Animals

The brouhaha over a pack of coyotes and their impending demise this week after North Glendale residents complained of their presence to L.A. County officials brought an important lesson to the fore. In a city with several urban areas wedged up against wildland, there's bound to be turf wars between humans and wildlife. As the hubbub unfolded, what started as a plan to remove - by trapping and euthanasia - a pack of coyotes that have taken up residence at a vacant, fire-gutted home on Brockmont Drive turned into a public uproar among those believe that the response to wildlife in urban areas shouldn't be death.

A mini menagerie of exotic animals visited Cerritos Elementary Tuesday drawing gasps of wonder from the students. A boa constrictor, an injured turkey vulture, an endangered slow loris and an African pixie frog were some of the wildlife featured in a presentation, called "The Unhuggables," that Wildlife on Wheels, a nonprofit animal health and welfare organization, put on. "Today we're going to see some exciting animals because they're unhuggable...

The sounds of morning traffic that usually surround Holy Redeemer Catholic School yielded to the sounds of barking, meowing and yes, quacking on Thursday morning. The annual Blessing of the Animals was in full swing on the school’s campus as students brought in their favorite pets to be blessed as part of the traditional ceremony. “It is a great delight for the kids and families,” said Monsignor Jack Foley, better known as Father Jack. “Some [kids] brought pictures of their pets because their parents couldn’t get off work [to bring the pet in]

"Menagerie: The Art of Animals" is an exhibition true to its name. The Forest Lawn Museum along with guest co-curator and artist William Stout have assembled a collection of art that depicts animal subjects, including bronze and paper sculpture, animation art and paleoart, produced by more than two dozen artists spanning more than two centuries. Paintings by Los Angeles Zoo resident Rosie the Orangutan and insect wrangler Steven R. Kutcher are a fun contribution to the exhibition, adding a new dimension to the term Animal Art with their depictions and observations.

The writer to the Glendale News-Press regarding the city's elephant-themed Rose Parade float (“Step up and help out or don't complain,” Jan. 6) just doesn't get it. Were the animals displayed in chains? Roped up or down in any way? I didn't see another parading float with any animal being abused. Maybe all the Disney characters and the other cartoons are abused by this reader's standards. Well, she should watch carefully next time. Joe Zuazua Glendale

Claudia Peschiutta NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- This is one feline that could be welcomed into any home. Noel doesn't require food, water or a place to sleep. The only thing this cat could use is a frame. The Glendale Humane Society is hoping to find hundreds of people who are willing to take Noel home. The black cat is the subject of a colored-pencil drawing titled "The Missing Piece of the Puzzle," which a group of community members has turned into a limited-edition poster for sale by the Humane Society.

If looking for local animal celebrities, don't just head to the hills. They're also on Twitter. Following news stories about animals spotted outside their woodland habitats, several beasts have taken to Twitter, including a Burbank mountain lion and a bear that until Tuesday had charmed his fans with his hide-and-go-seek tweets. “Everyone's following me! Cops. Fish and Game. Those choppers with the bright lights. And now, all of you on Twitter. No privacy!” the bear's Twitter doppelganger, @TheGlendaleBear , tweeted last week.

Are you a cat person or a dog person? Or are you just not an animal person? According to a recent CalTech study , our brains are hardwired to react to creatures of the nonhuman kind. CalTech and UCLA researchers found that neurons throughout the brain's center for processing emotions (amygdala) respond preferentially to images of animals. "Our study shows that neurons in the human amygdala respond preferentially to pictures of animals, meaning that we saw the most amount of activity in cells when the patients looked at cats or snakes versus buildings or people," Florian Mormann, lead author on the paper and a former postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Biology at Caltech, said in a press release.

Janine Marnien Volunteers at Bundles of Hope have about 300 stuffed animals they've collected for children displaced by wildfires in western states earlier this summer. The problem is, they can't seem to get rid of them. The group, made up of Taylor Witte, 12, Carri Witte, 10, and Remy deBrauwere, 11, had initially hoped to give the animals to the American Red Cross for distribution. About 100 animals were shipped to displaced children in Texas, but the lack of response to the group's continued efforts was frustrating, said Dawn Witte, Carri's mother.

Tim Willert CITY HALL -- Nearly three months after being pulled from the air waves, "The Dog House" is returning with a new pair of co-hosts. The Glendale Humane Society's popular pet adoption program will return to GTV6, the city's government access station, beginning Dec. 3, city spokesman Ritch Wells said Friday. "'The Dog House' is one of our most popular programs," Wells said. "Anybody who loves animals loves the program." Co-hosting the show will be former mayor Ginger Bremberg and former city treasurer Betty Evans.

DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind the "Shrek" and"Kung Fu Panda" movies, saw its revenues jump 26% to $136.1 million in the first quarter. The company said it earned a profit of $9.1 million, or 11 cents a share, the first quarter of the year, a 3% increase over last year, reflecting international ticket sales from the Shrek spinoff,"Puss in Boots. "The movie grossed $554 million worldwide since its release last October. The results exceeded the consensus estimate among analysts, who had forecast a profit of 9 cents per share and revenues of $134 million.

A mountain lion reportedly has been spotted in La Crescenta, the same community where a big black bear was caught and tranquilized last week after frequenting the neighborhood, especially on trash day. Residents on Pineridge Drive were paid a visit Sunday night by a mountain lion, according to reports received by deputies at the La Crescenta Valley sheriff's station, KTLA-TV reported. In the end, deputies could not find a mountain lion and believe it actually may have been a bobcat.

DreamWorks Animation is joining Wal-Mart's disc-to-digital service as it launches today. The Glendale studio will make all of its previously released DVDs, including the "Shrek" and "Madagascar" series and "How to Train Your Dragon," available for consumers to convert into digital copies stored on Wal-Mart's Vudu service. It's the sixth Hollywood studio to join with Wal-Mart, which will charge $2 to make a copy of a movie in the "cloud" that can be accessed from any compatible digital device ($5 to convert the movie to high-definition)

Walt Disney Co. said it would join an initiative to develop China's animation industry, marking the latest push by Hollywood to expand into the world's most populous country. The agreement announced Tuesday unites the Burbank entertainment giant with an animation arm of China's Ministry of Culture and China's largest Internet company, Tencent Holdings Ltd. China's government has identified animation as a key area for development to boost the country's global influence, or "soft power.

If looking for local animal celebrities, don't just head to the hills. They're also on Twitter. Following news stories about animals spotted outside their woodland habitats, several beasts have taken to Twitter, including a Burbank mountain lion and a bear that until Tuesday had charmed his fans with his hide-and-go-seek tweets. “Everyone's following me! Cops. Fish and Game. Those choppers with the bright lights. And now, all of you on Twitter. No privacy!” the bear's Twitter doppelganger, @TheGlendaleBear , tweeted last week.

A black bear with a hankering for meatballs returned to a North Glendale hillside neighborhood early Saturday morning, but this time he wasn't reported dipping into trash cans or getting into people's refrigerators. The bear was spotted at 2:50 a.m. in yards on the 3700 block of Cedarbend Drive and again at 6 a.m. on the 3900 block of Forestglen Drive by a newspaper delivery man, said Glendale Police Sgt. Dan Suttles. “He's getting more and more bold,” Suttles said, adding that when officers arrived on the scene both times, the bear was gone.

A black bear that continues to rummage through residential trash cans in a North Glendale hillside neighborhood is being closely monitored by California Fish and Game officials. The latest bear sighting has some residents concerned about what could happen if it continues to visit their neighborhood, which sits along the Verdugo Mountains just south of the Foothill (210) Freeway. “My fear is just the surprise element,” said resident Elva Sherman, who spotted the bear about 10 p.m. Tuesday walking around her Cedarbend Drive home.

Local animal control, police and state Fish and Game officials are ramping up efforts to track a California black bear that has been rummaging through residential trash cans in North Glendale. The bear recently gained notice after entering a home garage early Wednesday on the 3700 block of Beechglen Drive and rummaged through a refrigerator in search for food. The bear returned later that evening and was caught foraging by a television news crew. “It's an ongoing saga of us living with bears,” said North Glendale Community Lead Officer Matt Zakarian.

DreamWorks Animation on Friday announced plans to build a studio in Shanghai, in what the Glendale-based company billed as a landmark agreement with two state-owned Chinese media companies. The creator of the "Shrek" movies said it was forming Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group in concert with Shanghai Alliance Investment -- an investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government -- to establish a family entertainment company in China.

Police are searching for suspects in the hit-and-run death of actress and dancer Zina Feeley as she stopped to help an injured animal in Griffith Park. The accident happened shortly after midnight Sunday in the 600 block of Forest Lawn Drive, near Zoo Drive. Feeley, 66, who went by her maiden name, Zina Bethune, was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, according to LAFD spokesman Matt Spence. Continue reading > > -- KTLA-TV