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Archive for the ‘News Articles’ Category

One Of The Rescued Cats

By Donna Littlejohn on January 5, 2010 12:48 PM

We posted last month about how the spca-LA assisted an elderly woman in the San Fernando Valley who had become overwhelmed with nearly 100 cats she’d taken in.

The animals were in good condition and now it turns out that several of them are up for adoption with a local rescue group in Hawthorne, A Cat’s Tale (310-973-9353).

I spoke with Darla Schultz of A Cat’s Tale last week (they work with the SPCA’s Hawthorne shelter where many of the confiscated felines were taken) and she has several of the cats that she says would make excellent companions. They are a bit shy, she said, but would come around in time. Several would be good with older people.

“We put out a massive email asking people to help,” Darla said, but so far few have stepped forward. She’s hoping perhaps some other South Bay rescue groups can lend a hand.

Help needed with rescued cats in Hawthorne – South Bay Pets

Dec. 31st, 35 Chihuahuas from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles boarded a Pet Airways flight bound for Denver — and new homes.

The most popular breed in Los Angeles, the Chihuahuas are being sent to Denver where there is an abundance of large-breed dogs  — but lots of people who want smaller pooches.

SPCA-LA is lucky to have partners like Dumb Friends and Pet Airways that are dedicated to finding homes for pets in need," said Madeline Bernstein, spcaLA presdient. "With this transport, we’ve satisfied a demand without breeding and puppy mills. None of this could be possible without the generosity of Dr. Leslie Capin, who funded the Chihuahua Airlift."

The dogs flew out of Hawthorne Airport and Daily Breeze photographer Brad Graverson (photo above) was on hand for the event.

You can also view the DB photo gallery online.

Flying Chihuahuas – South Bay Pets

On Thursday evening, January 28th, Warren Eckstein, Host of “The Pet Show with Warren Eckstein” on KRLA 870AM & KTIE 590 AM will host the first “Sip, Bark, Sip” Happy Hour at Westwood’s premier pet-friendly Hotel Palomar. 

For more information and to make reservations, please follow the link below or log onto www.thepetshow.com Attendance is very limited, and pets are welcome.

http://warreneckstein.com/petsonthecouch.html 

You can also call us if you have any questions:  310-396-6955. 

Hugs & Kisses, Denise for Warren Eckstein

www.thepetshow.com

feral-cat-kills-birds

Los Angeles, CA – Conservation groups win suit to force city to conduct required environmental review of feral cat program.

Six conservation groups won a lawsuit on Friday against the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Animal Services to stop the practice of encouraging feral cat colonies until the legally required environmental impact reviews are performed.

The Los Angeles Superior Court found that the City of Los Angeles had been “secretly and unofficially” promoting “Trap-Neuter-Return,” a controversial program to allow feral cats to run free, even while the Department of Animal Services promised to conduct an environmental review of the program.

The Court ordered the City to stop implementing TNR.

The plaintiffs, The Urban Wildlands Group, Endangered Habitats League, Los Angeles Audubon Society, Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon Society, Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society, and the American Bird Conservancy, sued the City in June 2008 to ensure that the controversial program to sanction and maintain feral cat colonies was not implemented before a full and public environmental analysis.

The groups decided legal action was necessary after their investigation revealed that the City had been unofficially implementing a so-called “Trap-Neuter-Return” program and the City repeatedly declined their request to stop implementing the program until environmental review was performed.

Although the City insisted that no such program existed, the Court concurred with the conservation groups and concluded in its Friday ruling that, “implementation of the program is pervasive, albeit ‘informal and unspoken.’”

“Our goal was to see that the City follows the California Environmental Quality Act by thoroughly assessing the program’s impacts on the environment and considering alternatives and mitigation measures before making specific programmatic decisions,” said Babak Naficy, attorney for plaintiffs.

“Feral cats have a range of impacts to wildlife, human health, and water quality in our cities. The impacts of institutionalizing the maintenance of feral cat colonies through TNR should be discussed in an open, public process before any such program is implemented,” Naficy said.

In June 2005, the Los Angeles Board of Animal Services Commissioners adopted TNR as the “preferred method of dealing with feral cat populations as its official policy.” Thereafter, the Board directed the General Manager to prepare an analysis of the program under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

This analysis was never completed but the Department implemented major portions of the program anyway.

The Department issued coupons for free or discounted spay/neuter procedures for feral cats being returned to neighborhoods and open spaces, including parks and wildlife areas. It also began refusing to accept trapped feral cats or to issue permits to residents to trap feral cats. The Department assisted outside organizations that performed TNR by donating public space, advertising their services, and referring the public to their TNR programs. The Department even encouraged and assisted in establishing new feral cat colonies at City-owned properties. The Superior Court recognized these actions as illegal implementation of the TNR program that could have an impact on the environment and enjoined the City from further pursuing the program until it complied with CEQA.

Dr. Travis Longcore, Science Director of The Urban Wildlands Group, said, “Feral cats are documented predators of native wildlife. We support spaying and neutering all cats in Los Angeles, which is the law, but do not support release of this non-native predator into our open spaces and neighborhoods where they kill birds and other wildlife.”

Even when fed by humans, cats instinctively hunt prey, including birds, lizards and small mammals. Colonies of feral cats, often thriving with the aid of handouts from humans, harm native wildlife and contaminate water bodies with fecal bacteria.

Longcore continued, “TNR is promoted as a way to reduce feral cat populations but scientific research shows that 70–90% of cats must be sterilized for cat populations to decline. This is virtually impossible to achieve in practice, but population reduction can be achieved with only 50% removal.”

The City must now stop its TNR program and any further proposal to implement such a program must undergo objective scientific review as part of the CEQA process. This will ensure that the public has adequate opportunity to comment and that significant impacts on parks, wildlife, water quality, and human health are avoided.

For further information about Trap-Neuter-Return see:

• Longcore, T., C. Rich, and L. M. Sullivan. 2009. Critical assessment of claims regarding management of feral cats by trap–neuter–return. Conservation Biology 23(4):887–894. http://www.ca.audubon.org/chapter_assets/Longcoreetal2009ConBio.pdf
• Williams, T. 2009. Felines fatales. Audubon Magazine. Sept-Oct, pp. 30–38. http://audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite0909.html
• Hat Tip: http://tnrrealitycheck.com/legalert.asp

About:
The Urban Wildlands Group is dedicated to the conservation of species, habitats, and ecological processes in urban and urbanizing areas.

Distributed to you by - AmmoLand.com – The Shooting Sports News source.

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that you can now register and/or receive updates on my website/blog www.lifesapet.com  which is a animal rescue site for Los Angeles County. You now can post your rescue/shelter cats or dogs, adoption events, news articles, DNA’s, Lost and found, and rescued animals directly to the site absolutely FREE.

*This site is open to all rescuers, not just 501(c) groups. It is dedicated to all homeless animals* 

Your posts will then be automatically shown on twitter and facebook for more exposure! You can also opt in to receive updates in your email whenever there is a new post on the site.

To register: Under the title “Register And Post” in the left sidebar, click on register and sign up. It’s fast and easy! Your email is never given out to anyone.

If you don’t need to register and just want email updates, sign in on the right sidebar (or at the bottom of this post) “Subscribe To Lifesapet” and you can elect to receive an email for each post, or you can elect to get the digest version which is all the posts for that day in one email.

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