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The chaotic chase shut down 2nd between Wilshire and Arizona.

News helicopters swarmed above a glass business courtyard on Santa Monica's swanky 2nd Street all morning -- visible from rush hour on the PCH -- as Santa Monica police worked with Department of Fish and Game officials to round up an 80-pound baby mountain lion.

But after a tranquilizer dart, a round of "pepper balls" and multiple blasts from a Fire Department hose, the wild animal was still in danger of escaping the courtyard...

Also, weed and cash.

But when deputies arrived to the 1200 block of Ogden Drive to let the dog out, they found a red Nissan Pathfinder full of bigger problems:

Best Friends Animal Society

The Trayvon of shelter pets.

L.A. animal shelters went public with this disturbing trend (sometimes called Black Dog Syndrome) last year, revealing to Time Magazine that black shelter pets "are often the last to be adopted and the first to be euthanized."

The good news is that from this injustice was born an animal civil-rights movement of sorts...

hamdh ahmed

Not only did he bring protected tortoises into the United States for sale, but he used that cash to export snakes, turtles and tortoises native to America back to Japan, they said.

Savvy, yes, except he was caught, and now Yamagami will spend ...

L.A. County

Gordo.

The four-month-old pit bull mix was taken into the Baldwin Park Animal Care Center last week by a good Samaritan after he suffered a broken elbow at the hands, apparently, of his drug-crazed owner.

The L.A. County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care is asking for your donations to help him get the surgery he needs:

KTLA

R.I.P.

According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) spokesman Andrew Hughan, a resident of the foothills near the Angeles National Forest called 911 after spotting a mountain lion in her garage. The LAPD was first on scene, but no blood was shed until a DFG warden showed up, according to Hughan.

Grace, the heroic dog of La Puente

That was fast! Last week in La Puente, Grace the labrador became an Internet sensation by standing vigil over her car-struck, dead, canine comrade on Hacienda Boulevard. A local resident, worried that Grace would get hit as well, placed traffic cones around Grace because she would not budge from her heartsick vigil.

That Good Samaritan has now adopted Grace, beating hundreds of others who would do anything to own a dog with such fierce loyalty, heart and courage. As one commenter said this morning on KNX, we all want to "be like Grace."

Gila.

Today the L.A. City Attorney's office announced that Castaneda was convicted of possession of a native California reptile and the keeping of a wild reptile without a permit:

Rita.

Hell hath no fury like the L.A. owners of a strangled puppy.

That, at least, is the story set forth in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court today against PetSmart.

The suit alleges that PetSmart employees not only strangled their beloved English bulldog pup Rita, but that ...

David Shankbone

The source of their ire? "Terror and agony for millions of chickens" that are each year destined to become tasty, golden Chicken McNuggets, PETA says.

According to an announcement from the group, the protest marks the move of PETA's younger, hotter "youth division," a.k.a. "peta2," from the East Coast to ...

Pacific Marine Mammal Center

A gray whale became entangled off Redondo Beach today, according to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Rescuers were headed to the mammal in an attempt to free it for the second time in two days, apparently.

The whale first became entangled ...

It's a party.

When it happens to Kim Kardashian, it's an international incident -- enough to get the tight-lipped L.A. County Sheriff's Department to issue an official statement. Really:

The ones that got away.

The LAPD's Animal Cruelty Task Force pulled a couple of severed dog heads -- formerly belonging to a chocolate lab and a German shepherd -- from a dumpster behind the CVS on Slauson Avenue last night.

"It was apparent that the dogs' heads had been clearly severed from their bodies with a sharp object..."

Scott Lowell via Twitter

"You see amazing things in the parks of LA! This guy was Bench-pressing this goose for 10 min."

We obviously had to get to the bottom of this.

Who is the man (and goose) behind the urban legend?

HBO

Prepare to die.

PETA started the flamewar last month, enraged at the news that two horses had to be put down in a single season. And when word came today of a third horsey death, HBO caved to the pressure -- canceling the show entirely, halfway through a second season of filming.

But in the hard, fast world of THE races, three casualties is nothing:

brentclarkphotography.com

Enemy of the state.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that government officials in Clark County (yeah, apparently Vegas is located within a real-life county, not just autonomous Vegasland) approved an ordinance today that bans all pets from the Strip.

Their reasoning, according to the Sun:

Western Outdoor News

Richards cuddles with his kill.

Originally posted at 12 p.m.

OK, headline's a little dramatic.

But so was the reaction of animal-rights activists and California politicians to a now-infamous photo of Dan Richards, commissioner for the California Dept. of Fish and Game, gleefully holding up a dead mountain lion.

Sharing is caring.

Guidelines were established after numerous requests from dog owners and the owners of dog-friendly restaurants, says Angelo Bellomo, Director of Environmental Health for Los Angeles County.

@Potasnik via Twitter

"1 min before dog saved in Weho. Holy Shit"

Around 2:45 p.m., master Twitpic artist Scott Potasnik snapped a photo of a black dog who had just attempted to jump off a second-story balcony on Beverly near Oakwood...

Mayor Villaraigosa.

Well today city Controller Wendy Greuel spelled it out in an audit of Animal Services: "Department officials ... neglected to perform physical inventories of their fixed assets or equipment, including guns and ammunition."

Oops. But wait, there's more: