Animal hoarding's always been a lurid fascination of ours, along with people who have sextuplets, and Chris Daly. So have you been following this story about the guy who had over 1000 rats in his house? The man, Robert Dier, had initially tried to separated them by sex in three of the ten cages in his house, but soon became "overwhelmed" (the euphemism of choice for hoarders, according to the episodes of Animal Cops we watch). Interestingly/entertainingly, he lives in Petaluma, which is where Marilyn Barletta, the famous 200+ cat hoarder, is from too. (Note to self: think about opening a Petco in Petaluma.) The man also had seven cats in his house. When asked why the cats didn't eat the rats, the Animal Services manager speculated, "Maybe it was like working in a deli. After a while, you get tired of deli food.") Now, rat fans are outraged that the Petaluma animal shelter euthanized over 1000 of the rats. The collectors say they were trying to mobilize people to adopt them. The animal shelter said in its defense that many of the rats were feral, severely sick (some missing eyeballs, and others with teeth growing into their opposite jaws), and not really adoptable. Nine rats have been adopted, 30 have been sent to LA, 4 are in Rohnert Park, and 150 of the rats are still up for adoption. The shelter says it's carefully screening people, ever since last year when they discovered that someone who'd adopted a rabbit from them was a hoarder as well. (Note to self: That Petco in Petaluma would do great). The final note in this story? The rat hoarder is a convicted armed robber whose home was used as a hideout in the 60s by people trying to kidnap Frank Sinatra Jr., and as the animal shelter manager said:

He's an intelligent man to talk to, but he smells like rat urine. He told me that when he had only 100 of them, he'd let them sleep with him in his bed. They'd get all in his shorts and stuff. And you can't potty train them, so you know they were urinating and defecating in there.

We love San Francisco and we love animals and we love seeing the bad guys get caught. Now we can see all three things at once in Animal Cops San Francisco on the Animal Planet Channel. We only hope these brave souls are not so busy enforcing the new pit bull laws that they don’t have time to crack down on bars that discriminate against dogs. Cama is not one of those bars. It on......

This is a pretty boring week for TV. The only thing we're even halfway excited about is something Rita mentioned last week: There are some new episodes of "Animal Cops San Francisco" airing this week on Animal Planet. You can catch two episodes tomorrow at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. There are also a few reality show season finales this week, but we can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for those. At 9 p.m.......

Folks are lining up for rabies shots in San Ramon, after a cute stray kitten turned out to carry the virus. Authorites estimate that about 60 people were in contact with the kitten, and that 35 people would have to get shots (including one person who was bitten). 26 other people are also getting shots as a precaution. One vet noted that the kitten had gotten a lot of attention because it was just so darned cute. "Everyone loves a kitten." Two pit bulls were euthanized in Concord today, after they killed four animals in a neighbor's yard last Friday. The owner had kenneled the two dogs but claims that they escaped when they got spooked by the thunder and lightning last week. The dogs killed their neighbors' two cats, a goat, and a bunny. Animal Control got to the scene right as the dogs were in the rabbit hutch, and they report that the dogs were so intent on the rabbit that they didn't even notice the fuzz. The dogs also killed four other animals in the neighborhood that evening. ...and we know we're stepping a little on SFist Rain's territory here -- but hey! New Animal Cops SF episodes just appeared on our TiVo! Starting next week! Yay, more Lieutenant Michael Scott! ...

What's going on with our four-legged friends? Well -- Oakland's passed a law making it illegal to own more than three animals in one house. You can petition to have more, but only if you can show that all the animals are registered and spayed/neutered. People who already have more than three pets are grandfathered in, but for those animals only (so you can't swap out Fluffy for Bane later or anything). This will supposedly make it easier to take legal action against the dreaded animal hoarders. We like the euphemism they use on Animal Precinct -- you're not a hoarder, you're just "overwhelmed." Across the bay, a San Francisco cop shot a pit bull charging at him as he investigated reports of squatters in the Portola District. No human injuries were suffered. In other animal-human encounters, two "terrified" campers fled their campsite on Mount Tam as two mountain lions, um, propragated their species. And the SF SPCA has just received a $13 million gift, which is the largest gift in the organization's history. They'll use the money to build a new animal hospital. The hospital will be called the Leanne Roberts Animal Care Center, in honor of a former board member of the SPCA who died in 2003 (and whose husband ponied up the cash). The hospital will be finished around 2007 -- just in time for the third season of Animal Cops SF! ...

KRON 4 viewers are the best! After seeing a heartwrenching news clip on KRON 4 about a kitten stuck in a pipe for two days, a KRON 4 watcher who works as an excavator was moved to go down to the pipe and help find Smoky the cat. Thanks to his help, the rescuers were able to locate Smoky in the pipe and get her out. She's doing fine, thanks for asking! The only other animal news around here is pit bull-related. So the Peninsula Humane Society is offering $10 to anyone who brings in a pit bull to be spayed or neutered. And two pit bulls who attacked two people and three dogs at the end of May in McLaren Park were found to be "vicious and dangerous" by Animal Cops SF hero and Dog Court Judge Officer Bill Herndon, and will be euthanized. One of the dogs had mangled the hand of a guy trying to break up the fight, and the other had disemboweled (yikes!) another dog (which survived!). ...

Those of you who read SFist Watches have probably deduced that your Junkie's TV viewing habits consist solely of KRON 4 News at 11 and Animal Cops SF. (It's not entirely true -- sometimes we watch Robot Chicken.) But we're making an exception tomorrow! Instead of our usual 7:30 p.m. routine (viz, watching Wheel of Fortune over our usual dinner of Lucky Charms and Trader Joe beer), we're tuning in to see ..... none other than our beloved editor-in-chief SFist Jackson MAKING HIS TELEVISION DEBUT!!!!! Yeeeeeeeeee-ha! Jackson's this week's talking head on local politics TV show SF Unscripted on Comcast Channel 11, hosted by local Republican Arthur Bruzzoni (he's the guy up left). He's talking about (what else?) blogging in local politics -- with unrepentant blogger and District 5 candidate Mr. h. brown. Check out Jackson sporting his cool pink shirt! Rrrowr! What's the SFist staff doing while Jackson rockets to fame? Drinking game! Play along with us tomorrow at 7:30! (Jackson, h., and Art Bruzzoni reair Thursday at 6:30, Friday at 8, and Saturday at 8:30).

No, it's not Wednesday, but we wanted to make sure you all knew about the return of "Animal Cops San Francisco" on Animal Planet all this week at 7 and 10 p.m. We watched last night and fell in love all over again with those animal po-lice as they chased a dog through busy streets near Van Ness, rescued a neglected pooch with the most horrible tumor ever, and caught a possum in the......

This first story is so good (thanks, SFist Jon!), we've had to wait until two other animal stories popped up in the local news just so we could do an Animal Roundup about it! A heroic African parrot named Mango is recovering after breaking up a raucous fight in the South Bay. The guilty party, named Grady Powless, rooms with a guy named Joey, who's lost both his legs. Powless got in some kind of fight with Joey, over a shirt, and ended up hurting his teeth. The next day, Powless, still sulky, came in, kicked legless Joey in the crotch, and threw a flower pot and a barbecue grill lid at him. As Mango's owner tried to intervene in the fight, Mango flew in to help and began dive-bombing Powless. Powless freaked out, started pulled out some of Mango's tail feathers to protect himself, and the cops came and took Powless away. Powless, who has mental problems, is being looked after, and Mango's tail feathers should grow back. Surprisingly, no word on legless Joey! Obligatory two other stories about animals: A poodle being illegally walked off-leash at Fort Mason got stranded on the cliff, and the Animal Care and Control officer sent out to help got stuck on the cliff too. The coast guard saved the poodle and the fire department saved the ACC officer. The Oh, we so hope this gets on Animal Cops SF! And a Marin woman's 50-year-old tortoise has run away (the article's pretty funny). ...

Last week's winner: SF Weekly. Ignore all other news and read the cover article about Dog and Order! So rad, we read it twice! Follow our latest crush (auf wiedersein, Chris Daly -- sorry), Officer Bill Herndon, as he presides over three cases in Dog Court. You know what's awesome? They call cases appealed to regular court "habeas canis." Awesome. (But why no mention of Animal Cops SF, covering the exact same material?) You can't run an article this awesome all the time, it diminishes everything else that appears in the paper by comparison: Matt Smith on raising parking fees, Harmon Leon works in pr0n, . Savage Love: transgender person tells friend, accidental barebacking, girl should dump inconsiderate boyfriend. The East Bay Express. Sadly, no articles about San Francisco Dog Court. (We love you, Officer Herndon!) Cover article: We're all going to die in a big earthquake in the next 30 years!!! Aaaaaaaaugh! (Part 1 of 2). Food reviews: An African-American Hebrew biblically-inspired vegan restaurant in Oakland. Queer Oakland hip-hop. The Guardian's Noise Pop coverage and the Metro on poetry slams, after the jump....

SFist made it clear last week that while we enjoy watching "animal rescue" shows, we also find them an emotionally draining experience. But that didn't stop us from watching the premiere of "Animal Cops San Francisco" last night on Animal Planet. For the rest of the week the series will be airing episodes shot in San Francisco, and if the first episode is any indication, that infamous dog-mauling case was not an isolated incident......

It's high time for a roundup of Bay Area animal news! (Does anyone know when Animal Cops San Francisco is going to start? We're dying here!)...

Ay yi yi! The SF Animal Care and Control is asking for your help -- yes, yours! -- in identifying the man outside the recently-renamed Monster Park who threw two helpless chihuahuas out the window of his speeding car yesterday night. ...

Awright! The Chronicle breaks the story that the next season of Animal Planet's Animal Cops will be filming in the great city by the Bay! The show, for those of you without Animal Planet on your cable package, follows ASPCA officers on a variety of animal care and control situations. There's complaints about noise to be handled, animal cruelty cases to be solved, emergency trips to the city vet, colorful anecdotes of clashes with owners, neighbors, and other police officers - it's like NYPD Blue, except with dogs....