The Columbian

Pets & Wildlife

This image shows a frame from a 15-second ultra-high-definition video featuring a cat named Taters which was streamed via laser from deep space by NASA on Dec. 11, 2023. It was part of the technology demonstration known as Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), which is attached to the Psyche spacecraft traveling to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The video was loaded into Psyche’s laser experiment long before the spacecraft blasted off to a metal-rich asteroid in October.

Orange tabby cat named Taters steals the show in first video sent by laser from deep space

December 19, 2023, 4:11pm Life

An orange tabby cat named Taters stars in the first video transmitted by laser from deep space, stealing the show as he chases a red laser light. Read story

Colorado releases first 5 wolves in reintroduction plan approved by voters to chagrin of ranchers

December 18, 2023, 4:34pm Life

Wildlife officials released five gray wolves into a remote forest in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains on Monday to kick off a voter-approved reintroduction program that was embraced in the state’s mostly Democratic urban corridor but staunchly opposed in conservative rural areas where ranchers worry about attacks on livestock. Read story

A baby owl is found sitting in a Christmas tree in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 27, 2023. The bird was safely released into the family’s backyard.

A Kentucky family gets an early gift: an owl in their Christmas tree

December 18, 2023, 11:32am Nation & World

One Kentucky family got a little something extra when they picked out their Christmas tree this year: an owl. Read story

Adriene Mishler poses with her dog, Benji, in Austin, Texas on Nov. 29, 2022. Mishler received Benji as a gift as a puppy from her then-boyfriend soon after losing a beloved dog.

Don’t give a pet as a surprise holiday gift

December 16, 2023, 6:50am Life

Adriene Mishler was still grieving the loss of her beloved blue heeler mix when her boyfriend at the time surprised her with a Christmas puppy that was nearly identical. Read story

A bull stands on the tracks at Newark Penn Station, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Newark, N.J. A loose bull on the tracks at the New Jersey train station has snarled rail traffic. New Jersey Transit released a photo of the horned bovine apparently standing on the tracks at Newark Penn Station.

Bull on tracks disrupts trains between Newark and New York

December 15, 2023, 2:27pm Nation & World

A loose bull in New Jersey’s largest city found its way onto train tracks, snarling rail traffic for a while Thursday before it was captured, authorities said. Read story

Death of 3rd whale at Conn. aquarium investigated

December 15, 2023, 6:53am Life

A 9-year-old beluga whale at Mystic Aquarium named Kharabali has died, marking the third death among five whales that were transported there from Canada in 2021. Read story

In February 2021, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff tranquilized and placed a GPS collar on male gray wolf 2101 after it had been spotted in north-central Colorado traveling with the female gray wolf 1084 from Wyoming’s Snake River Pack.

Livestock associations sue Colorado, U.S. Fish and Wildlife to delay gray wolf reintroduction

December 12, 2023, 10:20am Nation & World

The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association sued Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week to delay the reintroduction of gray wolves into Colorado. Read story

Bystanders look at a 52-foot-long female fin whale that died and washed onto Mission Beach Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023, in San Diego. Officials said there were no obvious signs leading to a cause of death. Researchers from NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center inspected the whale and took samples before city workers attempted to remove it. (K.C.

52-foot-long dead fin whale washes up on San Diego beach; cause of death unclear

December 11, 2023, 10:33am Nation & World

A 52-foot-long dead fin whale washed up on a San Diego beach over the weekend and officials said there was no obvious sign of the cause of death. Read story

Tokitae, the performing orca known as Lolita at Miami’s Seaquarium, is shown with a trainer in 2011.

Tokitae’s death surfaced orcas’ complicated history in the PNW

December 11, 2023, 6:03am Latest News

The orca has become the symbol of the Pacific Northwest, perhaps even more so than the salmon they eat. Several events this year have put an international spotlight on the relationship between orcas and humans — including the tragic death of a captive Northwest orca taken in the ’70s as… Read story

Northern sea otter pup rescued in Alaska finds new home at Shedd Aquarium

December 10, 2023, 6:05am Life

In late October, a young sea otter pup was found in the remote coastal town of Seldovia, Alaska, stranded and calling out in distress with no mother in sight. After being rehabilitated, fed and healed, the tiny otter — barely over a month old — began a cross-country trip to… Read story