About 100 miles north of Los Angeles, 19 wolf dogs from Alaska are learning how to walk and run, without being tethered to a post.

“They all have a little bit of a limp, walking up and down the hillside,” said Dr. Lorin Lindner, who runs the Lockwood Valley Animal Rescue Center. “They are walking on different terrains, walking on rocks. Their (paw) pads will stiffen up pretty quick though.”

The wolf dogs had been on display at an Anchorage-area roadside attraction, spinning in circles on their 10-foot-long chains.

Rumors swirled like snow drifts that the wolf dogs might have to be destroyed because of a criminal investigation into Wolf Park U.S.A., which charged $5 for visitors to walk alongside the animals and take pictures.

Alaska has severe restrictions on owning wolves, and the 19 captive wolf dogs’ fate was up in the air.

Wolf Park U.S.A. told CNN the wolf dogs were well treated and no laws were broken.

“Once we learned that there were 29 wolves in jeopardy, we knew we had to take action,’ said Lindner, who runs the animal sanctuary with her husband, Matt Simmons.

The couple raised money, including a generous donation from animal activist celebrity Bob Barker, and arranged for the wolf dogs to be transported to their sprawling Lockwood Valley complex a little more than two weeks ago.

Now the animals are finding their footing at the sanctuary, a system of wire holding pens accessible by dirt road in the Los Padres National Forest.

The dogs’ new home stands at 6,000 feet above sea level. It snows in winter.

“This truly is a great place for wolves to live, and it is where they used to live,” Lindner explains. “They inhabited these areas, this national forest, places that were far from humans.”

But Lindner says the wolves were hunted out of existence in these mountains.

The Alaskan wolf dogs live with other rescued hybrid wolves, and are cared for by several war veterans employed by the Lockwood Valley Animal Rescue Center.

Gregg Hill, who fired weapons at Iraqi targets from U.S. Navy vessels, stoops down between the pine trees and drab green brush and offers raw meat to one of the wolf dogs.

“It gives you inner peace,” Hill says. “You feel really good about what you are doing, knowing the situation these guys came from, and knowing that you are working with rescued animals and making their lives better. In turn it makes you feel better about your life and what you are doing.”

Lindner, a clinical psychologist, explains the rescued wolf dogs and the war veterans are both survivors. Working with animals is great therapy for warriors.

“We are finding veterans who, after working with animals, are reuniting with families,” Lindner said. “They are reintegrating into society. They are able to maintain and sustain employment.”

Though they are too wild to become pets, many have been spayed or neutered recently.

Lindner and Simmons sat and rubbed the winter-thick coat of Danny, a shy canine who walked with his tail between his legs.

“You have to get used to all these other wolves and you’re only a year and a half old,” Lindner tells Danny in a soft voice.

“Danny will probably never be a leader of the pack, an alpha male,” says Linder. “But he will be important, an omega wolf, one that watches over others. He will be a good uncle.”

Once the sun slid behind the low-slung mountains, one of the wolf dogs cocked his head back and howled.

“Here it comes,” said Simmons. “They will all join in. It’s sort of like a roll call.”

Within seconds, more than a dozen of the wolves could be heard serenading the remote valley with their howls.

And for their new caretakers, it was sort of an unchained melody, a song of celebration for the wolf dogs and their voyage from possible destruction in Alaska.

In maybe the most blatant animal abuse industry that still exist today; Shark Fin soup has taken it’s first major blow as both Oregon and California will prohibit the sale of shark fins in the new year (2012).

As you may know this Asian delicacy is just the fin of the shark. To keep up with the demand, the fishers for this product cut off the fins and throw the shark back into water. Sometimes they do this with hundreds or even thousands of sharks at a time.

Hats off for CA and OR for stepping up on this ridiculous Asian ritual.

Concern was growing Saturday for the welfare of a much-loved male squirrel monkey stolen from an enclosure at San Francisco Zoo in California.

Zoo workers discovered the theft Friday morning, when they found a back perimeter gate had been breached and two holes cut in the mesh fence of the squirrel monkey exhibit.

The missing monkey, known as Banana-Sam to his keepers, is 17 years old, over 12 inches tall and weighs about 2 lbs.

But his keepers warn that while he looks very cute, he is not a pet — and can deliver a nasty nip.

“He has extremely sharp teeth and will definitely bite if provoked, which can cause infections right away,” the zoo said.

Primate curator Corinne MacDonald told CNN affiliate KTVU she was very worried about Banana-Sam’s well-being.

“Stress can actually kill a monkey that small,” she said. “They are highly social animals and should not be alone, and he’s got cage-mates here that he’s lived with almost all his life that are his friends, so to speak, that he needs to be with.”

The monkey needs a specialized diet to stay healthy and is fairly elderly for his species, making him more vulnerable, the zoo says.

Police are investigating the theft, but surveillance cameras at the zoo did not capture it on film.

What motivated the thieves to swipe the monkey is not clear. While common squirrel monkeys are not endangered, they can be found at pet trade markets — which is illegal in California, the zoo says — or medical research institutions.

“I just want the animal back. I don’t really care why they did it,” MacDonald said.

An unknown person was quick to set up a fake Twitter account in Banana-Sam’s name, following in the path of a cobra that escaped at New York’s Bronx Zoo in March. The snake’s mock Twitter account, with humorous tweets on its supposed whereabouts in New York City, swiftly attracted a large online following.

Under the handle @SF_BananaSam, the “monkey” is now tweeting his way round San Francisco.

“Went to monkey bars in Golden Gate Park playground, left disappointed. #nobananadaiquiri” one post reads.

Another says: “I’m a funny-looking vegan who ran away from home and who people follow on Twitter. IN other words, A NORMAL SAN FRANCISCAN.”

Anyone with information on Banana-Sam’s whereabouts is urged to call San Francisco police.

An underground animal rights group is threatening to spread rat poison in Toronto’s Chinatown and poison food at Mandarin buffet restaurants, the head of the Toronto Chinese Business Association told The Huffington Post Thursday.

Barbara Chiu, the group’s executive director, said she received a letter in the mail Tuesday from an organization calling itself Animal Liberation Canada/USA upset with the group’s decision to fight a city of Toronto ban on the sale of shark fins.

“They see us, the Chinese, having lost the battle in the shark-fin ban … And at the end of the letter it mentions that they are going to spread rat poison in Chinatown and in a particular Chinese restaurant as well,” Chiu said. “They mentioned a Mandarin restaurant, you know the Mandarin Buffet?”

“We are a radical group of “concerned” who protect all wildlife. Warning to y’all. We now have folks in your Chinatowns spreading rat poison on meant, fish, fruit and vegetables. Hopefully some of you will be sick as a dog, which by the way you animal killers eat as well,” the letter states.

Police were notified on Wednesday and the issue was passed along to the hate crimes unit, Chiu said.

The letter begins: “Hey, how’s it going guys? I see you lost the big shark fin ban in Toronto. Thank God, less sharks suffering a painful death in the hands of you barbarians.”

It continues: “You gooks come over here and don’t speak a word of English and don’t teach your kids English. The only English you know is, “you give me free.”

Chiu told HuffPost vicious and insulting letters are nothing new.

“We have been receiving a lot of hatred emails since we have been voicing out for the Chinese businesses but those emails are just hatred emails insulting Chinese, that is totally fine with us but this one is a threatening mail with criminal activities that they intend to do to Chinatown so we just want to make it aware to the businesses in Chinatown,” she said.

The letter ends with: “Our head office in the USA will be supplying us with e coli virus. Let me warn you don’t eat at the Mandarin restaurants.”

Aaron Ma, the dinning room manager for Mandarin’s Yonge Street location told HuffPost he hadn’t heard of any threats but wasn’t particularly worried.

“This is news to me,” he said.

Animal Liberation Canada/USA may be aligned with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) a leaderless group known of its violent and criminal actions.

“We don’t know who they are…for obvious reasons they remain anonymous,” said Will Hazlitt, of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a group that is not directly related to the AFL.

Hazlitt said his group relays messages on behalf of the ALF when they receive anonymous tips about their campaigns. He said he had received nothing relating to Toronto’s Chinatown.

The community is “absolutely worried” about the letter’s threats, said Justin Poy, of the Fair and Responsible Governing Alliance, a group just formed to fight against what they believe are irrational bans such as on the shark fin.

“There will always be people and groups who hate and have prejudice. This kind of ban just incites them and gives them a reason, a purpose to target particular groups,” he said.

“Nobody has come forward to take responsibility for the letter. We hope that it is just a hoax, that it is just an individual who is a little bit off and venting whatever beef they have against the Chinese people but, you know, this kind of letter is quite scary.”

“We don’t want to alarm anybody…We certainly hope that it will not curb anybody’s desire to go to a Chinese restaurant.”

As you celebrate the holidays with family, friends and those adorable companion animals known as pets, you should be thrilled to learn that the distant cousins of your pets have just won a historic victory. West Hollywood, California, recently passed a first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of fur within its city limits, effective in 2013.

West Hollywood City Council member John D’Amico, who spearheaded the ordinance, told me, “We didn’t want to be a city that supported the raising of animals to be killed just for fashion.”

Well put. If you wouldn’t want somebody skinning your dog or cat for their fur, then why would you allow the same horror to befall other equally sentient beings? The raccoons, foxes, beavers, chinchillas, minks, rabbits, and yes, sometimes even dogs and cats that are killed for fur are not very different from your beloved dog or cat. They all have eyes, ears and hearts. They all experience pain when they are physically maimed. They shake with fear when they experience terror.

“I am just so baffled by this. This is pure politics at its worst,” the executive director of the Fur Information Council, Keith Kaplan, said.

But there’s nothing to be baffled about. Historically, the exploitation of animals is driven by the desire for profit. And throughout history, the most predictable argument against progress toward civility is that change is going to cost us money.

Opponents claim nearly half of the 200 apparel stores in town sell at least some fur items.

But the law doesn’t go into effect for nearly two years. D’Amico says that’s plenty of time for stores to cycle out their fur inventory. They can either sell it off fast or — better yet — donate it to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA in turn gives the furs away to the homeless.

The councilman told me he believed the ban will ultimately bring West Hollywood much more business than it will lose. He is working to develop a “fur-free shopping day,” he said, and a yearly fur-free event, leading up to the time when the ban kicks in.

He also plans to leverage the global attention that the fur ban has garnered to draw sympathetic shoppers to West Hollywood. There are obviously cruelty-free alternatives to fur that are very functional and warm the body even more than fur. Those can be, and are, sold for profit.

Some wonder, well, if you take the anti-fur argument to its logical conclusion, is banning the sale of leather next? D’Amico responds, “Incremental thinking about the way we are in the world is important and has always been important and this is an example of it.”

Unfortunately, fur is still flying off the racks. It’s a billion dollar industry. To those who say, “I love animals, but –” I say, check out the facts. Do you even have the stomach to watch a minute or two of these innocent creatures — who have done nothing to humans — trying to bite off their own legs because they’re stuck in excruciatingly painful leg hold traps? Or how about watching the electrocution of fur-bearing animals on so-called fur farms? I’ve seen both. As an animal rights activist, I’ve supported the documentary “Skin Trade,” which shows it all. The images haunt me, particularly when I see women head to toe in fur.

Irish statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Well, the good people of West Hollywood have actually done something. They’ve gone out of their way to fight for the most voiceless in our world — animals. D’Amico hopes the state of California will one day follow suit and start turning the West Coast fur-free. But even though he knows of no other city that is considering a similar ban, he hopes — as do I — that West Hollywood’s action has sparked a collective re-examination of a practice that many believe has no place in the 21st century.

Prisoners in ice, more than 100 Beluga whales in far eastern Russia risk death unless rescued soon.

The flock of gentle ghost-white whales was trapped in ice floes in the Sinyavinsky Strait off the Bering Sea near the village of Yanrakynnot, said a statement from the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

Fishermen reported that the whales were concentrated in two relatively small ice holes, where, for now, they can breathe freely. But the Belugas’ chance of swimming back to water is slim due to the vast fields of ice over the strait.

The whales have little food, and the ice flow is increasing, the statement said. They are at risk of rapid exhaustion and, ultimately, death by starvation or suffocation. Trapped whales are also susceptible to predators like polar bears and killer whales.

The Chukotka Autonomous Region government has sought help from federal authorities and asked for an icebreaker to help rescue the Belugas. A rescue tug, Ruby, was in the area helping a Korean cargo ship that ran aground on the southern coast of Chukotka but it would take one and a half days for it to reach the whales, the statement said.

Trapped belugas are a frequent phenomenon in the Arctic waters but are not often detected by people. In Chukotka, the last relatively successful case was recorded in 1986, when an ice-breaker helped free trapped beluga whales.

PETA is celebrating the holidays—and who better to ring in a “Meowy
Catmas” than a chorus of singing, animated cats? They—along with a
special guest who pops up to wish everyone a “hoppy New Year”—are
the stars of PETA’s new holiday video, which you can view here.
http://features.peta.org/meowy-catmas/ I thought you might be
interested in sharing this fun, festive video with your readers.

Shoppers can also celebrate “Catmas” with gifts from the PETA Catalog,
which offers a Cat Gift Set—complete with organic catnip, three
toys, and a durable scratch pad—and a special Kitt-In Box, a cat
perch for home offices that allows kitties to curl up near their busy
humans. And the catalog has plenty to offer two-legged family members
as well, including holiday cards and 2012 calendars.

Feld Entertainment Inc., which produces the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, has agreed to pay $270,000 for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act on several occasions from June 2007 to August 2011, according to a USDA news release.

The USDA can levy fines of up to $10,000 per violation of the act.

“This settlement sends a direct message to the public and to those who exhibit animals that USDA will take all necessary steps to protect animals regulated under the Animal Welfare Act,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release.

Feld Entertainment officials settled in lieu of a hearing and agreed to implement new training protocols for any circus employees who handle animals, the statement said.

“We look forward to working with the USDA in a cooperative and transparent manner that meets our shared goal of ensuring that our animals are healthy and receive the highest quality care,” Kenneth Feld, the company’s CEO, said in a separate statement.

As part of the settlement, the company admits no wrongdoing or violation of USDA policy.

The settlement comes in the wake of a federal appeals court dismissal of a lawsuit against Feld Entertainment filed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Animal Protection Institute.

The lawsuit alleged that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in violation of the Endangered Species Act and that the circus systematically abuses and exploits elephants by using metal bullhooks to guide and control the animals, as well as chaining their legs while they are not performing.

The lawsuit was dismissed in October on the grounds that the two animal protection organizations did not have the standing to bring the lawsuit against Feld Entertainment because they could not establish legal “injury” to themselves.

Thanksgiving may just be the most perilous day to be a turkey— after all, we call it Turkey Day. When the birds are under all that stress, who can blame them for wanting to take a little revenge? From chasing after mail trucks to pecking at presidents, you’ve Gotta Watch these turkeys unleash their wrath.

Wild turkey chase—A turkey might not seem like a very menacing animal — until it’s chasing you. One Sacramento TV producer went to check out reports of a turkey named “Terrible Tom” terrorizing a neighborhood. She got a lot more than she bargained for. See her hilarious reaction to this wild turkey.

Watch the hilarious videos here