2021 Heartwarming, Quirky Animal Stories From New Jersey

NEW JERSEY — As the second year with COVID and other challenges winds down, let’s take a few moments to reflect about things that brought smiles to our faces.

Animals and stories about the humans helping them, are among some of 2021’s bright spots to look back on.

From pups being plucked from “doggie death row,” to rescued swans and fawns, to the birth of a baby sloth, to cats and kittens found to have literally given engines their “purr,” to first responders saving a range of critters, to humming cicadas and many more, here are some unforgettable 2021 animal stories.

‘Chunk’ Takes A Swim
It wasn’t just another day on Barnegat Bay on June 22, when New Jersey State Police received a report of a dog taking a dip in the bay. About two weeks earlier on June 7, the human family of “Chunk,” a 3-year-old golden retriever, reported him missing. In posters and social media posts about Chunk, his family cautioned he was skittish. It took the savvy of two State Troopers, Ryan Koehler and Vincent Ferdinandi, to catch up with Chunk by police vessel, creating a joyous, family reunion.

Firefighters Dive Into Third River To Rescue Pup
Another story about a doggie trying to grab a swim was in the Nutley area, Nutley firefighters wading into the Third River to pick up a dog on the run. This orphaned pup broke loose from his collar on the way to his foster home. When firefighters met up with him, he was trapped near the Chestnut Street bridge. Though one would think he would be happy to see his rescuers, he bit two of them on their fingers. Thankfully, though, he was up-to-date on vaccines and they reunited him with his caretaker.

New Jersey Fawn Rescue Dive Is TikTok Sensation
Here’s another story with a misplaced creature, this time a fawn in a Toms River lagoon. On July 3, Chad and Cara Wallace noticed a fawn, its spots still on its coat, struggling to swim in a lagoon adjacent to a graduation party that they attended. After emptying his pockets and taking off his shirt, Chad Wallace, who lives in Ringwood with his wife and three sons, working full-time while raising ducks, dove in to help. After a slight struggle, he emerged with the baby, all captured on video, gaining 7 million TikTok views, the crowd cheering him on delighted as he rescued the fawn. The even greater ending to the story, is they reunited baby with mama, who was in a patch of woods near the lagoon, searching frantically for him, another video-worthy moment.

Swan Dives Into The Afternoon Commute
Unlike Chunk who wasn’t supposed to be in the bay or the other pooch in the Third River, in a another direction of the state, a swan was out of her element too. Believed to have been separated from her mate, a FedEx driver reported that a stranded swan was on Route 22 in the median one September afternoon in Bridgewater. Animal Control Officer Jesse Ostrowski and Shelter Manager Brian Bradshaw from the Somerset Regional Animal Shelter approached her in a daring rescue, eventually cornering and netting her, the effort in the video below. The swan’s rescuers relocated her to a nearby pond.

Hawks Given A Helping Hand
It remained a mystery why four injured hawks dropped into Chatham backyards, with residents notifying the police department in June. Chatham Township Police Chief Thomas Miller said potentially the hawks may have each eaten a poisoned rodent, but authorities were still left with questions. Patrolman Sean Lampf though, gained hands-on experience with helping the hawks, literally learning how to handle them, handing them off to the Raptor Trust, a bird rescue in Long Hill Township.

First Baby Sloth Born At Turtle Back Zoo
Births are always special to celebrate and at the Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County, it was no different when a Linneaus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) emerged into the world in June. The infant girl sloth, who needed bottle-feeding every two hours for her first two weeks of life, was taken to the zoo’s animal shelter for supplemental fluids. The baby was expected to rejoin her parents, Boysenberry and Tayberry, to become “an ambassador animal for her species.”

Lemonade And Cookie Fundraiser Benefits Pets
A pair of Long Valley siblings, one of them only seven-years-old, had the drive in his heart to help fundraise for animal rescues. After watching a YouTube video on building a lemonade stand, Jessica Catalano said her sons, Sullivan and Tobin teamed up for the project, along with their dad, Rob, then used the stand in July to raise money for Eleventh Hour Rescue. The boys, their mother said, had a rescued kitten at home, along with their dog, rescued from India. At the end of the day, the brothers raised $50 by selling lemonade and cookies their mom prepared, their parents matching the donation, while the rescue raised $275 doing a social media fundraiser for them.

Cranky Morris Plains Shelter Chihuahua Becomes Star
He had a cute name, “Prancer” and a cute face, but Prancer hated everyone, except women. Arriving to Second Chance Pet Adoption League “obese, wearing a cashmere sweater, with a bacon egg n cheese” in his crate, the rescue described the dog as “too terrified to have a personality.” “I am convinced at this point he is not a real dog, but more like a vessel for a traumatized Victorian child that now haunts our home,” they also wrote. Prancer’s story made HuffPost, BuzzFeed and Today, the little chihuahua so intriguing to many who watched as Tyfanee Fortuna, his foster mom, attempted to bring him out of his shell.

Man Jams With Cicadas
While the return of the Brood X Cicadas annoyed some with their melodies, Professor David Rothenberg was waiting for them. Having warmed up his clarinet for their arrival in New Jersey, he's previously traveled to Ohio and Illinois to jam with them. “Once you hear the sounds of nature as music, it becomes even more beautiful and alive,” he told Patch.

Missing Dog Sidelines Couple’s Honeymoon But Makes Their Thanksgiving
Luba and Ira of Ridgewood were readying for their honeymoon to Tahiti in November, when plans changed after their pooch “Presley” disappeared. Their dog sitter in Jersey City told them their one-year-old fur baby had escaped from his harness by the light rail tracks near Jersey City Heights. After taping up some posters around Jersey City, a man told them he had seen Presley on the cliffs near Christ Hospital, “crying by himself.” The couple was able to retrieve him and immediately rushed their boy to the hospital, where he was treated for cut paws. Though they hadn’t planned their honeymoon again at that point, they were happy to have their Presley home for Thanksgiving.

Dog Saved From ‘Death Row’ With Hours To Spare
He appeared like he was smiling as “Langdon” was plucked from doggie death row this past October in North Carolina, his rescuers realizing something was special about him. Langdon’s only “crime” and why he was pushed up the list was because of his leg, which he dragged behind him. Believed to have been from an old injury, vets in North Carolina felt he was a candidate for amputation. Second Chance Pet Adoptions in the state contacted their partner in Chester, NJ South Hills Pet Rescue, their doctors checking out Langdon’s x-ray and realizing, his leg could be saved. Calling him “very gentle and sweet,” and a dog - who happens to be a Belgian Malinois - who “deserved another chance" and took him off of death row two hours before he was scheduled for euthanization. Langdon was shuttled to New Jersey where he was operated on; and is now recovering with his medical foster, starting to use his leg again.

Kittens Ride ‘Shotgun’ In Truck Engine
In what was considered a “purr-fect” ending, as two workers arrived onsite to Hackettstown from Freehold, where the new QuickChek was being built this past May, they heard meowing from one of the construction vehicles. On the Freehold property where the trucks are stored, feral kitten tend to congregate, an adult cat shooed out of one of the vehicles two days earlier. When the workers opened up the engine in Hackettstown, they found a pair of fuzzy, grey kittens. “Dehydrated though expected to recover,” Hackettstown Police say they brought them to the Common Sense for Animals shelter for further care.

Cat Survives Ride Under Car Hood
Here’s another cat story, which had some more bumps than the kittens had. Earlier in May, a driver discovered a cat inside his car engine in Bloomfield. After bringing the boy to the Bloomfield Animal Shelter, the driver told the shelter they wasn’t sure how long the cat had been riding with them. They only took their car for local rides within Bloomfield and Newark. Though he suffered some bumps and bruises himself, plus a broken jaw, the shelter reported the cat - a neutered boy who wasn’t feral - was stable, able to eat and drink.

Cat Found Dying In Snowbank Finds ‘Furever’ Family
It was February 2021 when a Good Samaritan found an elderly cat, weighing only three pounds, in a Manville snowbank. As he was being rehabilitated at the Somerset Regional Animal Shelter, “Camper” won the hearts of his foster parents, Nancy and Paul Gedbaw of Raritan. Initially intending to nurture him until he was well enough to be adopted, Nancy Gedbaw said she “fell in love immediately,” when Camper crawled up onto her lap and chest, then started purring. He continued to make strides, climbing over five pounds, reaching seven pounds in November. He has mouth issues which keep him on steroids, but he’s a “social eater” and “counter surfer,” who Gedbaw said “has brought life to our household.”

Want to keep reading? Here are some more heartwarming 2021 New Jersey animal stories below:
Bald Eagle Survives Brush With Death, Lands At Turtle Back Zoo
Dog Saved In Essex County After Falling Through Pond Ice
Movement To Save Butterflies, Pollinators Growing In Essex County
Dog Lost In Woods For 2 Weeks Reunited With Bridgewater Family
Dog To Judge Morristown Chef's Food On 'Chopped'
Kittens Saved From Nor'easter Flood At Passaic Co. Vet Group
Meet Strobe, Secaucus Police Dept.'s First Police Canine

Questions or comments about this story? Have a local news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.