Speaking of animal cruelty, the third chocolate bunny murder almost brought us to tears. Of laughter, sorrow, or both we're still not sure. This film, above, is described as "an episode from the preschool art project 'Big Art For Little People', made by Lernert Engelberts en Sander Plug. The series [was] produced by Cut-n-Paste for KRO Youth, in association with Dutch Culture Fund." Those poor Dutch preschoolers. Exposing kids to chocolaty zoosadism at such......

You know who doesn't want to Spare The Air anymore? BART. Disturbed by the uptick in crime as a result of the all-day free rides (on that last Friday of Sparing The Air, the BART police went on twice as many calls as usual), the BART police chief has proposed that they go back to just making BART free during commute hours on extra hot and smoggy days. Matier and Ross had some lurid crimes......

Oh, Redwood High Class of 2006 in Larkspur, your senior prank has gone awry. Fun-loving seniors bought 40 live chickens and set them loose in the halls. Eight chickens died and the rest had to be sent to the Marin Humane Society (though we do hope a couple of them managed to elude capture and will now live in the school, like those kids who lived in the Met in The Mixed Up Files of......

A 14-year-old joyriding in a carjacked Chevy lost control of the car and ran into three pedestrians in Oakland. After the accident, the kid and his brother tried to flee the scene but angry bystanders grabbed the driver and started beating him up. His brother managed to get away. Employees of the Delta Queen Classic Car Wash in Campbell are mourning the deaths of ten beloved pet ducks, who were deliberately run over by a joyriding person in a red Acura Integra. The driver not only ran over the ducks but also got out of the car to pick up ducklings and smash them against the side of the car. The cops have a grainy surveillance-camera picture of the license plate and have vowed to press felony animal cruelty charges if they find the perp. The car wash has had ducks since 1972. And hey, remember Calvin Cat, that guy from the Redwood City DMV who was fondling girls who were taking their driving tests? Well, he was sentenced to two years in prison (the maximum). He claimed that he got so nervous sitting in cars that he wasn't driving that it "brought out the evil in him." His M.O.? He'd ask the girls to keep an eye on their right tire while parallel-parking, and when they leaned over, he'd pounce. ...

With all the positive hubbub about San Francisco's Animal Care and Control officers and its Dog Court (oh, you bet your sweet bippy we're discussing this in We Read the Weeklies tomorrow), it's doubly sad to hear about the allegations of animal cruelty that have been directed across the bay at Oakland's animal shelter. ReShawn McClarty, the acting director of the shelter, has been just placed on administrative leave as allegations concerning the shelter's mistreatments continue to grow. Lori Barnabe, a former Oakland animal control officer who quit in June, recently sent a letter to the city and the Oakland police force, claiming that the shelter routinely euthanizes animals that are scheduled to be picked up by rescue groups or distraught owners, and that animals are routinely euthanized without being given the standard course of sedatives first. Barnabe also claimed to have seen a live dog that had accidentally been closed in a barrel of animal corpses in a freezer, shelter workers altering records after euthanization to make animals appear more vicious, staff leaving kittens in an unattended drop box overnight (causing a kitten to die), and in general, levels of neglect bordering on abuse (like locking a dog in a kennel without exercise for a year). The shelter concedes that a dog was accidentally euthanized last month, but claims that in general the shelter is run quite well overall. The Oakland City Council is holding a town meeting tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in City Hall to discuss these allegations and the appointment of a new shelter director with the public....

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....