Animal Rights

Ilagene "Jeanie" Quaglia Accused of Hoarding 53 Animals Busted With Kitten in Trunk of Car

Monterey police have tracked down the woman who they say was hoarding 50-plus animals in her house -- and car. Police have arrested 59-year-old Ilagene "Jeanie" Quaglia who reportedly lived in the urine-soaked home at 1290 First Street where the animals were found living in three feet of garbage.

SPCA Seeking Motherly Types to Help Care for Baby Birds

If you're a mother experiencing empty nest syndrome, here's a great gig for you. Just like every Spring, animal shelters experience an overwhelming influx of baby birds in need of a mother hen to guide them. You could be that mother hen. This weekend, the Peninsula Humane Society is holding its fi ... More >>

S.F. Cat Lovers to Let Random People Pick Out Their Next Tattoo to Help Homeless Pets

When you refer to yourself as an animal lover, are you enough of one to let a complete stranger tattoo whatever they want on your body if it meant helping a dog or cat? Think about it. Two very brave SPCA employees, Laura Gretch and Daniel Quagliozzi, are going to let any moron with money design ... More >>

Yes, Santa Will Let Your Pet Snake Sit on His Lap

For all you crazy cat ladies out there, here's your chance to get even crazier with your feline. Santa Claus is coming to the Peninsula Humane Society specifically to let your pets sit on his lap and bark, meow, or hiss what it is they would like for Christmas this year. If that sounds weird, it's ... More >>

Thief Snatches Unvaccinated Pup From SPCA, Reward Offered for Dog's Return

Readers, please be on the lookout for Violet, a 10-week-old terrier mix who was brazenly snatched in broad daylight from the San Francisco SPCA yesterday afternoon. Krista Maloney, spokeswoman for the SPCA, tells us that the brown-and-white pup had recently arrived at the adoption center after Anima ... More >>

Peninsula SPCA Is Giving Away Kittens, Go Get One Now

If this weather makes you feel lonely and sad, then you probably are in need of a companion. Chin up: We found one -- or 20 -- for you. Go down to the Peninsula today and get your free kitty. We said FREE, damn it. Right now as we type, the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA is waiving adoption fees ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Starved Pelicans Are Now Crowding San Mateo's Shelter

Those sad and starved Brown Pelicans that have packed into nearby shelters this past month have wormed their way into the Peninsula Humane Society's Wild Life Center where they are getting 'round the clock care. The Peninsula Humane Society has taken in some 30 emaciated and really cold Pelicans, su ... More >>

Family Accuses San Francisco SPCA of Cruelty and Mistreatment

A San Francisco family launched what they hoped would be the next KONY 2012 campaign, claiming the San Francisco SPCA didn't give their pup, Daisy, the care she needed after barely surviving a car accident in the East Bay. The dog's owner, Pamela Fitzgerald, is claiming she was "stonewalled" by the ... More >>

SPCA Will Pay You to Adopt a Chihuahua

The Bay Area is still so desperate to shed animal shelters of Chihuahuas, that not only are they offering them for free, but they will actually pay you take one off their hands. The Peninsula Humane Society has pledged to give $10 to anyone who adopts a one of these little lap dogs this weekend at t ... More >>

Kristen Bell Goes Vegan, Ricky Gervais Loves Bunnies, and Vegan Shamrock Shakes!

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Oakland Shelters Maxed Out with Bunnies

​Oakland bunnies are fucking like rabbits -- literally. The city's animal shelters are up to their ears with more rabbits than they can handle.The Oakland Animal Services is telling reporters that the shelter has received more almost two dozen bunnies in the last two weeks, and while they won't tu ... More >>

S.F. to Save Every Dog and Cat from Bad Pet Owners by 2020

​Just like former Mayor Gavin Newsom had ambitious and well-intentioned plans to find every homeless person a home by 2014, the local SPCA has crafted a somewhat similar plan to spare all San Francisco cats and dogs from the same kind of hopelessness. By 2020, the San Francisco SPCA says it will c ... More >>

Dog Tossed From Moving Car Is Missing

Frosty​Crimes against animals are just unforgivable. The Santa Cruz SPCA issued an alert for the public's help in finding Frosty, a 1-year-old cream-colored poodle-terrier mix who went missing this week from the local SPCA. The last sighting of Frosty was on Monday when someone witnessed Frosty be ... More >>

Busted: Puppy Thieves Caught on Video (Photos)

Earlier today, we gave readers a happy ending to the story of a adorable pit bull puppy that was brazenly snatched from the Mission District animal shelter just hours before he was scheduled to be adopted. Fortunately, a woman, who says she bought the dog outside a Safeway for $200, returned the pup ... More >>

Sexy PETA Activists to Tease Rapture Believers

There must be some kind of cosmic navel beneath the city of Oakland, because zealots of all stripes seem to be congregating there these days. If you thought the existence of a religious organization predicting the end of the world -- for the third time in 17 years -- was bad, well, we've got news fo ... More >>

If the City Takes Your Dog, It Will Also Take Its Gonads

Bunny Bust: SPCA Raids Home, Confiscates 21 Malnourished Rabbits in Oakland

Bugs Bunny had it easy ​Animal officials stormed a Lake Merritt home in Oakland's Tuesday night and scooped up 21 deformed and malnourished bunnies who were being prepped to be eaten. Now, they are looking to find these precious hares a new home after so much suffering, according to news reports. ... More >>

Hidden Video Shows Pigs Thrown, Mutilated, and Confined

A pig's life​Brace yourself for this distressing piece of news. Mercy for Animals is releasing a truly jaw-dropping video that shows just how badly pigs are abused in the process of being slaughtered. According to the national animal rights organization, which planted an investigator within the Io ... More >>

Disturbing Video Released Showing How Badly Pigs Are Abused

Earlier this morning we told you about the sad story of how hidden video captured how badly piglets were abused at Iowa Select Farms, which supplies the meat to companies, including Safeway. Today, Mercy For Animals, a national animal rights organization, released the graphic video before calling on ... More >>

Michael Vick Says Google's "Dog Wars" Game Glorifies Animal Abuse

The fight against dogfighting​If Michael Vick says something is skirting on the edge of animal cruelty -- you have to give it a pause. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback who was jailed for his involvement in a dogfighting ring, has come out against a new Google Android app that lets users train t ... More >>

SPCA Helps Find Homes For More Than 200 Cats and Dogs

Breaking Free​It's true that San Francisco is not considered a pet-friendly city. Still, it did a pretty good job over the holidays luring cat and dog lovers to Union Square, and then convincing them to adopt the homeless animals. In November, the SPCA launched its Macy's pet display, hoping to fi ... More >>

Free Bird!

Want to Adopt One of These Adorable Kittens? Name Your Price.

Jack Daniels the wonderkitty​The miraculous return of Jack Daniels, the bi-coastal, visually impaired kitty has brought plenty of press attention to the San Francisco's SPCA. Adoption applications for Jack Daniels -- who was abducted from San Francisco last year, then identified by a microchip in ... More >>

SPCA Triumphs in Legal Dogfight, Wins $500,000 Inheritance

Ring, ring! Bad news, Hearing Dog Program...​After a lengthy legal dogfight, an appeals court judge has handed the San Francisco SPCA a half-million dollar inheritance. The battle was sparked last year when the Hearing Dog Program -- a nonprofit formed two years ago when the SPCA gutted its 29-yea ... More >>

Decapitated Goats Lead to Reward Offer

KPIXOne of the unfortunate animals in question...​If you know who decapitated three goats and left the bodies in full view near San Jose's Alum Rock Park -- and you've been sitting on the information -- perhaps $2,500 might loosen your tongue. San Rafael's In Defense of Animals is offering a rewar ... More >>

Vegan activist protests sale of live chickens at UN Plaza farmers' market

Nude Woman With Hideous Scars Headed for Bay Area (PICS)

Now, this is all for the best of causes...​People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has worked out an unspoken deal with society. They parade around comely young women wearing next to nothing. And we pay attention to the spectacle and take in PETA's accompanying message. Yes, that was PETA lend ... More >>

At $5 a Pop, Injured Hens All Adopted Out

Ain't nobody here but us chickens...​The early bird gets the worm -- and the early adopter gets the chicken. All 80 of the clucking, egg-laying, injured hens that arrived Wednesday at the Marin Humane Society have been adopted. After knocking down the price-per-hen to five bucks -- chickenfeed, ye ... More >>

Rescued Hens Up For Adoption in Marin

​This morning, 70 rescued hens arrived at the Marin County Humane Society in Novato. They came from an animal sanctuary in Vacaville, where an egg farmer had dropped them off with plastic bands cutting into their legs. The farmer had placed the bands on the chickens when they were young, not think ... More >>

Thinking About Keeping Backyard Chickens? Rescued Birds Might Be a Good Place to Start

​This morning, 70 rescued hens arrived at the Marin County Humane Society in Novato. They came from an animal sanctuary in Vacaville, where a Northern California egg farmer had dropped them off with plastic bands cutting into their legs.The farmer placed the bands on the chickens when they were yo ... More >>

Animal Control Bunny "Raid" Means No Easter Bunnies For You

​Though the so-called bunny "raid" of a Mission District pet store on Wednesday connotes a rather tickling image of  stormtroopers busting through the door, packing heat and scooping up 23 bunnies, the truth is that the San Francisco Department of Animal Care and Control's confiscation of the ... More >>

PETA Wants You to Help Pick the Sexiest Vegetarian

PETASean from San Lorenzo.​Is there something about packing your body with un-meat that makes you hot? That's the subtext of PETA's annual Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest. The animal-rights group is in the 11th hour of balloting for a roster of guys and gals who are as kind, presumably, a ... More >>

SPCA Thanks Volunteers for Their Efforts, Reminds Them To Keep Mouths Shut

​The San Francisco SPCA is in the news for the wrong reasons of late: a scathing feature in Northside Magazine; layoffs of 15 percent of the workforce (which critics say will expedite the euthanization of animals in the name of economic savings); and a TV report in which SPCA brass admitted they'r ... More >>

Legal Dogfight Over $500K Bequest Remains Unresolved

A legal battle over which hearing dog program is entitled to a half-million dollar bequest went into overtime yesterday. The Hearing Dog Program, a San Francisco nonprofit formed by the workers laid off by the San Francisco SPCA when it liquidated its 29-year-old hearing dog program in 2008, objecte ... More >>

Every Dog Has His Day -- In Court: $500,000 Bequest Spurs Legal Dogfight

Never fear, a probate judge is hereNot quite a year after it abruptly curtailed its 29-year-old hearing dog program and all but frog-marched several workers out of the building, the San Francisco SPCA is now claiming that, no, the hearing dog program never really ended -- and the SPCA should get a $ ... More >>

How Much for That Kitty in the Window?

SF Weekly Letters

Photos: Saturday's Hearing Dog Program Protest

Kiva's Microloans Underwriting Cockfighting in Peru

PETA's Kooky New Campaign: Give Peas A Chance

Best Reason to Watch the San Francisco Government Access Channel

SPCA Pet Adoption Programming

Letters to the Editor

Tale of the Whale; Night Crawler: A Cure for the Common Cold

Hold On a Minute!

Ecologists are still trying to spin their phony save the whale campaign

Night Crawler

House of Tudor

Dog Bites

Men Behaving Viciously

How ACT UP San Francisco spreads spit, fake blood, used cat litter, and potentially deadly misinformation through the AIDS community

Savage Love