Yes, Paris Hilton is a noted admirer of the species -- which then lead to their astounding popularity among Daly City teenage girls, at least according to an unofficial SFist survey conducted at the Serramonte Center on Saturday -- but that's hardly the dogs' fault. See, the Marin Human society needs your help. This last Friday they took in over 750 dogs, most of them Chihuahuas, according to CBS 5, found at an Arizona mobile home where their breeding proved too much to handle for an elderly couple. more ›

Starting today, eight Bay Area shelters are offering free spaying/neutering to pit bull owners. Although a few shelters, such as the East Bay SPCA offer the free service year-round, the organizers of Bay Area Pit Fix Week are hoping that by offering spaying/neutering this week, the lives of thousands of pit bulls (and the people they otherwise might maul if not for being fixed) will be spared. more ›

). The seniors might be barred from graduation and charged with animal cruelty. We feel badly for the chickens and all, but the thought of school administrators with nets chasing down a chicken running down, say, the math hall, does bring a begrudging smile to the face, doesn't it? more ›

Well, maybe they're not sending human evacuees to the Bay Area anymore, but we're definitely taking the four-legged kind -- the first organized evacuation of pets from the devastated Gulf Coast arrived at SFO yesterday afternoon. The flight had a layover in San Diego, where 50 dogs were dropped off, and then flew to San Francisco with 30 dogs and 20 cats. The airlift was organized by Texas philanthropist T. Boone Pickens, who donated $50,000 to charter the plane and is seeking more donations to charter more planes to airlift out another 30,000 animals (with about 1000 ultimately to come here). The first group of pets are going to the Marin Humane Society and the Sacramento SPCA. MHS is looking for as much help as possible with the pets -- you can donate cash, time at the shelter (cleaning kennels, doing laundry, or the dreaded "data entry"), pet supplies, or foster some of the animals (if you live in Marin). You won't be allowed to adopt the animals just yet, because MHS will be trying to reunite pets with their owners (but you can foster-to-adopt if the animals turn out to be abandoned). Photo of dog too sick to travel by crate from the Chron by Mark Costantini more ›