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Life & Times Transcript
12/29/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- No one wants to see animals mistreated, but should we take cops off the streets to protect them? Sharon Papa>> We took two detectives from other assignments in the department and that's huge to do that when we have a lot of violent crime in the city to dedicate two detectives to animal cases. You know, you have to make sure it's worth your while. Val Zavala>> And then, a chance to see life from a new perspective. A video artist puts cameras on critters. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Welcome to this special edition of Life and Times. Tonight we bring you some of our best stories about animals and, in particular, how animals and humans interact. We begin with a look at a special unit of the LAPD. Should police spend their time rescuing animals or solving crimes? The growing popularity of shows like "Animal Cops" has spurred the LAPD to jump on the animal bandwagon, but is it a good use of resources? Hena Cuevas went along with the newly-formed Animal Unit of the LAPD. Hena Cuevas>> Bulletproof vests are something new for Los Angeles's Animal Services. These officers are part of an elite new Animal Cruelty Task Force. Animal Services officer, Daniel Pantoja, says having the Los Angeles Police Department with him is opening a lot of doors. Daniel Pantoja>> You knock on the door and people hear, "LAPD", and they say, "Oh, my God." Hena Cuevas>> The joint task force between the LAPD and Animal Services was created to fight animal abuse. Walt Hampton>> It's never been done before where the departments work together like this in fighting crime. Hena Cuevas>> On this morning, the group is investigating a possible cockfighting operation. From outside, Detective Walt Hampton can see cages in the back yard, but not if there are any birds. After a few knocks from Detective Linda Ortega, the door opens. Linda Ortega>> "I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department, the Animal Cruelty Task Force. We're also here with Animal Services. We got a complaint about your roosters, so we wanted to check out your birds." Hena Cuevas>> With the homeowner's permission, the group goes into the house and makes its way to the back yard. There they find dozens of cages of chickens and roosters. Linda Ortega>> "Are you fighting the roosters?" >> "No." Linda Ortega>> "No? How come their combs and waddles are trimmed?" >> "Like those belong to a person. I'm taking care of them." Linda Ortega>> "You're taking care of them? >> "For a few days, yeah." Linda Ortega>> "Well, they have their own cages, so it looks a little bit more permanent than a few days." Hena Cuevas>> It's not illegal to own and raise birds. What is against the law is to raise them for cockfighting. In that sport, bets are placed on roosters that violently battle each other until one of them dies, and the officers suspect that's what this man has been doing. Assistant Chief Sharon Papa started the Animal Cruelty Task Force last year after someone asked her why Los Angeles didn't have an Animal Unit. Sharon Papa>> I went to Chief Bratton about it because I definitely saw the correlation. Any time you have someone that abuses animals, there's a link with child abuse, domestic abuse, and there are numerous studies that show a lot of serial killers start out torturing animals and abusing animals and then graduate on to crimes against people. Hena Cuevas>> But it wasn't easy because it required pulling resources from the already understaffed LAPD. Sharon Papa>> We took two detectives from other assignments in the department and that's huge to do that when we have a lot of violent crime in the city to dedicate two detectives to animal cases. You know, you have to make sure it's worth your while. Walt Hampton>> "You know, it looks like there might have been an arena here. Did you ever fight them here?" Hena Cuevas>> Detective Hampton comes from Internal Affairs and Detective Ortega from Homicide. Five Animal Services officers complete the group. It's hard to believe that a city the size of Los Angeles didn't have an Animal Cruelty Task Force. Boston, Chicago and San Francisco have them and, according to the LAPD, they're hoping to expand the six-month pilot program to try and determine what kind of correlation there is between harming an animal and going on to commit a more serious crime. Linda Ortega>> Animal cruelty has been found to be a precursor for crimes against people. It's found to also go kind of hand in hand with family violence. So if the animals are being abused in the home, children or spouses may also be abused as well. Hena Cuevas>> And the officers fear that kind of abuse may be going on in this apartment. A few weeks ago, a neighbor reported that a man had flung one of his cats against the balcony railing and breaking its jaw. The cat was seized and the man sent to jail. Because another cat is still in the apartment, they're here to seize it to make sure it's okay. After explaining to the owner what's going on, the team emerges with the cat in tow. And like other animals they've rescued, it's taken to a shelter where it's kept until the case is resolved. [Film Clip] Linda Ortega>> We've had several felony filings for dog cases. It's a little bit harder to get one for a cat. In the case that we've been handling today, we're really hopeful that this will be our first felony cat filing because of the horrible abuse that this cat went through. Hena Cuevas>> Their first successful conviction involved a four-month old German Shepherd puppy caught in the middle of a domestic violence dispute. Linda Ortega>> These are just some of the injuries that she had from the blistering. Hena Cuevas>> And you mentioned that this was taken two weeks after the burning? Linda Ortega>> Yeah, these are after, so the blisters have, in some cases, popped and are in the healing process. Hena Cuevas>> According to Ortega, the puppy was dunked into a tub of scalding hot water by a man who was trying to get back at his girlfriend. Linda Ortega>> During the course of the investigation, we also found out that the suspect in the case had also tasered the puppy's genitals so that her genital area was severely swollen and inflamed. Hena Cuevas>> Felony charges were filed and the man was sentenced to three years in prison for abusing the dog. For Animal Services officer Pantoja, not every case is malicious. Daniel Pantoja>> People get pets and they put a collar on them when they're a puppy and they never change the collar and the collar starts imbedding into their skin and it just starts getting infected. Hena Cuevas>> Both the detectives are experts at investigating crime, but they say it's still hard to see what some people can do to their animals. Linda Ortega>> It's very hard. It's very emotional. We try to keep our emotions out of it because you can get really angry at what some of these people can do to their animals that they're supposed to be loving and taking care of. Walt Hampton>> You've got to kind of separate yourself and remember all the time that you're a law enforcement officer. You're not sent here to judge. Hena Cuevas>> Back at the house with the birds, it doesn't take long for the officers to find more damaging evidence. Daniel Pantoja>> "What are these?" >> "They're like gloves." Daniel Pantoja>> "Gloves? For what?" >> "For sparring." Daniel Pantoja>> "For what?" >> "Sparring." Daniel Pantoja>> "For sparring?" Hena Cuevas>> The little gloves are used on the rooster's feet to practice fighting without hurting each other. They are then replaced by razor-sharp spurs which this man also happens to have. Walt Hampton>> He's actually fighting the birds. I mean, it was evident when we walked in the house. In plain sight, he's got the magazines. He's got magazines in there of cockfighting. Some of them are in English and some are in Spanish. He's got the trophies up there. So he's flaunting it, you know, that he's a big bird fighter. Linda Ortega>> "Put your hands behind your back." Hena Cuevas>> The man is arrested and taken to jail. He will have to go to court to explain all those birds. But according to Hampton, it's not just about protecting the animals. In the case of cockfighting, he says, there's potential harm to children who watch it. Walt Hampton>> You know, it doesn't seem like a real big deal. You get little kids watching it and the birds are going at it and the blood's flying all over the place, you know. It like desensitizes them, I think, about the violence, especially the dogs. Hena Cuevas>> He's talking about dog fighting. Just like the roosters, dogs, mostly pit bulls, are trained to aggressively fight each other to the death. It's a bloody sport. Hampton says they haven't been able to bust an actual dog fight yet, but they have found fight dogs in deplorable conditions. Walt Hampton>> During the summer, we went to this one location. There was no water, no food and the dogs, the first thing we did was give them some water and they wouldn't stop drinking. There were pit bulls. Some of them were pregnant. Some of them were injured to the point where they really needed medical care. Hena Cuevas>> They had to be euthanized, the same fate for these roosters. Walt Hampton>> That bothers me, but I know there's nothing else we can do with the roosters. We can't house them. So what I'm trying to do is get out here to let everybody know that you can't do that here in the state of California. Hena Cuevas>> And with stricter enforcement, maybe one day the sign on the boxes they use will hold true for every case they handle. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Newport Beach has been hit by a crime wave of sorts and the slippery culprits have been known to attack swimmers, damage property and even raid fishing boats. And on top of it all, they're protected by federal law. Who are they? Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, has the story. Roger Cooper>> Newport Beach. It's one of the largest small-boat harbors in the world and one of the most beautiful. It's no wonder it attracts visitors from all over, including these recent arrivals. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> They're big, they're back and they bark, scores of sea lions. Like humans, they enjoy a sun-drenched deck and, like humans, they enjoy climbing aboard boats, and that's where the problems begin. Bob Gunderson>> And they've sunk a couple of boats in this harbor. They've gotten to not fear us whatsoever and now we're on the defensive. Roger Cooper>> This is the second year in a row that a large contingent of sea lions has shown up in Newport Harbor. Chris Miller>> Well, this year started around late April. Roger Cooper>> Chris Miller is the harbor resources supervisor. Chris Miller>> We had a problem last year from about May until almost October. The sea lions disappeared and now they're back and we are doing our best to try and deter them in the harbor here. Roger Cooper>> They're always big, they're sometimes angry and you never know where they're going to pop up. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> Don't be deceived by these limpid big brown eyes looking up at you out of the water. To get what they want, they're perfectly willing to throw their considerable weight around, as much as six hundred, even eight hundred, pounds of it. From a sea lion's point of view, they just need to get out of the water from time to time. Sunning keeps their body temperature regulated and, to them, any boat or dock they happen upon works just fine. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> Watch as Cris Deck tries to convince two testy sea lions not to take up residence on her friend's dock. Who are your friends there? Cris Deck>> They aren't friends at all, actually. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> Well done, huh? What do you think of sea lions? Cris Deck>> I think they're a nuisance. I thought they were really great until I learned about them. Roger Cooper>> Well, you seem not to be too afraid of them. Cris Deck>> Well, I didn't realize how scary they were until I just did that, to be perfectly honest (laughter). Roger Cooper>> Permission to come aboard is not in the sea lion's vocabulary and, once on board, they do more than just lounge. Chris Miller>> They're also creating some damage for the vessels themselves. They'll board the vessels and move around on them, breaking windows and port holes. Roger Cooper>> Boat captain and yacht sails man, Bob Gunderson, has been dealing with these slippery creatures up close and now it's personal. If I mentioned sea lions, what would you say? Bob Gunderson>> Not good. Roger Cooper>> Why? Bob Gunderson>> Well, only because of -- I mean, they're here for a purpose and I do appreciate that, but they've been allowed to roam free. They're protected and now they're creating damage, as you can see right here. Roger Cooper>> Damage in the form of discoloration wherever their big bodies have been. Chris Miller>> The oils on their fur actually leach out on the fiberglass of the boats and it's really hard to get off and they are doing damage to the vessels. Bob Gunderson>> And it's just barely starting to cut it. Now if I have to go get Comet and all that, that's takes the gel coat. You know, it's like sandpaper. Roger Cooper>> And then there's the incessant barking. What's it like in the middle of the night down here? Bob Gunderson>> A barking fiasco. I mean, they're barking back and forth. [Film Clip] Chris Miller>> They're very territorial. Once they find a place that they like to haul out on, they bark continuously fighting for that territory, so that disturbs the waterfront residents because it keeps them up at night. Bob Gunderson>> They're such a deep-throated, you know, high def that it's very annoying. Roger Cooper>> What does it sound like? Bob Gunderson>> (Bark) Best I can do and that's not even close (laughter). Roger Cooper>> Meanwhile, back at the dock, mere minutes after being shooed away by Cris, the persistent sea lion returned and hopped right back on the dock. Newport's residents are limited in what they can do because these sea lions are protected by federal law. Chris Miller>> Which means that we can't harm them in any way and we have to be respectful of them and learn how to deter them without harming them. Roger Cooper>> So what can be done to co-exist with sea lions? Lots of things have been tried. Many boats now sport plastic snow fences to act as barriers to boarding. Chairs are strategically placed to block swim ladders. And Newport Beach has passed a law against dumping fish parts that sea lions like to eat into the harbor. The owner of this boat has even put up a scarecrow for sea lions. Chris Miller>> One person did actually put a real live scarecrow on their vessel and hung it from their mast. I don't know if that worked or not. Roger Cooper>> Which begs the question, if a scarecrow only had a brain, could it defeat a not so cowardly lion? The best bets are on this gadget, a new device called the Scarecrow. It was invented by a former radio announcer in Canada. Narrator>> "It's the Scarecrow motion activated sprinkler." Roger Cooper>> Eric Djukastein develops devices to shoo all kinds of critters away from gardens, including deer, dogs and raccoons. When this scarecrow's electronic brain detects motion, say a sea lion boarding a boat for a nap, it sets off a sprinkler head throwing out water. Sea lions don't like being sprayed when they're trying to warm up. Eric Djukastein>> If you're a self-respecting sea lion and you activate this device, you're going to get startled by the sound of this instant activated sprinkler that activates instantly and it will make this sound right beside you and you're going to go, just like that. Roger Cooper>> Harbor officials asked Eric's company to come down from Canada and tackle their sea lion problem, so Eric set up a modified version of the Scarecrow on a test boat fitted with solar panels and a seawater pump. Eric Djukastein>> For three weeks while the unit had battery power, we were successful at keeping sea lions off one particular boat that they had occupied. Roger Cooper>> But we wanted a demonstration, so we asked the president of the company if he wouldn't mind sneaking up on the Scarecrow as if he were a sea lion. But everyone knows sea lions are cunning and can learn to outsmart devices. And if the sea lion is angry about it, he can blame it on Canada. Eric Djukastein>> You can certainly say that. We're happy to take the blame. Roger Cooper>> If the Scarecrow device works out, it will cost about eighty-nine dollars to install it on a dock, more than five hundred for a boat anchored in the harbor. Is it worth it? Think of the alternative. Bob Gunderson>> (Bark, bark) And that's half throttle (laughter). Roger Cooper>> In Newport Harbor, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Have you ever thought about trying life out as something other than a human? Like, say, an armadillo or a duck or even a wolf? Well, the closest we'll probably ever come to cross-species experience is the work of video artist, Sam Easterson. Take a look. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> This is what life looks like from a goat's perspective. It's clearly all about the food. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> And this is a chick's point of view. It's all about quick moves. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> A tortoise, on the other hand -- [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> This is the work of video artist, Sam Easterson, who has spent the last eight years putting video cameras on mammals, insects, birds and even a tumbleweed. It started when he was a landscape architect student in New York. He was fascinated with the idea of using sheep to cut lawns. He had fooled around with video cameras, so he thought why not put a camera and a recorder in a knapsack and strap it onto a sheep? Sam Easterson>> It was a lot of fun. It was a successful project and I just decided to keep going, yeah. I sort of had this idea to create this really large project over the course of many, many years, creating this library, if you will, of all these animal cams. That first one was pretty low-tech and really the next sort of phase in that evolution was an armadillo that I did, I don't know, about a year later. This was a small camera that was just mounted on the back of this armadillo right behind the ears. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Now how do you capture an armadillo long enough to attach a camera to it? Sam Easterson>> You know, my job is really quite easy. I'm sort of the coordinator for all this. I have someone, a handler or a veterinarian, who does this for me. Val Zavala>> Oh, okay. Sam Easterson>> So I'm just organizing all this work. This is a pig here sort of wallowing in the mud. Val Zavala>> Oh, gee. [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> Part of the reason I like this work is, you know, you get to sort of elevate these animals which you might not think of a lot of the time as, you know, television-worthy to that level. Val Zavala>> He's using his snout like a shovel. Sam Easterson>> Yeah, I know. I love how he goes underwater too, sort of bubbling his way through the mud. Val Zavala>> Easterson doesn't limit himself to mammals. He's also hitched rides with insects like this housefly who found it a little hard to fly with a tiny camera on his wing. This tarantula did better. [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> For me, on this particular day when I was kneeling down in the desert, I just noticed how beautiful those hairs were standing up on the tarantula's legs and I couldn't ignore those. So I had to bring those into focus and sort of bring that animal alive. Val Zavala>> What were some of the hardest ones? Sam Easterson>> I think the wolf was pretty hard. Val Zavala>> The wolf. Okay, let's take a look at the wolf. [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> This is a juvenile Timber Wolf that is chasing after a squirrel that's burrowed itself into a hole. There's the hole right there. He's sniffing his way. He's got a bead on that squirrel housed in there. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Oh, my gosh. Sam Easterson>> I love how he tries to dig that squirrel out of there. Val Zavala>> I'm sure that squirrel is so far down there. Sam Easterson>> We're walking along and the wolf came across, just by chance, a garter snake. You can sort of see the wolf here. You see its shadow and then, all of a sudden, there's just a flurry of activity and there appears the garter snake. Val Zavala>> Whoa, that was really fast. Let's see that again. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Easterson actually has clients, mostly museums, who want an interesting element for an exhibit. This wolf video was to accompany an exhibit on dogs. Now I'm told that, on the "Animal Planet", they do this kind of thing. They put cameras on animals. Sam Easterson>> There are definitely moves in the last few years. The BBC, National Geographic. They were sort of born from a scientific agenda. This is very much born from an arts agenda, so it's sort of very qualitative data. Val Zavala>> Now you've put them on birds? Sam Easterson>> Yeah, I have. Oh, this is a clip from a pheasant that's taking off. Val Zavala>> A pheasant? Sam Easterson>> This is pretty rough to watch, but there's a lot of drama in a bird taking off and not posed for this sort of rough look oftentimes. Val Zavala>> Oh, I see. [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> This is a hawk -- or a falcon, excuse me. Val Zavala>> A falcon. Wow. Sam Easterson>> The camera is attached to the falcon's leg. Then throughout the landscape, we implanted receivers. This is its wing here and leg. You can see the landscape there. It's sort of flapping to sort of even itself out, but it's coming in for a landing right now and this, below here, is the desert landscape. You can see it there sort of adjusting its flight path a little bit. These are shrubs down below. You can sort of see its wing here and there and it plops down for a landing. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> For a smoother ride, he turns to ducks. And then an alligator. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Have you ever lost a camera in water? You've got pigs going through mud and the alligators and ducks. Sam Easterson>> I think I've lost one, yeah, in the water. During the alligator shoot, I know I lost one for sure. Val Zavala>> Easterson's equipment can fit into a kit the size of a large shoebox. Sam Easterson>> This is a lens here. It weighs about an ounce. This is the antenna that transmits the signal and this is the battery pack that provides the power for both the lens and the antenna. Val Zavala>> And do animals ever notice the camera? Sam Easterson>> This is one of my favorites. This is one of those moments again. This is a cow that's wearing a camera. Some of the other cows noticed the camera on the cow's head and they came up and tried to figure out what's going on. They tried to give the camera a lick (laughter). [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> This is a quick shot of a buffalo. He's at the head of a stampede that he's sort of leading, sort of thundering. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> How did you know to pick the lead buffalo? Sam Easterson>> I had some help there. [Film Clip] Sam Easterson>> Then this is sort of out a little bit later in the prairie, butting heads with another buffalo that wants to be in charge. You see the male dominating this other male here. Val Zavala>> He's accumulated a library of about fifty different animals and insects and one tumbleweed. So how far does he want to take it? Sam Easterson>> I don't know. I didn't think I'd really be doing this eight years later and, having captured all this, I'm not quite sure where it's going. I mean, every year there seems to be something, you know. I guess I wouldn't rule anything out. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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