Pets & Wildlife

People wait for a train in a subway station, on July 2, 2017 in New York City.

Coronavirus found to have infected New York City’s rats

March 17, 2023, 6:02am Life

Rats, whose populations in cities exploded during the pandemic, have now joined the list of wildlife believed to be capable of catching and transmitting the virus that causes COVID-19, new research finds. Read story

Emerald ash borers have killed "tens of millions" of ash trees in more than 30 states. The beetle, native to eastern Asian countries, may have been introduced in Canada through wood shipping materials about 20 years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Vancouver on lookout for tree pest the emerald ash borer

March 14, 2023, 6:50pm Clark County News

Local foresters are preparing for the inevitable: the arrival of a culprit that, despite its puny size, has ravaged millions nationwide. Read story

Ryan Redington poses with his lead dogs Sven, left, and Ghost, after he won the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in Nome, Alaska.

Iditarod co-founder’s grandson Ryan Redington wins sled dog race

March 14, 2023, 2:22pm Latest News

Ryan Redington on Tuesday won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, bringing his six dogs off the Bering Sea ice to the finish line on Nome’s main street. Read story

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2014, file photo, endangered orcas swim in Puget Sound and in view of the Olympic Mountains just west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that has been tracking the whales. A federal court ruling this week has thrown into doubt the future of a valuable commercial king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska, after a conservation group challenged the government's approval of the harvest as a threat to protected fish and the endangered killer whales that eat them.

What researchers learned studying Northwest orcas hunting for salmon

March 14, 2023, 6:00am Latest News

In a first-of-its-kind study of the hunting behaviors of salmon-eating orcas, researchers found stark differences in two populations of killer whales that may have implications for their survival. Read story

If you’ve loved and lost a pet, you’ll get these tales of readers’ grief

March 13, 2023, 6:02am Life

MY CAT, CHARLIE, who died a few months ago at age 15, wasn’t the focus of the story I wrote for the Jan. 15 issue of this magazine. That story was about rats, and how they have found a welcome home in our port city. Read story

‘Cocaine cat’ escaped owner, will now live at Cincinnati Zoo

This January 2023 photo provided by Cincinnati Animal CARE shows a serval being treated after it was found to have cocaine in its system in Cincinnati. The cat was later transported to the Cincinnati Zoo.

March 10, 2023, 10:40am Life

An African serval cat that was found with cocaine in its system after an escape at a traffic stop now calls the Cincinnati Zoo home, much to the delight of social media users still amused by the recent release of the movie “Cocaine Bear.” Read story

NYC animal-control officers have seen it all

New York Police Department Officer Martin Duffy rappels down the side of an apartment building in Harlem to tranquilize a 450-pound Siberian-Bengal tiger named Ming. The animal had been kept illegally in its own apartment.

March 10, 2023, 5:53am Pets & Wildlife

The 4-foot alligator found in Prospect Park recently amazed the city and made national headlines, but for Kevin Sexton, a 15-year veteran field manager for New York Animal Care and Control, it elicited little more than a shrug. Read story