'Cause everyone loves news about animals!

Unsafe sex kills, people -- 12 penguins at the SF Zoo have died of chlamydia. We don't even want to know what's going on in that penguin sanctuary late at night!! Kidding, kidding -- zoo officials think the penguins were infected by seagull droppings. This just begs the question, though -- how'd the seagulls get chlamydia? (It's also possible, but not probable, that the penguins picked it up from infected people breathing on them.) Zoo officials claim the outbreak's under control, but still -- if a penguin (or seagull) comes up to you in a bar, take precautions!

Various South Bay humane societies are offering a $500 reward for information about the person who left two boxes of five severely neglected older poodles outside Redwood City's Pets In Need adoption center. One male poodle had to be put to sleep because of his atrophied legs and rotting teeth, and four other females are also ill. One female's eye will also probably have to be taken out. Pets in Need is processing the poodles and if everything works out, will offer them for adoption starting next week.

And everyone is super-zowie excited about the baby falcons born on top of the PG&E building! They've just been banded by the UC Santa Cruz predatory bird research group and are growing up so fast! See, in SF, we love our predatory birds, not like those cruel co-op dwellers in New York. Check out the babies here and here.