kristin Agostoni, our reporter who covered the meeting. Discussion was in response to two petitions calling for a change to the 1979 city ordinance that forbids dogs (leashed or otherwise) in municipal parks other than the designated off-leash dog park on Flagler & 190th. Councilman Bill Brand and Mayor Mike Gin raised the matter which now goes to the the city's Parks and Recreation Commission after a 4-1 vote moving it forward for more study last night. Commissioners will consider changing the rule for Czuleger Park only for now, perhaps as a pilot? But opposition remains strong to changing the citywide law, with Councilman Steve Aspel saying this: "Someone's leaving a thousand turds a day on top of the Esplanade. Ask our public works department." And there was this from Councilman Pat Aust, who cast the only dissenting vote:  "Parks are for people and kids. Zoos are for animals." **********(Read Kristin's follow-up story in Thursday's Daily Breeze.)
• Manhattan Beach: Council members there voted 4-1 to approve (with changes to the original proposal) an $18,200 off-leash dog run at Polliwog Park. It would be the city's third such spot, following similar set-ups at Live Oak and Marine Avenue parks.
• Rancho Palos Verdes: Bruce and Maureen Megowan report a generally positive response to proposals for dog parks at Lower Hesse Park and/or Grandview Park at last night's RPV City Council meeting. (See the full report and recap on Maureen Megowan's blog.) Council members authorized spending $50,000 to hire a designer to flesh out the proposed park designs (which  include other elements besides a dog park), but they stressed that this was only a "first step" and not a commitment to impelment the designs. The Megowans also raised questions about the proposed size of the dog parks (relatively small as drawn, I gather), adding that research shows the most successful (and safest) parks include at least 3 acres -- 2 acres for large dogs and 1 acre for a separate small dog space. There are still homeowner objections to address, however, and none of this will probably be a slam dunk. But other cities on The Hill reportedly are  entertaining proposals to establish a dog park as well, according to the Megowans. (Two suggested dog park sites were turned down by Rolling Hills Estates at a meeting this week, though, I'm told. But discussions continue on the possibility of using part of the PV Landfill area in that city.)

Email mmegowan@cox.net for more information.  

So, nothing firm on any of these proposals yet, but stay tuned.

The shelter will have dogs, cats and rabbits available for adoption. Available animals can be seen by clicking on the shelter's Web site above.

Another pet adoption event will be planned for Dec. 12 at the park.

The program will pay tipsters up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of individuals involved in dog fighting. From the press release:

Beginning today, residents can call 1-877-NO2FITE and provide information about a dog fighting ring, an upcoming dog fight or an individual who is involved in dog fighting.

If someone is aware of a fight in progress, they should call 911 immediately, said District Attorney Steve Cooley.

"Our goal is to encourage citizens to help law enforcement root out a brutal crime that often goes unreported and occurs in the shadows," Cooley said during a press conference.

The Humane Society of the United States is co-sponsoring the program. 

Calls will be answered by a person 24 hours a day.

The Humane Society estimates that dog fighting is widespread in L.A. County. And dog fighting, Cooley said, often leads to busting people of other crimes, including drug dealing and weapons possession.

"We expect that these tips will be a starting point for major criminal investigations," he said.

I still remember talking with a young boy, probably about 10, at the Long Beach dog park one afternoon maybe 15 years ago. He was walking home and stopped by just to visit the dog park with a friend. He mentioned to me that someone in his neighborhood was involved in dog fighting and that the kids sometimes went to watch. I was horrified and urged him never to watch such a thing, that it was both immoral and illegal, and that someone really should report it. But ever since I was sorry I didn't try to get more information out of him about who and where so I could have reported it to the authorities myself.

Animal control and police officers I've spoken to since acknowledge dog fighting goes on in our local communities. But because it operates in such an underground world, they have a very hard time getting enough details in a timely manner to make arrests.

Maybe this hotline and the monetary rewards will help.  

My friend Deborah Harpur of Harbor City posted this rather bizarre photo on her Facebook page today showing her dogs who have clearly taken over a hotel room in Scottsdale, Ariz. (they travel a lot for agility trials). "They all look a little possessed," she writes. She declined to say which hotel this is.

In the back from left are Thor and Chili Dog; in front, Hobo, PJpupp, Burns, Magi, Gigi and Rickie Roo.