Rodents

??From the Agricultural Commission Weights/Measures office. ? DO feed pets indoors or promptly remove dishes when pets complete their meal outside. Store bags of pet food indoors. DO clear brush and dense weeds from around property. This deprives rodents of shelter and reduces protective cover for coyotes. Use traps and rodenticides, if needed, to control rodents. DO use trash barrels equipped with tight clamping devices on the lids, which will prevent spills should they be tipped over by large animals.

FOOTHILLS — Authorities are cautioning residents to beware of animals fleeing burned areas of the Angeles National Forest and moving into neighboring communities. With more than a quarter of the forest burned, animals displaced by the Station fire may find their way into nearby streets and homes as they search for food and comfortable surroundings, officials said. “If you see a wild animal, be safe and keep your distance, and keep your pets away from it until it leaves,” Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County’s director of public health, said in a statement.

Interesting article about the tree removal near the Interstate 5 freeway and Western Avenue, especially the quote, “In this case, the trees are non-native and will be disposed. They will be replaced with native species, including California Pepper trees and Boston Ivy.” I wonder who decided that “Boston Ivy” is native to California. According to the reference book “Hortus Third,” Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) comes from Central China to Japan. Regardless of where it is native, it doesn’t seem like a very good choice for a ground cover.

Producers hope a new play opening this weekend will pique the interest of younger audiences and encourage them to return to the Victory Theatre Center in Burbank. Artistic directors Maria Gobetti and Tom Ormeny hired Tim and Carri Sullens as associate artistic directors more than a year ago to go through the new plays submitted to the theater, which range from four or five a week, and find scripts that will appeal to a younger audience. This upcoming performance is their first pick.

Gary Moskowitz GRIFFITH PARK -- The poor little critter didn't have a chance. After a small animal scurried into the main power supply at the Los Angeles Zoo at about 1:30 a.m. Friday, the transformer shorted, crisping the rodent and cutting all electric power to the zoo. Not to worry -- there are no newly freed giraffes, bears, koalas or snakes roaming area streets. Sharon Coggin, marketing manager at the Los Angeles Zoo confirmed that despite the loss of power, things went fairly smoothly at the zoo Friday.

Burbank’s Victory Theatre is presenting another fascinating world premiere, “The World’s Largest Rodent.” Funny, loony, sweet, obscene and written by a middle school teacher from Texas, “Rodent” tells the story of Billy, a smart, imaginative middle-school student who is dealing very poorly, for the time being, with things that no 13-year-old should have to deal with. Billy’s mother is in a coma, and he’s dealing with his father’s abandonment, his 19-year-old sister’s tyranny, his sister’s macho live-in lover, his clueless school counselor and his lesbian girlfriend.

I am concerned how Glendale is managing the city's coyote population. I admit that coyotes are useful in controlling rodents, but they are doing more than this. They are hunting for pets, are harassing pedestrians and their pets, or are roaming in neighborhoods in packs and terrifying residents. If this trend continues, someone - most likely a child - will end up either being killed or seriously injured. Last time when a coyote killed a child in Glendale, the city trapped and killed 58 coyotes near where the child had died.

His poster of the San Fernando Mission was one of 21 selected out of more than 4,000 entries as winning artwork in the "A Day in the Life of a Mission" poster contest. Sean Finkelberg decided to draw the mission after he learned that it had a rat problem. "We learned that they had to commission San Gabriel to borrow cats to get rid of them," Sean, 10, said. His poster shows a man and a woman standing in front of the mission, surrounded by rodents and cats.

I could care less about apricots. That's because of the apricot tree in my back yard. Contrary to popular belief, owning a fruit tree does not mean owning its fruit. No, at my house the apricots belong to the squirrels. For several weeks every year, my backyard is littered with rotting apricots or, I should say, rotting half-apricots. Apparently, the darling little rodents hold them in their front paws, eat half, and then chuck half of them on the ground rather than figure out how to eat around the pit. No worries.

Interesting article about the tree removal near the Interstate 5 freeway and Western Avenue, especially the quote, “In this case, the trees are non-native and will be disposed. They will be replaced with native species, including California Pepper trees and Boston Ivy.” I wonder who decided that “Boston Ivy” is native to California. According to the reference book “Hortus Third,” Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) comes from Central China to Japan. Regardless of where it is native, it doesn’t seem like a very good choice for a ground cover.

FOOTHILLS — Authorities are cautioning residents to beware of animals fleeing burned areas of the Angeles National Forest and moving into neighboring communities. With more than a quarter of the forest burned, animals displaced by the Station fire may find their way into nearby streets and homes as they search for food and comfortable surroundings, officials said. “If you see a wild animal, be safe and keep your distance, and keep your pets away from it until it leaves,” Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County’s director of public health, said in a statement.

??From the Agricultural Commission Weights/Measures office. ? DO feed pets indoors or promptly remove dishes when pets complete their meal outside. Store bags of pet food indoors. DO clear brush and dense weeds from around property. This deprives rodents of shelter and reduces protective cover for coyotes. Use traps and rodenticides, if needed, to control rodents. DO use trash barrels equipped with tight clamping devices on the lids, which will prevent spills should they be tipped over by large animals.

Burbank’s Victory Theatre is presenting another fascinating world premiere, “The World’s Largest Rodent.” Funny, loony, sweet, obscene and written by a middle school teacher from Texas, “Rodent” tells the story of Billy, a smart, imaginative middle-school student who is dealing very poorly, for the time being, with things that no 13-year-old should have to deal with. Billy’s mother is in a coma, and he’s dealing with his father’s abandonment, his 19-year-old sister’s tyranny, his sister’s macho live-in lover, his clueless school counselor and his lesbian girlfriend.

Producers hope a new play opening this weekend will pique the interest of younger audiences and encourage them to return to the Victory Theatre Center in Burbank. Artistic directors Maria Gobetti and Tom Ormeny hired Tim and Carri Sullens as associate artistic directors more than a year ago to go through the new plays submitted to the theater, which range from four or five a week, and find scripts that will appeal to a younger audience. This upcoming performance is their first pick.

Gary Moskowitz GRIFFITH PARK -- The poor little critter didn't have a chance. After a small animal scurried into the main power supply at the Los Angeles Zoo at about 1:30 a.m. Friday, the transformer shorted, crisping the rodent and cutting all electric power to the zoo. Not to worry -- there are no newly freed giraffes, bears, koalas or snakes roaming area streets. Sharon Coggin, marketing manager at the Los Angeles Zoo confirmed that despite the loss of power, things went fairly smoothly at the zoo Friday.