LOS ANGELES (KABC) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday highlighted what he called historic progress in the state’s fight against gun violence.

“California has achieved something historic with the lowest rates of firearm deaths, suicides and homicides on record,” he said during a press conference.

According to Bonta, in 2024, California saw the lowest numbers of firearm-related deaths since 1968. That also drove the state’s overall homicide rate to its lowest level on record in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, Bonta’s office said.

However, Bonta warned lawmakers that those gains could be at risk without continued investment.

“This progress is fragile,” he said. “It was driven in part by significant investments that are now declining or disappearing, and without continued and increased investment, we risk losing it.”

Bonta urged policymakers to continue advancing gun violence prevention efforts and education initiatives.

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A Southern California state senator has proposed a new law that would prevent euthanasia in the state’s wildlife just a month after a mother bear was put down for swiping at a woman in Monrovia, feet away from where her two cubs were located. 

The legislation, SB 1135, which was introduced by Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), calls for the establishment of a state program that promotes the coexistence with wildlife and codifies a wolf-livestock coexistence and compensation program. The move comes two years after funding for a similar wildlife coexistence program expired. 

“We can and must responsibly support people and wild animals to exist in a California where we are all under growing pressures and cumulative threats like extreme heat, frequent drought and intense wildfires that animals respond to by moving in search of resources to survive,” Sen. Blakespear said in a statement. “That means investing in science-based, situation-specific, proactive strategies to minimize negative interactions and prevent escalation to conflicts that pose risks for people and animals. SB 1135 proposes a program to better protect people, wildlife and communities.”

The proposed coexistence program, which would be allocated nearly $50 million through the state’s 2026-27 budget, would build on the previous version, which deployed trained regional human-wildlife conflict staff around the state. The absence was noted by CDFW leaders during a state Assembly meeting in January, according to Blakespear. 

“Over the last five years, wildlife incident reports logged by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) increased by 31 percent and calls, emails and field contacts rose by 58 percent,” Blakespear’s proposal says. 

She noted the recent headline across the state, including “Blondie,” the Monrovia mother bear who was captured and put down by wildlife officials in March after it swiped at a woman near the home it was living under with its two cubs. 

The home in question belongs to Richard Franco. He, along with many other Monrovia residents, has documented his encounters with bears over the years, even setting up a system of trail cameras to track the bears’ movements. 

“Getting to know her, you could see what a devoted mother she was,” Franco said. “She was always building a nest.”

Read more: Orphaned bear cubs taken to San Diego for care after mom is euthanized for attacking people

Franco and many of his neighbors were angered upon learning that CDFW officials had euthanized Blondie after her capture, which they credited to the fact that she had swiped at the woman days earlier and another person in 2025.

“Forcing them out, and then euthanizing the mom was just traumatic for us,” said one Monrovia couple. “It was just tragic, and there was no need for it; it was completely unnecessary.”

Situations like this are what caught Blakespear’s attention, leading to her proposal last week. 

“It is really my desire to make sure that wild places stay wild, and not be having to resort to lethal measures like killing bears or killing wolves,” Blakespear said, while speaking with CBS LA. “We need to have a program that is up and going so we can be educating people.”

The program calls for focus on public education, maintaining a statewide incident reporting system and deploying devices like barriers, noise and light machines and other technology that would deter predators from places where they shouldn’t be. 

SB 1135 passed on a 5-1 vote and will now be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Only a week after animal services officials in Riverside County discovered 480 ducks living in crowded, outdoor cages, all of the ducks have been adopted, the result of a what authorities are describing as a massive “teamwork and coordination” effort.

The Riverside County Department of Animal Services found the ducks Tuesday after investigating overcrowding conditions at a property in unincorporated Riverside County, according to the agency. The birds were taken to the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, where officials urgently called on the public and rescue organizations to help place them beginning Wednesday.

According to a social media update from the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, all 480 ducks have been rescued or adopted, marking one of the largest single intake-and-placement efforts for the department in over a decade.

“This large-scale operation required extensive teamwork and coordination across our department,” Riverside County officials said in the social media update.

Animal service officials were not available to explain who had adopted the animals and whether they were adopted as pets or food. But Daniel Markichevich told KABC that he and his fiancée Savannah Burgardt visited the San Jacinto shelter on Wednesday and planned on adopting 20 ducks for their San Jacinto property.

“We have a 3.5-acre farm, so they will just go right into the area and enjoy, and we’ll get out there and look at them, eat their eggs and have a whole full life for them,” said Markichevich, who recently completed construction on a pond in their backyard.

An animal sanctuary in Vacaville, dubbed the Funky Chicken Rescue, took in eight of the ducks, according to a social media post.

Officials said the original owner of the ducks had intended to create a sanctuary for the animals but animal control officers ultimately determined that conditions required intervention, citing improper husbandry and concerns about the number of birds being housed.

Before taking in the ducks, the animal services agency coordinated with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to test a sample of the ducks for zoonotic diseases, according to the county. All results came back negative but early assessments indicated the birds had not received adequate care, according to authorities.

“Overcrowding can contribute to stress and decreased immune function,” Itzel Vizcarra, chief veterinarian for the county animal services agency, said in a statement. “Inadequate nutrition, particularly vitamin A deficiency, can impair the lining of the digestive tract, predisposing birds to inflammation and secondary illness.”

The swift placement effort was supported in part by community donations, including more than 70 bags of waterfowl feed provided by a local business, according to the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus.

While the ducks now have new homes, officials said the investigation into overcrowding conditions at the original property is ongoing.