Animal Breeding

It seems so very British that an ugly row has broken out between those who say they love dogs and those who say they love dogs more. But just such a royal catfight has ensnared the country's most prestigious dog show, Crufts, which opens today here in Birmingham, a four-day extravaganza of four-legged bliss that has drawn millions of viewers to the British Broadcasting Corp. since 1966. But not this year.

This time each year, hundreds of croaking, roaring, shrieking elephant seals gather to breed and give birth on the rocky shoreline below Hearst Castle. The boisterous annual show draws hordes of tourists to a boardwalk 15 feet above, where they can watch the enormous pinnipeds tend the shiny black pups, squabble over beach space and battle for the right to mate. But this year, the traffic jams near the Piedras Blancas birthing grounds aren't being caused just by curious motorists.

Emerging from dog crates facing the open ocean, eight rehabilitated brown pelicans padded down a Cabrillo Beach boat ramp Friday on absurdly short legs, wings flapping hard to gain lift as they rose into the air. They were among about 130 juvenile pelicans discovered, emaciated and ill, in the last two months in a variety of unexpected places from Long Beach to Santa Barbara -- in backyards, condominium complexes and shopping mall parking lots.

Nothing is too good for Thair abu Yousif's loved ones. He buys ice each day to cool their water. He has built a special house for them, with a guard outside. Some nights he lies awake, wondering how to find them perfect mates. That the objects of his adoration are pigeons does not strike Abu Yousif as odd. In fact, he is one of the most respected bird breeders in Iraq, his passion rekindled after years of violence that made lingering on rooftops an invitation to be shot by a sniper.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to be known as the greenest governor in America. But his eco-record this year was at best "mixed," according to report cards from the Natural Resources Defense Council and other major environmental groups.

These are wonderful times to be an island fox. A decade ago, the house-cat-sized animals were scampering toward extinction, with only a few dozen surviving at spots scattered around Channel Islands National Park. Now they're practically poster mammals for species revival, numerous enough that government scientists no longer have to breed them in the safety of chain-link pens.

It's rare for a zoo to get an animal from its native land; most animals on exhibit these days were born in zoos. This weekend, the Los Angeles Zoo takes the even more unusual step of sending an animal to its indigenous land. The zoo's male Sumatran rhino, one of the world's most endangered mammals, will return to his roots. Well, technically, his roots are in Cincinnati: He was born at the zoo there in September 2001.

Afraid that a population explosion among squirrels in a city park could pose a public health risk, Santa Monica officials are ready to try a proven method of dealing with the problem: birth control shots. Plans call for squirrels in Palisades Park to be injected with an immuno-contraceptive vaccine to stunt sexual development. Breeding season runs from February to April, but the inoculations will take place this summer when the squirrels are most active outdoors and easier to trap.

While the Los Angeles Zoo is transferring its lone African elephant to a sanctuary, the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park is undergoing an elephant population boom. On Sunday, Litsemba, a 17-year-old African elephant, gave birth to a healthy male weighing between 250 and 300 pounds. Mother and calf are visible on the elephant cam on the park's website, www.wildanimalpark.org. Two other African elephants at the park -- Umoya and Lungile -- are pregnant and due later this year, officials said.

The City Council unanimously voted to support Assembly Bill 1634 by state Sen. Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) that would require residents to spay or neuter their dogs and cats by the time their pets are 4 months old -- unless they obtain a breeder's permit.