Author: LATimes

BOSTON — The federal government on Wednesday recommended an endangered-species listing for the loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could lead to tighter restrictions on fishing and other maritime trades.

The massive, nomadic sea turtles have been listed since 1978 as threatened, a step below endangered, but federal scientists proposed ratcheting up the designation after reviewing the state of the species.

Researchers said primary threats to the loggerheads include injury and death from fishing gear and damage to their nesting areas.

The joint proposal by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not a final decision. If approved, it puts loggerheads on track for an endangered listing by the summer of 2011. The proposal now enters a public comment period.

Environmental groups that had been pushing an endangered listing said the proposal was a "turning point" they hope will lead to greater turtle protections.

"I think it’s a huge day for loggerhead sea turtles," said Elizabeth Griffin, a marine wildlife scientist at Oceana. "I think it really draws attention to the fact these turtles are not doing well and more needs to be done to protect them."

No one really knows how many loggerheads there are, or how many are being killed by fishing gear or other activities. A species doesn’t need falling numbers to be endangered; it can get the listing if it’s shown to be threatened by one of five factors, such as disease or "manmade factors affecting its continued existence."

Griffin cites a 40% drop in the number of nesting females in Florida over the last decade as evidence of trouble. But the Fisheries Survival Fund, an East Coast scallopers group, said in a letter early this month that nesting beach surveys can’t provide good evidence of decline because they measure only mature females, who take at least 30 years to reach breeding age.

Shaun Gehan, an attorney for the Fisheries Survival Fund, said an endangered listing is unnecessary for a species for which there’s no evidence that it is in danger of extinction. If new protections are mandated for the turtle, it could affect not only fishermen, but maritime traffic, coastal development and waterfront use, Gehan said.

"We are extremely disappointed that they’ve taken this approach," he said.

Loggerheads are named for their large heads, which contain potent jaws that can crush the hard shells of prey such as conch. The turtles are about the size of a fist when they hatch and make a frenzied dash to the surf. But they typically grow to more than three feet in length and 250 pounds. The animal can log thousands of miles as it travels across oceans.

Barbara Schroeder, national sea turtle coordinator for NOAA’s fisheries division, said the biggest threats to the North Pacific loggerhead include damage to primary nesting sites, which are mainly in Japan, as well as accidental snaring of the turtles in fishing gear.

Andrea Treece of the Center for Biological Diversity said the turtles get hooked by Hawaiian longline fishermen targeting swordfish and tuna and can be injured or drowned.

On the East Coast, the main threat to turtles is gear from the region’s various fisheries, Schroeder said.

Gehan said that scallopers have developed dredges to keep the turtles out with a chain mat that covers the opening. Critics say the dredges keep turtles out, but also crush them, though survival fund officials say there’s no evidence of that.

A primary benefit of the endangered status would be increased public pressure on protecting the species, Griffin said. But the government would also have to determine "critical habitats," such as where the turtles reproduce or forage. Such places could be subject to additional protections for the turtles, including restrictions on maritime development or fishing.

A balance needs to be found to help a species Griffin called "the ambassadors of our oceans" because they travel great distances and can be seen up close when they venture on land.

"I think that really gives people an appreciation for our turtles and marine life," she said.

— Associated Press

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Photo: A loggerhead swims near Key Biscayne, Fla., in 2006. Credit: Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press

We love YouTube user katiebonk‘s video of a troop of curious kittens playing with what she calls "the best kitty toy ever on earth."

It’s easy to see why she describes the toy in such glowing terms — these kittens certainly look as if they’re mesmerized. (In the moments after the video was recorded, katiebonk says, she had to pick up the especially enthusiastic gray tabby kitten in order to give the others a chance to play with the coveted magic kitty wand.)

We think our favorite part about these kittens is the way they stand on their hind legs like meerkats — er, "meercats"?

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— Lindsay Barnett

Video: katiebonk via YouTube

Biologists at Pinnacles National Monument are celebrating the first condor egg produced by a mating pair inside the park boundaries in more than a century.

The egg marks the latest encouraging development in the slow recovery of the endangered flying giants in the regions they historically inhabited. The effort has been hampered by hunters and lead poisoning of the birds.

A female released in 2004 in the Central California park and a male released the same year 30 miles west at Big Sur had been observed engaged in courtship behavior earlier this year, park spokesman Carl Brenner said.

"They are now the proud parents of a small egg," Brenner said.

Biologists confirmed the presence of the egg after hiking to the site on Friday.

In 1982, the last 22 California condors were placed in a captive breeding program. Today, there are 348 in the world, with about 180 flying free at three locations in California and at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Another dozen are in Baja California.

The goal is to have 450 birds in three distinct populations, with 15 breeding pairs in each group.

"We had a good year last year in Southern California, but it’s not universal because we had a number die of lead poisoning in the Pinnacles area and Central Coast," said Michael Woodbridge, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Condor Recovery Program.

One of the dead birds was the mother of a male chick that eventually learned to fly in the wild last April on a ranch outside of Pinnacles National Monument. The chick survived and lives with its father.

Some birds suffer lead poisoning after eating gut piles left by hunters, despite a ban on lead bullets in condor country.

Of the 77 eggs laid in the wild since 2001, 33 lived for at least six months — long enough to fly — with the success rate increasing every year, Woodbridge said.

"That’s close to 50 percent, which is probably on par for any species in the wild," Woodbridge said.

Condors, with 10-foot wingspans, generally mate for life. By coincidence, the Pinnacles pair with the egg are numerically sequenced — female 317 and male 318 in the population being tracked. It was the first mating attempt by both.

The female was part of the second of six groups of condors released since 2003 at Pinnacles, part of the birds’ historic range. The park was attractive to biologists involved in the recovery effort because of the numerous potential nesting sites along craggy cliffs, including the cave being used by Nos. 317 and 318.

It’s a two-mile hike over a gain of nearly 1,200 feet in elevation to a viewing site, but the birds "have given us a comfortable place to sit and watch," Brenner said. The viewing area is located across from a bench offering expansive views of the park.

Pinnacles biologists have swapped out the new egg for a wooden one. Fifty-seven days from now — or shortly before the egg is due to hatch — they will replace it with a viable egg produced by condors in captivity.

The swap is standard procedure for most of the Central Coast birds, which sometimes feed on dead sea lions and other pinnepeds that wash up along the Big Sur coast. Those animals, however, often harbor PCBs and the DDT derivative DDE in their blubber. Birds that ingest the chemicals can produce eggs with thin shells.

The real egg produced at Pinnacles will be hatched in a zoo, Brenner said, ensuring an offspring for the pair of condors.

"They are first-time parents, and we don’t want them to get discouraged," he said.

Visitors with spotting scopes can see the nesting site from Scout Peak bench on the popular High Peaks Trail.

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo: A nesting California condor is shown in a cranny near the High Peaks Trail on March 5. Credit: John Maio / Associated Press

Many readers have come to Dr. Heather Oxford for advice on animal health and wellness through Unleashed’s Ask a Vet column. But when she’s not answering your pet-health questions, Dr. Oxford is a practicing veterinarian at L.A.’s California Animal Rehabilitation (CARE), helping animals to bounce back from illness and injury. Dr. Oxford shares the story of one special patient who’s fought both paralysis and distemper with the help of some devoted animal lovers. Here’s M.J.’s story:

Meet M.J., an 11-month-old spayed female German shepherd-Doberman pinscher mix. 

Her story began at the shelter, where she was abandoned by her former owners at the age of 7 months after her back legs were paralyzed from being hit by a car. One rescue organization took her to a veterinary hospital for X-rays, which showed a displaced vertebra in her spine that most likely damaged her spinal cord.

The recommendation was to euthanize her.

The rescue organization took her back to the shelter where she would likely be put down. But the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation had other plans for M.J. that day.

The group rescued her and brought her back to a veterinary hospital, where she stayed for the following week. I went to the hospital to meet her and she had no feeling or control of function in her back legs — but that didn’t stop her from being extremely happy and full of life! I instructed the staff to do therapeutic exercises with her, but over the course of one week she developed a cough and diarrhea. She tested positive for distemper virus, which she had contracted two to three weeks before showing these symptoms.

Apparently, she had never received her puppy series of vaccines, which would have protected her from this deadly infectious disease. It seemed that M.J. was looking at a second death sentence.

The Heigl Foundation had her transferred to an isolation unit at another veterinary hospital, where she spent the next three months. Finally, the tests confirmed that she had cleared the virus from her body and she was able to come to CARE. 

She has been in rehabilitation for a month now and has regained sensation in both back legs and even her tail. Week by week she has continued to regain control of her back legs, and she is now able to stand on her own and walk with minimal assistance.

M.J. is an incredible fighter and we have been happy to help her improve over the last month. She will continue to stay at CARE until she is walking well enough to go to a foster home … or forever home. Check back in the coming weeks for updates on this special girl!

— Heather Oxford, DVM

Dr. Oxford received her bachelor of science degree at Bowling Green
State University, Ohio. She also received a master’s of public health
degree in epidemiology from Emory University and went on to work at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She then went to
the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine, where she
received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree. She practices at
California Animal Rehabilitation and is also certified in veterinary
rehabilitation and acupuncture. She lives in Los Angeles with her
husband, Wade, and German shepherd, Tess.

Check out more of Dr. Oxford’s work in Unleashed’s Ask a Vet column.

CATSKILL, N.Y. — Prominent New York thoroughbred breeder and owner Ernie Paragallo was convicted Wednesday of mistreating dozens of malnourished horses on his Hudson Valley farm.

A judge convicted Paragallo of 33 of 34 misdemeanor animal cruelty counts in a nonjury trial in Greene County.

The 52-year-old Long Island resident was charged after state police and animal welfare investigators raided his farm in Coxsackie in April and seized 177 malnourished horses. He could face up to two years in prison and $33,000 in fines, $1,000 for each count.

Most of the horses were eventually adopted by other horse farms around the nation, but several were in such poor shape they had to be euthanized.

Paragallo, who testified last week that he didn’t know the horses on his farm weren’t being fed enough, had no comment as he left court.

Michael Howard, Paragallo’s lawyer, called the verdict disappointing and surprising and said he would appeal the convictions.

"This requires a horse owner to take on a very high level of burden," he said.

Ron Perez, director of the Hudson Greene Humane Society, said he was pleased with the verdict.

"This is going to set a precedent for animal cruelty cases across the country," said Perez, who took part in the raid that uncovered underfed and parasite-infested horses on Paragallo’s 500-acre Center Brook Farm, about 20 miles south of Albany.

Paragallo, former owner of 1996 Kentucky Derby favorite and fifth-place finisher Unbridled’s Song, has had more than 4,500 horses race and earned more than $20 million in purses. After his arrest, the state Racing and Wagering Board suspended him from racing at New York tracks.

"This case was a shocker to the racing community," board spokesman Joe Mahoney said Wednesday. "People involved in racing love their horses. It’s a rare exception that a farm owner would fall down on his responsibilities like this."

Paragallo testified that his feeding methods were intended to slim down the horses prior to breeding, based on "Joe Taylor’s Complete Guide to Breeding and Raising Racehorses." He said that the farm was run by eight workers and that he was unaware the horses were in poor shape because he hadn’t been there in the nine months before his arrest.

The farm manager, Eddie Salazar, didn’t testify at the trial because he went home to Guatemala to be with his sick mother, Howard said. Paragallo paid for his plane ticket out of compassion, the lawyer said. One of the cruelty counts against Paragallo was dropped because it depended on Salazar’s testimony.

Dist. Atty. Terry Wilhelm presented purchase records indicating that only 10,500 pounds of grain were delivered to the farm from July to December 2008, when there were 200 horses there. From July to December 2007, the records showed Paragallo had bought 146,250 pounds of grain.

Donald Nickerson, a "kill buyer" in upstate New York, testified that he received two trailers full of emaciated horses from Paragallo’s farm in February 2009 that were in such "horrific" condition that they couldn’t even be shipped to slaughter in Canada. One was dead on arrival and four died soon after.

The state’s Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, which gave out $6.3 million in breeder awards and $2.4 million in stallion awards in 2009, implemented more stringent inspection standards for the 400 participating farms after Paragallo’s arrest. Paragallo had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund over the past six years, Mahoney said.

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo: Paragallo is escorted from court after his April 2009 arraignment in Coxsackie, N.Y. Credit: Lance Wheeler / Associated Press

ADELAIDE, Australia — The discovery of a genetically distinct colony of Tasmanian devils may save the species from being wiped out by a contagious cancer that has decimated the population, Australian scientists said Wednesday.

So far, the colony in northwestern Tasmania state has proven immune to the face cancer that has ravaged the iconic animal — made famous worldwide by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake, Taz.

"We think these devils may be able to see the cancer cells as foreign and mount an immune response against them," lead researcher Kathy Belov said. "We think more animals might survive in the wild than we initially thought."

The furry black animals spread a fast-killing cancer when they bite each other’s faces. It causes grotesque facial tumors that eventually prevent them from feeding and can affect their internal organs.

Devil Facial Tumor Disease was discovered in 1996. Since then, the numbers of Tasmanian devils have plummeted by 70%. Last spring, Australia listed the devils as an endangered species and current estimates suggest the Tasmanian devil could be extinct within 25 years.

But Belov said the new findings, which were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, buy more time for managing the disease and developing a vaccine.

Belov, of the University of Sydney, worked with fellow researchers at the University of Tasmania, who monitored populations across the island. While earlier studies had looked at devils in eastern Tasmania, this time they took a wider sampling of 400 devils across the state.

Twenty percent of those were found to be genetically different from the eastern devils, and so far have not caught the disease.

"I don’t think this means that we can sit back and go, ‘Everything is OK,’ because we’ve already seen that the tumor has started to evolve," Belov cautioned. "But now we can say that we’ve got a glimmer of hope. There may be some animals that may survive this epidemic."

Another Tasmanian devil researcher, Hamish McCallum, said the discovery held "enormous promise."

"It’s been my view for a long time that the best shot of solving the problem is if there is any genetic resistance in the devil population," said McCallum, who until last year worked with the federal government’s devil rescue program.

"We have suspected for quite some time that there may have been animals with different genes in the northwest…. What we don’t know absolutely for sure is whether or not this genetic difference is sufficient for them not to get disease."

Federal Innovation Minister Kim Carr, whose department helped fund the research, said it was great news.

"There is now hope for their survival," Carr said in a statement.

The devils, known for powerful jaws, fierce screeches and voracious consumption of prey, are the world’s largest marsupial carnivores. They don’t exist in the wild outside Tasmania, an island south of the Australian mainland.

— Associated Press

Stay up-to-date on animal news: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo: A keeper holds Tasmanian devil joeys during a checkup at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo in 2009. Credit: Torsten Blackwood / AFP/Getty Images

What’s cuter than a western gray kangaroo? Two western gray kangaroos. And what’s even cuter than that? Two western gray kangaroos engaged in a public display of affection.

These two are residents of Switzerland’s Basel Zoo, where they live in a mob (the word that describes a group of kangaroos) that grew substantially last spring when several joeys were born.

Western gray kangaroos are among the most common species of kangaroo, and also among the largest. Males are typically much larger than females — sometimes twice as big. And, of course, they’re expert hoppers — a really fast western gray can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour!

See another photo of this cuddly couple after the jump!

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— Lindsay Barnett

Photos: Georgios Kefalas / European Pressphoto Agency

BALTIMORE — Inside the banquet hall, a humbled but defiant Michael Vick was honored Tuesday night as one of 32 NFL players to receive the Ed Block Courage Award.

Outside, dozens of protesters expressed dismay over his nomination.

The award is presented to players who exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Each NFL team selects their own recipient, and most of the winners were on hand for the gala event Tuesday night.

Vick was picked as the Philadelphia Eagles’ representative by a unanimous vote of his teammates. Once a star quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons, Vick was convicted in 2007 for his role in a dogfighting ring and served 18 months in federal prison.

"I’m very humbled to be here," Vick said before the award ceremony. "I’m blessed to be voted by my peers, to be here, and this is an opportunity that I will take advantage of and cherish forever."

It was the first award he received since being reinstated by the NFL in September 2009.

"It shows I’m making strides," Vick said. "I’m trying to do the right thing."

There were police cars at every driveway of the parking lot, and security inside the building was heavier than usual at the 32nd annual event.

Many of the protesters outside carried signs, one of which said, "No Award for Dog Killers."

Erin Marcus of Open the Cages Alliance said, "I don’t think there has been enough time for him to show the proper remorse for what he’s done to animals."

Many of the other 2009 Ed Block Award winners rebounded from serious injuries to excel in 2009, such as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae and Baltimore Ravens safety Dawan Landry.

Vick, of course, had to bounce back from something entirely different.

"I think I do exemplify what this award stands for," Vick insisted. "I think everybody has the right to their own opinion. But I feel like I’ve done everything that I said I would do, coming out and moving forward. My peers felt like I was doing the right thing, and that I display courage and sportsmanship and leadership. I value their opinion."

Vick did more than just show up to collect a piece of hardware. He spent hours Monday and Tuesday speaking to kids at a community center and at the Baltimore Ravens Courage House, which houses abused children.

"It’s easy to see, when you spend a couple of days with Michael Vick, why his Philadelphia Eagles teammates picked him as the Courage Award winner. It’s been that impressive," Ed Block spokesman Paul Mittermeier said.

Mittermeier said the Eagles will dedicate a Courage House in Philadelphia next year on behalf of Vick.

Vick was signed as a free agent with Philadelphia during the preseason and played sparingly in 2009 as the backup to Donovan McNabb. The Eagles have exercised their 2010 option on Vick, meaning the quarterback will receive a $1.5-million roster bonus sometime this week, and the rest of his $5.25-million 2010 salary will be paid by either Philadelphia or another NFL franchise.

"The Eagles picking up the roster bonus, it’s a blessing for me, a blessing for my family," Vick said. "As far as I know, I’m a Philadelphia Eagle, and I will carry out the role I’ve been playing. We’ll see what happens. The entire organization knows I want to be a starter."

Off the field, Vick has worked with the Humane Society of the United States, speaking at churches, schools and community groups about the poor judgment he showed in getting involved in dogfighting.

"Michael Vick approached us and said he wanted to be part of the solution instead of the problem," Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society, said before the event. "We asked him if he would do volunteer work, go to communities all over the country and talk to at-risk youth and try to steer them away from dogfighting."

Markarian said Vick has told his story in "about a dozen" cities.

"The Humane Society of the United States was the toughest critic of Michael Vick when these allegations first came to light," Markarian said. "But we want to find creative solutions to try to reach kids, particularly young men, who get pit bulls for the wrong reason. They are really moved after they hear Michael Vick’s story and it turns them away from dogfighting."

Which, to some, explains why Vick received the Ed Block Courage Award. The award, named after longtime Baltimore Colts trainer Ed Block, was first presented in 1978.

— Associated Press

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Top photo: Vick walks into the banquet hall for the presentation of the Ed Block Courage Awards on March 9. Credit: Gail Burton / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Animal activist Debbie Sanville protests outside the award ceremony. Credit: Gail Burton / Associated Press

MADRID — Three conservative regions of Spain defended bullfighting on Friday and pledged legislation to enshrine it as a pillar of their cultural heritage, as another area of the country considers banning the sport.

Bullfighting remains very popular in some regions of Spain, but it is no longer the powerful draw it was generations ago. Today’s crowds at bull rings are largely middle-aged, while younger generations find their heroes in music or soccer. Some people find the killing and bloodshed of the sport repugnant.

But in Spain, it is up to each region to decide whether to keep bullfighting legal, not the national government.

In December, a bill to ban bullfighting in the independent-minded region of Catalonia, home to Barcelona, cleared its first hurdle and is now under debate. Another area of Spain — the Canary Islands — made the sport illegal in 1991, but it was never very popular there.

On Friday, Madrid, Valencia and southern Murcia fought back.

The conservative areas said they not only will keep the bullfighting legal, they also will give the sport a protected cultural heritage.

Bullfighting has "formed part of Mediterranean and Spanish culture since time immemorial," Madrid regional President Esperanza Aguirre said. "Look at Goya, Picasso, Federico Garcia Lorca and beyond to Hemingway and Orson Welles. They were interested in bullfighting as an art because it is a cultural asset deserving protection."

The debate about bullfighting in Catalonia has received wide media coverage in Spain and has irked some conservatives, including Spain’s Popular Party, which sees it as an attack on bedrock Spanish values. The party runs the Madrid, Valencia and Murcia regional governments.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de La Vega said Spain’s Socialist government does not intend to intervene but that it generally opposes such bans.

She said the government recognizes that bullfighting has great social support but also understands the feelings of its detractors.

In Catalonia, the sport’s popularity has declined in recent years, and Barcelona now has the region’s only active bull ring.

— Associated Press

Stay up-to-date on animal news: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo: Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez performs a muleta pass during a bullfight in Colombia on Jan. 23. Credit: Raul Arboleda / AFP/Getty Images

Skippy, a wire fox terrier, starred alongside the likes of William Powell, Myrna Loy, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in classic films like the "Thin Man" series and "Bringing Up Baby." But he gets no love on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — stars there, it seems, are reserved for the heroic likes of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.

Skippy never played a hero — just a feisty little dog who often got into trouble. (Remember when George, his "Bringing Up Baby" character, makes off with paleontologist Cary Grant’s prized intercostal clavicle? Or, similarly, when his Asta character runs away with a note thrown through Nick and Nora Charles’ window in "After the Thin Man"? That’s what we mean by "trouble.")

If you ask us, Skippy was the Meryl Streep of animal actors, all but disappearing into his roguish roles. (Sure, one could make the argument that he was roguish in real life, meaning he wasn’t really acting, but merely playing himself. But if playing oneself means one isn’t really acting, then how can we explain the wildly successful career of Jack Nicholson?) For all his talent, though, Skippy is starless on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

The Times’ new Hollywood Star Walk database notes that only three dogs — Lassie, Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart — are honored on Hollywood Boulevard. They’re heroes, all — not one Skippy or Bamboo Harvester (the horse who played the title character in "Mr. Ed") among them.

Now, don’t get us wrong — we love Lassie as much as the next guy. Who wouldn’t? And Rin Tin Tin’s crimefighting career is beyond reproach. The third and final dog on the Walk of Fame, Strongheart, was heroic both onscreen and off — prior to his Hollywood career, the German shepherd, then known as Etzel Von Oeringen, served with the German Red Cross during World War I.

Those dogs are undeniably great — but could they hit a home run with a baseball bat clenched in their teeth and slide into home plate? Or perform a perfectly executed backflip?

Yeah, we thought not. Now isn’t it about to honor some animal actors who could?

— Lindsay Barnett

A new Times database puts readers on the sidewalks of Hollywood, using more than a century of archives to track the lives of the stars. Click to find out more.

Photo: Skippy as Asta in the 1937 film "After the Thin Man." Credit: MGM

SeaWorld has not decided whether an orca that killed its trainer by dragging her into the water will keep performing, an official said Tuesday.

In the days after Dawn Brancheau died, the park’s top official pledged that the killer whale named Tilikum would return to SeaWorld’s shows. But park spokesman Fred Jacobs said Tuesday that nothing will be decided about the orca’s future until after a thorough review of the accident.

"On reflection, we really can’t say anything about Tilikum or the other killer whales until the review is complete," said park spokesman Fred Jacobs. "We do feel that it is likely Tilikum will return to the shows but to promise that is premature."

Brancheau, 40, was killed almost two weeks ago after being thrashed underwater by the orca after a performance. Tilikum has been involved in two other deaths, one of a trainer at a Canadian park and another of a man who sneaked past security and was found draped over the orca’s body at SeaWorld.

While SeaWorld officials consider Tilikum’s future, the park and Brancheau’s family are trying to suppress video footage of the attack. A SeaWorld camera captured the accident and the footage was turned over to law enforcement. Once the Orange County Sheriff’s Department concludes its investigation, the material will become public under Florida law.

Brancheau’s family said Monday through a spokesman that public airing of the killing would only worsen their grief.

They could seek a court injunction to stop the release, at least temporarily. The family has been consulting the lawyer who represented Dale Earnhardt’s widow in a successful court fight that prevented the release of autopsy photos of the race car driver.

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Video: Tilikum swims at SeaWorld Orlando. Credit: Tucuxi3 via YouTube

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nature’s Variety has expanded its recall of chicken-flavored pet food because of concerns over salmonella.

The Lincoln, Neb.-based company said Monday that the raw, frozen food is being recalled because it could be contaminated with salmonella.

The recall includes three-pound packages of chicken medallions, six-pound packages of chicken patties and two-pound packages of chicken chubs.

Initially, the company recalled only packages with a best-by date of Nov. 10, 2010. Now packages with best-by dates of Oct. 29 and Nov. 9, 2010, are also being recalled.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Pets can also become ill if they consume the bacteria.

— Associated Press

Stay up-to-date on animal news: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

We almost feel guilty — almost — using a tiny puppy here in Your Morning Adorable. Is it too easy? Puppies are, after all, a cute slam-dunk — but we couldn’t resist this month-old Maltese puppy’s first foray into the world of barking.

YouTube user tjweb56 explains that, as an adult, this puppy will weigh only about 6 pounds. But she’s not a "teacup," tjweb56 says — just an average toy-sized dog. The average Maltese weighs 4 to 6 pounds, according to the breed’s American Kennel Club standard.

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— Lindsay Barnett

Video: tjweb56 via YouTube

British dog owners may be forced to microchip their pets and take out insurance, part of a proposed crackdown on the country’s dangerous canines.

Postmen are delighted, but civil libertarians grumble that Britain’s sprawling surveillance state now wants to track the nation’s estimated 8 million dogs. Others complain that the insurance plan would impose a financial penalty on innocent pet owners — while criminals who own violent animals will simply shirk the law.

"This is yet more surveillance and continuous data-grabbing by government who want to have as much information on us as it can possibly have," said Dylan Sharpe, a campaigner with privacy rights group Big Brother Watch. Opposition lawmaker Nick Herbert said the proposal risked "penalizing millions of law-abiding dog owners with the blunt instrument of a dog tax.

"The government’s proposals are aimed at tackling the growing problem of
aggressive canines being used to harass, attack and even kill. In a
country where guns are tightly controlled and even carrying a kitchen
knife can result in a prison sentence, animal rights experts and
politicians say street thugs have turned to dangerous-looking dogs to
cow their victims.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the number of complaints about dog fights had soared tenfold between 2004 and 2008, the last year for which figures were available. In 2009, London Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse called for action on what he called "weapon dogs."

His opposition Conservative Party says hospital admissions and court cases relating to dangerous dogs have soared.

High-profile dog attacks — including one on John-Paul Massey, a 4-year-old who was mauled to death by a pit bull at his grandmother’s house in northern England — also have kept the issue high on the media’s agenda.

Home Office Secretary Alan Johnson said there was "no doubt that some people breed and keep dogs for the sole purpose of intimidating others."

"It is this sort of behavior that we will not tolerate; it is this sort of behavior that we are determined to stop," he said. In television appearances defending the proposals, he said microchipping would help trace the owners of dogs involved in attacks, while third-party insurance would ensure that victims of dog attacks were properly compensated for any injuries.

Chipping costs between 10 pounds ($15) and 35 pounds ($52), but untangling the price of the insurance is complex.

Most pet insurers offer third-party liability insurance wrapped into larger plans which also cover vet fees, emergency care, and repatriation. Petplan, Britain’s largest pet insurer, said that, for a Labrador in southeast England, such coverage could be purchased for 23 pounds ($34) a month. It said plans would likely be pricier in London.

Sanctions imposed on those who refused to comply weren’t spelled out. But in a local version of the program already in place in south London, public housing tenants who refuse to chip their dogs are in violation of their rental agreement — something that could lead to them being evicted.

The central government’s proposals were largely welcomed by animal welfare groups, including the RSPCA, which said it had long supported chipping — primarily as a means of reuniting lost pets with their owners.



She described the devices as "tiny microchips, about the size of a grain of rice, painlessly inserted into the back of the dog."

The chips are easily readable by scanners used by dog wardens and veterinarians.

Postal workers and telecom engineers also cheered the proposals, with the Communication Workers Union saying many of its members "are regularly bitten by dogs that have been either left unattended or are simply not under control."

Caroline Kisko, of Britain’s Kennel Club, said previous legislation had proven ineffective at controlling the country’s dangerous dogs — and expressed the hope that any new rules would put a greater emphasis on animal welfare.

Still it was unclear when — or even if — Johnson’s plans could become law. The proposals must undergo a consultation period — typically 12 weeks — which means they’re unlikely to reach Parliament before Britain’s general election, which must be called by June 3.

A host of European countries — including Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Italy and Portugal — have introduced mandatory microchipping rules in the past few years, with nary a raised eyebrow. France requires that some breeds either be chipped or tattooed. Even in countries where the practice isn’t required, cities such as Berlin and Prague demand that dog owners chip their pets.

Mandatory dog insurance, regardless of the breed, is already in place in parts of Germany and Switzerland.

— Associated Press

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Photo: A dog walks past a landscape of central London on March 9. Credit: Matt Dunham / Associated Press

In an interview with The Times’ Amy Kaufman on the red carpet before the Academy Awards telecast Sunday, "The Cove" director Louie Psihoyos and star Ric O’Barry spoke about the importance of a potential Oscar win for best feature documentary.

Of course, anyone who watched the Oscars knows that "The Cove" won the award over a highly competitive field of nominees. But a statue on his mantel isn’t what’s important to him, Psihoyos told Unleashed recently. Instead, the filmmaker views the award as a means of increasing awareness about the dolphin slaughter, particularly in Japan.

"The Cove’s" high-profile inclusion in the Academy Awards ceremony is important "because [the show is] the most watched program in
Japanese television," Psihoyos said. "I didn’t get into movies to win awards. I got into
making this movie to start a movement to save the ocean. I’ve been
trying to give the oceans a voice and an Oscar nomination amplifies
that voice."

Psihoyos didn’t have a chance to make an acceptance speech when the film won, but the director recently shared his prepared remarks with Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog. O’Barry, for his part, held up a sign reading "Text DOLPHIN to 44144" while he was on screen during producer Fisher Stevens’ speech, referencing "The Cove’s" text-messaging awareness campaign.

O’Barry will return to Japan soon to continue working to stop the slaughter of dolphins there, and his work will be spotlighted in a recently green-lighted Animal Planet TV series. The series, tentatively titled "Dolphin Warriors," is to be executive produced by O’Barry’s son Lincoln.

Of course, if you can’t wait for the new show to debut, you can always follow O’Barry’s progress on Twitter and Facebook.

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— Lindsay Barnett

Video: Los Angeles Times

Australian police conducted searches Saturday on two anti-whaling vessels that recently clashed with Japanese ships in the Antarctic Ocean in an attempt to obstruct their annual catch, police and activists said.

Federal police with search warrants boarded the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker, ships belonging to the activist group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, as the result of a "formal referral from Japanese authorities," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity in accordance with police policy. He gave no further details, including on what basis the warrant was issued.

The search took place in Hobart, Tasmania — an Australian island lying off the southeast corner of the mainland — where the ships docked Saturday after returning from their pursuit of Japanese whalers in their annual three-month hunt for the sea mammals. The hunt is conducted in the name of research, although some of the whale meat is then sold in Japan.

Jeff Hansen, Australian director of Sea Shepherd, said police had confiscated logbooks, video footage, charts and laptops and had interviewed some of the crew.

He said police would not reveal the reason for their search, and the group had no idea what the Japanese complaints could be.

"We’re sort of hoping that they do bring on some sort of investigation or charges," Hansen said. "We’d love to see something get into the courts because the reality is … [the Japanese] have been the aggressors this year. We’d love to get it in the courts and get their illegal activity into the courts as well."

In the recently ended whaling season, Sea Shepherd vessels and Japanese whalers twice collided. One protest vessel sank.

In February, activist Peter Bethune of New Zealand jumped aboard one of the Japanese ships with the stated goal of making a citizen’s arrest of the ship’s captain, while handing over a $3-million bill for the destruction of his protest ship. He is being held on the ship as it returns to Japan, where he may face charges of intrusion.

The Australian police search Saturday came despite the Australian government’s strong opposition to the Japanese whaling. Canberra has threatened international legal action against Japan unless it stops its annual catch — which is sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission as an exception to its 1986 ban on commercial whaling.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would not comment directly on the police action but reiterated the government’s stance against whaling.

"Either the government of Japan agrees to reduce its current catch from where it is to zero, in a reasonable time, or the Australian government will prosecute this matter in the international court of justice and we would initiate that action prior to the next whaling season," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Australian Greens party leader Bob Brown protested the police search.

"This is outrageous that Australian police are at the disposal of the Japanese whale killers," he said.

Australian police also searched and seized evidence from the Steve Irwin in 2009 but that did not lead to any charges.

Sea Shepherd activists try to block the whalers from firing harpoons and dangling ropes in the water to try to snarl their ships’ propellers. They also hurl packets of stinking rancid butter at their rivals. The whalers have responded by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists.

— Associated Press

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Photo: Sea Shepherd’s leader Paul Watson speaks in front of the ship Steve Irwin on Jan. 28. Credit: Tony McDonough / European Pressphoto Agency

What sort of person spends years of his life tracking the decidedly persnickety elephant seal on a windblown, inhospitable island off the California coast? A uniquely dedicated one, that’s for sure. Our colleague Joe Mozingo has an insightful look at the life and work of marine mammal research scientist Brent Stewart and the behemoths he’s spent his career studying; here’s an excerpt:

The marine biologist picks his way down a mud ravine into the belching, bellowing madness of Cardwell Point.

All eyes are upon him, this short ruddy creature with an orange jacket, red beard and sturdy legs that seem to glide effortlessly across the sand.

Brent Stewart has studied elephant seals for 31 years and knows they are watching him. He scans the wind-scoured sand spit for rogue bulls — bilious giants of blubber, muscle, whisker and teeth. They come here from the deepest, coldest reaches of the North Pacific to mate, and they don’t like interlopers.

Stewart has witnessed epic battles among them, pendulous snouts flailing like medieval maces, chunks of bloody flesh flung into the air, deep thwacks piercing the endless din of the wind. There is no way not to ponder the fragility of the human spine in such moments.

He walks warily into the fray this February afternoon, hundreds deep, keeping an eye open for escape routes.

"They’re quiet and sneaky," he says. "When their eyes get all scrunched up, that’s when you want to run."

As a senior scientist for Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, Stewart has studied all types of sea life, in the waters off Antarctica, Greenland, Russia, the uninhabited outer Hawaiian Islands, the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, Alaska, Iceland, Mexico.

After all that, he still marvels at what he sees every winter so close to home.

"How many people do we have now?" in Southern California, he says. "Twenty million. Just offshore, we have the most diverse area of seabirds and sea mammals anywhere in the world."

Late January and February is the time to behold it, when the elephant seals haul up and fill the beaches, after the longest migration of any mammal on Earth.

Year after year, Stewart takes in the spectacle mostly alone.

San Miguel Island, the westernmost of the Channel Islands, 25 miles off the Santa Barbara coast, is raw. No one lives here permanently and few people visit. Ocean swells blast the jagged shoreline, making it impossible to land a boat most of the year. The relentless wind drives sand and grit over the 15-square-mile hump of land, raking scars through the scrub and stunting the indigenous shrubs.

Stewart, 55, figures he has spent eight or nine years of his life out here.

THERE’S MORE; READ THE REST.

Video: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Both knees are shot, injected with synthetic cartilage until he can have surgery next summer. His right arm is still healing from a major operation to fix a staph infection. He continues to deal with other side effects of cancer.

But Lance Mackey is gunning for his fourth consecutive win in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which started Sunday in Willow.

Canadian musher Sebastian Schnuelle had the early lead in the race, expected to last nine or 10 days. Schnuelle was the first to leave the Finger Lake checkpoint — 106 miles into the race. He was followed Monday morning by three Alaskans — Paul Gebhardt, John Baker and Sven Haltmann.

Going into the race, Mackey said his 16-dog team looked sharp, consisting of new youngsters and a core of veterans that are capable of beating 70 other teams to the finish line in Nome on Alaska’s western coast. The Fairbanks musher, whose father and brother are past Iditarod winners, said he feels as competitive as he’s been in the past, despite a host of health issues that make you wonder how he can even get to the trail.

"I know. A lot of people say the same thing," he said. "But I make up mentally what I’m lacking a little bit physically."

That motto could apply to his entire mushing career since he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2001 and underwent extensive surgery as well as radiation treatment and the loss of his salivary glands. After returning to the sport he went on to become the only musher ever to win both the Iditarod and the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in the same year, taking about two weeks off between races. It’s a feat he has accomplished twice.

Mackey speaks openly about using medical marijuana on the trail as a post-cancer painkiller and appetite enhancer. He also talks about facing a misdemeanor count of marijuana possession after being found with a small amount at the Anchorage airport in January, after his medical marijuana card had expired.

For this race, he said he’s staying away from pot. That’s because the Iditarod for the first time is testing mushers for alcohol and illegal drugs, although a provision allowing testing has been on the rule books since 1984. Officials say exemptions include Marinol, a government-approved drug that contains the active ingredient in marijuana, but Mackey said he’s even laying off on his own prescription.

Mackey believes the policy is directed at him. He said other competitors have complained that pot has given him an advantage.

"We’re going to prove some people wrong," he said. "The dogs are the ones doing all the work, for the most part. I don’t see much of an argument beyond that."

Stan Hooley, executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee, said it would be "hard to deny" speculation that the implementation is targeted at Mackey.

"There’s been a lot of rumors, a lot of innuendo over the years, and our organizational response to this was, ‘Well, you know what? Let’s implement a drug-testing program and find out just what is happening, or hopefully not happening,’ " Hooley said.

Yukon Quest rules don’t specifically address drug use among mushers.

Mackey has won that race four times in a row. In February, he came in second by about an hour. But he considers the winner, 51-year-old Canadian Hans Gatt, a lesser rival in the Iditarod. The one he’s watching for is four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King.

"He’s always the team to beat, in my opinion," Mackey said.

Gatt, who came in 10th in the Iditarod last year, also considers King a strong contender, noting the Denali Park musher’s outstanding team. There are other veterans to heed as well, he said, including perpetual front-runner John Baker of Kotzebue, who was third last year.

However it turns out, this looks like the last time fans will see Mackey and King squaring off in the Iditarod. King, 54, said he is running his final Iditarod.

Mackey said he’ll never run the Iditarod and Yukon Quest in the same year again. He skipped the 2009 Quest to mentor a musher and felt much better for the Iditarod. He ran both again this year even though he has been coaching a rookie from Jamaica, Newton Marshall.

"My body’s just getting beat up," he said. "If I’m not having fun and my body’s not holding up, then I don’t see what the point is."

Mackey plans to skip both the Iditarod and the Quest altogether next year. Instead he hopes to try out the lower 48 states’ mushing circuit, including the 345-mile International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race in Wyoming.

"Now, if I go and win the Iditarod this year, it’d be pretty hard not to go back," he said.

— Associated Press

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Photo: Mackey poses with his lead dogs Maple, left, and Larry, after winning the Iditarod in 2009. Credit: Al Grillo / Associated Press

Dennis Krafft of Frankenmuth, Mich., got a big — and we mean big — birthday surprise when he turned 60 on Jan. 5. Al Weiss, a friend of Krafft’s, had unexpectedly found himself in temporary possession of a giant foam pig when his was the winning bid on a "mystery box" at a charity fundraising event.

Apparently "mystery" equaled "one-ton Styrofoam pig" to the event’s organizers, and suddenly Weiss had a pig on his hands. And Krafft had a big birthday coming up. One thing led to another, and soon Krafft’s frontyard had a festive new lawn ornament.

Krafft told the Saginaw News that he was "absolutely blown away" by the discovery of the big pig, which he described as having "a beautifully spiraled tail." Next year we hope the prop will find its way to a National Pig Day celebration!

The photo above, of course, is glorious in its own right. But we suspect that Unleashed’s readership includes some latent comedians, so we invite you to write your own caption in the comment section below. We’ll call out our favorites in a later post.

— Lindsay Barnett

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Photo: The pig is lowered onto Krafft’s lawn. Credit: Jeff Schrier / Associated Press

Japan will not comply if a ban is imposed on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized by Japanese for sushi, a senior official said after the United States threw its support behind the move ahead of a crucial vote.

"If worse comes to worst, Japan will inevitably have to lodge its reservations," Vice Fishery Minister Masahiko Yamada said at a news conference Thursday.

His comments came a day after the United States threw its support behind the trade ban. Conservationists say Atlantic bluefin is at risk of extinction if current catch rates continue.

At a March 13 to 25 meeting in Qatar, 175 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, will vote on a proposal by Monaco to list the species under Appendix 1 of the convention. If the measure wins support from two-thirds of member nations, trade of the fish would be banned.

Environmentalists say that would significantly reduce the catch because 80% of all Atlantic bluefin ends up in Japan, where it is a key ingredient in sashimi and sushi. Fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can go for as much as 2,000 yen ($22) a piece in high-end Tokyo restaurants.

But Japan may register a reservation on the ban, which in practical terms means it could engage in trade with any other nation that also files a reservation.

The impact of such a move remains unclear because it depends on how many other nations might also register reservations. But activists say it could seriously undermine any ban.

"If major fishing nations show the same position as the Japanese government, it will ruin the concept of the CITES treaty," said Wakao Hanaoka, an ocean campaigner with Greenpeace in Tokyo.

Bluefin tuna stocks in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean dropped 60% between 1997 and 2007, a result of surging demand as well as illegal and underreported catches.

The upcoming CITES vote is starting to garner more attention in Japan, with TV programs saying a ban would make it much harder for Japanese to obtain the succulent red and pink tuna meat. Other tuna species, including the Pacific bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin, would not be affected by the ban.

Yamada said Japan is committed to protecting bluefin species. Tokyo believes that catch quotas, which have already been cut 40% this year to 14,900 tons by the International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, should be sufficient.

But environmentalists say the quotas are widely ignored and are too high anyway.

The European Commission has proposed that EU governments commit to the ban, although there still appears to be some division. Greece, Malta, Spain and Italy — which have strong fisherman lobbies — have resisted steps to curtail the hunt for bluefin, but recently France signaled it would support a trade ban if its implementation were delayed.

— Associated Press

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Photo: A restaurant customer eats raw tuna meat at a Tokyo sushi bar. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP/Getty Images