Pet Rabbit

Sho Yano's mother hands him his lunch for school in a brown paper bag -- a turkey sandwich and cookies included. "You don't need any bones today? No bones?" Kyung Yano asks her bespectacled 12-year-old, who shakes his head as they head out their apartment door. She wants to make sure he isn't supposed to take samples of spinal bones and a human skull to class, where he's learning about human anatomy.

The possible jail term is the same for choking a woman and strangling a rabbit. The possible fine is different. A thousand dollars for attacking the woman. Twenty thousand for killing the pet rabbit. "This is consistent with a [country] that has six times as many animal shelters as domestic violence shelters," said Assemblywoman Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). "Crimes against women have never been taken as seriously as other types of crime."

A fire of undetermined origin caused $50,000 worth of damage to a home at 4241 Dogwood Ave. in Seal Beach on Monday. The blaze broke out at 2:47 p.m. and consumed the attic and the kitchen, county fire officials said. Owner Joanne Harris and her three daughters were not at home at the time of the fire, officials said. Not so lucky were a pet rabbit and a pet rat, which perished in the fire. However, firefighters said they were able to save two parrots.

Arsonists sparked a fire that destroyed a two-story home at 2117 Bromfield St. in Simi Valley, Ventura County fire investigators have determined. Without releasing other details, investigators asked for the public's help in identifying the arsonists.

The fur was flying as the Lancaster City Council voted 3 to 2 to become the third city in Los Angeles County to reject a county proposal to begin mandatory cat licensing in the community and to add a $2 surcharge to dog licenses. "I think it's ridiculous. The next thing you're going to want is my pet rabbit," said Mayor Arnie Rodio, who helped swing the council vote and owns two Himalayan cats.

Under a plea bargain, a North Hollywood man Monday pleaded no contest to beating up his girlfriend in exchange for the dismissal of a more serious charge of strangling her pet rabbit. Raphael Diaz Rodriguez, 24, was sentenced to 90 days in Los Angeles County Jail and ordered to pay $200 to the state domestic violence fund and $100 to the state restitution fund. He also was placed on three years probation.

A two-story home on Bromfield Street in Simi Valley was lost to fire early Wednesday, Haccording to the Ventura County Fire Department. The owners of the home, John and Velvalee Reid, were on vacation in Utah, and no one was hurt in the blaze, which caused about $210,000 in damage. Neighbor Ron Taylor, an off-duty firefighter, was awakened by his dogs barking about 4:40 a.m., smelled smoke and called 911.

The Fair Housing Congress of Southern California and the Westside Fair Housing Council offered a $5,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the criminals responsible for the racist harassment that drove an interracial couple from their Westchester home. Tori and Robson Dufau moved from their trim stucco home on West 79th Street in May.

Sometimes we learn most about criminal law and its problems from the cases that do not receive much public attention. Who could have guessed that a seemingly simple North Hollywood case would connect the interests of battered women and animal rights and highlight an astounding discrepancy? In the case, a man stood trial last week on a charge that he knocked his girlfriend into a staircase with a blow to the face and then choked her.