Animal Deaths

A man suspected of using an ax to kill his brother's pet basset hound was charged Monday with felony animal cruelty, prosecutors said. Rudy Fernandez, 36, was arrested Thursday after he allegedly tried for half an hour to strangle the dog, named Samantha, and then struck her with an ax, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Knaan. The dog later died of its injuries. Los Angeles police said Fernandez tried to discard the animal, but police found the remains in a trash bin after receiving a call from a tipster.

A herd of horses trotted onto the 91 Freeway in Corona early Monday, causing two collisions that killed one of the animals, forced authorities to close the road for roughly five hours and left three motorists with minor injuries. The horses, about a dozen in all, escaped from Hart Ranch and a neighboring property and bolted several hundred yards in the predawn darkness to the freeway, near Green River Road, said Donna Hart, co-owner of the ranch.

Winky, a popular but ailing elephant that had been transferred from the Detroit Zoo to a California refuge, has died. The 56-year-old elephant was euthanized Monday, according to the Performing Animal Welfare Society, which housed Winky in its San Andreas compound. Winky was one of two Asian elephants moved in 2005 to the sanctuary in the Sierra Nevada foothills because of arthritis and foot problems. Officials with the society say Winky was unable to get back on her feet after sliding to her hindquarters over the weekend, forcing veterinarians to euthanize her. Fifty-year-old Wanda remains there.

Six protected sea lions found dead in government traps this month died of overheating, not gunshots, as had been initially suspected, the National Marine Fisheries Service said in Portland. Investigators had suspected foul play after finding sea lions covered in blood and puncture wounds inside a trap at a dam between Washington and Oregon. But a review found that the deaths were consistent with heat exhaustion.

When 13 horses line up for Saturday's Preakness, horse racing will hold its collective breath. The sport absorbed a devastating blow two weeks ago at the 134th Kentucky Derby, when Eight Belles suffered a fatal breakdown moments after she finished second to champion Big Brown. It was the third death in two years of a thoroughbred who had run in a high-profile race -- the others being Barbaro, months after his 2006 Preakness injury, and George Washington in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

Federal authorities are investigating the deaths of two sea lions found on the beach Wednesday with apparent shotgun wounds. City lifeguards discovered the two wounded, adult sea lions north of the Seal Beach Pier on Wednesday morning, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service sent an agent to investigate, said agency spokesman Jim Milbury. They probably died about two weeks ago but just recently washed onto the beach, he said. Their bodies were being taken to the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro for a necropsy, which will determine cause of death, he said.

Police are investigating the death of a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois police dog named Forest who was found Friday in the back of his handler's squad car in Alpine, where the temperature soared to more than 100 degrees. A necropsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death. The dog's handler, a 22-year veteran, has been put on desk duty pending a decision. Two other Belgian Malinois police dogs have died in recent years of an intestinal condition common to the breed, San Diego officials said.

What had been for the last six months a vibrant stream teeming with migrating waterfowls and shorebirds early last week became a dry San Gabriel River channel where vultures gorged themselves on ducklings that died when the flows dried up.

Marine veterinarians euthanized a 26-foot-long sick whale Friday after it became stranded on a mudflat off the coast of southern England. British wildlife experts and the coast guard tried all day to save the northern bottlenose whale, which beached off Langstone Harbor, 75 miles southwest of London. The coast guard helped it return to the water, but the whale became stranded a second time on a nearby mudflat later in the day.

State wildlife officials are investigating a possible poaching case in which someone removed the gallbladder of a black bear -- which can sell for thousands of dollars in Asia -- after the animal was struck and killed this week by a car in the Lake Tahoe area. The animal was found with its groin area shaved and gallbladder missing early Tuesday, less than 10 hours after a motorist reported striking the bear and California Highway Patrol officers moved it off the roadway.