17 Animal Stories From 2022 That Will (Mostly) Tickle You

ACROSS AMERICA — Animals, which don’t exist solely to please humans but often do, gave us many reasons to smile, and also to ponder, in 2022.

In the pondering category: Several tourists had encounters with bison in Yellowstone National Park, where officials stressed the importance of heeding signs warning them to keep their distance from the animals, which can run three times faster than humans.

In one of the more serious encounters, a 71-year-old West Chester, Pennsylvania, woman was gored by a bison as she and her daughter returned to their vehicle from a trailhead. The woman survived her injuries. Read more on Across Wyoming Patch:

• Yellowstone’s Bison Mean Business

‘That Bison Saved My Life’

Speaking of bison, Billy took his best shot at freedom and managed to remain on the lam for eight months. He stirred up quite a bit of trouble for whomever owns him. Though the tangled story of how Billy came to live on an Illinois farm will have to be sorted out in court, the animal’s romp was a lifeline for pandemic-wearing Chicagoans. Some have even remarked, “That bison saved my life,” or wondered if they were hallucinating when they looked out their windows and saw a monster bison looking in. Read more on Grayslake Patch:

• Billy The Bison’s Day In Court

Walk Like A Penguin

Lucas, a 4-year-old penguin at the San Diego Zoo, has a new pair of shoes — custom orthopedic footwear for the arctic bird with a degenerative condition known as bumblefoot. Without treatment, Lucas could have died. “I’ve known Lucas for a long time, so having the ability to provide him with a chance to live a normal life brings a smile to my face,” said Dr. Beth Bicknese, a senior veterinarian at the zoo. “The boots are cushioned and Velcroed in place, so they will help Lucas to fully participate in the colony and showcase behaviors that are more typical for a penguin — such as climbing the rocks, swimming, nesting and finding a suitable mate.” Read more on San Diego Patch:

• Penguin With Foot Condition Gets Custom Shoes

‘Capturing Our Hearts’

The world’s smallest penguins made their big debut at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, California, in July. The only exhibit to feature the little blue penguins in the western United States. They are tiny, standing about 12 inches tall and weighing between 2 and 3 pounds at maturity. Jim Beyster, whose family endowed the exhibit, said that for whatever reason — their waddling or graceful swimming — “penguins have a knack for capturing our hearts.” Read more on San Diego Patch:

• See The World’s Smallest Penguins

4,000 Reasons To Smile

The story of beagles (top photo) rescued in July from a Cumberland, Virginia, facility that breeds dogs for medical research gave us about 4,000 reasons to smile. The Humane Society of the United States, which coordinated the rescue effort, called it a “historic moment in animal welfare.” The beagles lived in horrific conditions, never learned to play, but now they’re headed to “grassy yards, couches and walks,” according to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in Fair Oaks, Virginia. Read more on Fairfax City Patch:

• Something To Bark And Wag Your Tail About

More Beagles Find Homes

Getting all those beagles adopted has been something of a Herculean effort for the Humane Society of the United States and its affiliate shelters. “It takes a massive network of compassionate, expert shelters and rescues to make an operation of this scale possible,” said HSUS shelter outreach and engagement director Lindsay Hamrick. Most of the dogs are “really starting to come out of their shells, and we are starting to see their adorable, distinct personalities shine through,” Lisa Bonanno-Spence of the SPCA of Westchester, New York, told Patch. “A few are still very shy, but we will work with them and find the right home where they can feel safe and thrive.” Read more on Pleasantville-Briarcliff Manor Patch:

• Research Dogs Reveal Their Adorable Selves

We Dare You Not To Laugh

Kittens. So many kittens. So, so many kittens — all because Robert Brantley, 37, decided to do a good deed. First, there was a single, forlorn kitten at the side of a road in northeast Louisiana. Second, understand something about Brantley: He’s what you could call a tough guy. He describes himself on his Instagram page as a long-range shooter who enjoys “predator hunting.” Don’t jump to conclusions, though. Judging from video, Brantley is as soft and fluffy as that gray-and-white tabby responsible for the tug that made him turn his SUV around after a trip to the shooting range and go on an epic kitten roundup. Read more on Across Louisiana Patch:

• ‘We Have A Kitten Problem, Hot Diggity Dog’: Video

Meow, I’m Home

A missing Mastic Beach, New York, cat didn’t just come home after a two-week absence, she rang the doorbell to announce her arrival. Stefanie Whitley and her family were settling in for an evening of reviewing family videos when she received an alert on her phone letting her know someone was at the door, meowing what sounded very much like, “Mom, mom” to many people who saw the doorbell cam video on social media. Read more on Shirley-Mastic Patch:

• Watch This Cat Ring The Doorbell

The Tales This Cat Could Tell

Carol Lowry never gave up hope she’d find Birdie, her cat, after a two-year absence, but the cat showed up just in time for Christmas. The first Christmas she was gone, in 2020, wasn’t much fun for Lowry, who estimates he put about 1,000 miles on her car driving around Long Island the first week Birdie was gone, “just trying to find her.” She wasn’t convinced when she received the tip the cat had been found after receiving so many tips that turned out to be dead ends. But, “lo and behold, it was her,” Lowry told Patch. Read more on Riverhead Patch:

• Birdie The Cat Home For Christmas

Whose Dog Is This, Anyway?

Julie Johnson thought one of her dogs had snuggled between her and her husband as they slept. They awoke to a dog they’d never seen before. It took some time to unravel the mystery of the 90-pound nighttime interloper, a bulldog-lab mix named Nala. “It is absolutely normal to wake up in our house with one of OUR dogs in the bed with us,” Johnson prefaced her question on Facebook. “One small problem, THIS IS NOT OUR DOG, nor do we know how she got in our house.” Read more on Chattanooga Patch:

• Dog Busts In, Crawls In Bed With Strangers

Kevin Finds A Home

Someone shot six times at a dog named Kevin in a Manassas, Virginia, commuter parking lot and left the animal for dead in April 2021. The dog followed his assailant back to a black SUV, but the driver drove away, leaving Kevin behind. Veterinarians were able to stitch the dog back together, but had to amputate one leg. Almost a year later, he was adopted. Read more on Manassas Patch:

• Dog Shot, Left For Dead, Is Adopted

How Hoarding Happens

Not all animal stories are happy tales of reunions and rescues. This story follows two Brick, New Jersey, women who established a rescue and ended up facing charges of animal cruelty after 180 animals were removed from conditions so bad the house was condemned. Read more on Brick Patch:

• How Rescue Founder Hid Hoarding

Let Them Entertain You? No.

Legislators in Suffolk County, New York, could end up banning the use of exotic animals in traveling performances. A business that offered private home visits with sloths was shut down by the town of Islip, but three legislators want to be proactive about the issue. Humane Long Island, an animal rights organization, supports the move, decrying the practices of strapping monkeys to dogs and hauling sloths to children’s birthday parties. “This law not only protects the welfare of animals but also teaches empathy to future generations and supports humane, cruelty-free performers who can go home at the end of their day and retire when they wish,” the organization’s president said. Read more on Hauppauge Patch:

• A Strike For Exotic Animals

Requiem For World’s Oldest Dog

We said goodbye to Pebbles, the world’s oldest dog, Pebbles, who died at her South Carolina home on Oct. 3 at the age of 22. She was a faithful companion to Bobby and Julie Gregory, and lived most of her life in relative obscurity, attaining internet fandom in May when Guinness World Records proclaimed her the oldest dog in the world. The Gregorys spent Pebbles’ final day loving on her, as they had every day since she bounced into their hearts, and serenaded her with country music. Her favorite artists were Conway Twitty and Dwight Yocum. Read more on Across South Carolina Patch:

• Country Crooners Soothe Dog On Final Day

Mountain Lion P-22: ‘This Really Hurts’

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham fought back tears when he announced in mid-December that P-22, the mountain lion known affectionately as the “Hollywood Cat,” had been euthanized after he was struck by a car. “This really hurts,” Bonham said. “It’s been an incredibly difficult several days, and for myself. I felt the entire weight of the city of Los Angeles on my shoulders.” Read more on Hollywood Patch:

• Mountain Lion P-22, ‘Hollywood Cat,’ Euthanized

Homage To A ‘Spirit Bear’

It may have come as some solace to Michiganders that a rare Kermode bear, or “spirit bear,” wandering the Upper Peninsula was likely killed by wolves and not at the hands of humans, according to state wildlife officials — that is, they said, if the bear was, in fact, dead. There’s never been a documented case of wolves killing a bear in Michigan. Although white like polar bears and albinos, spirit bears are neither. Rather, they’re rare black bears with white or creamy fur. In this case, the bear seen in Michigan — the first spirit bear ever spotted in the state — was a “one in a million” bruin because both of its parents had a recessive gene for white fur. Read more on Across Michigan Patch:

• What Happened To Michigan’s ‘Spirit Bear’?

A ‘Devastating’ Loss

Patch readers weighed in on the death of a female beluga whale at an aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, where she and four others were relocated from Canada under a research grant to study ways to help critically endangered beluga populations in the wild and preserve the species. One reader said she died of “good intentions.” After another of the whales died in 2021 due to an intestinal disease, the Mystic Aquarium said it had addressed welfare issues raised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “When an animal passes in the wild, it is the circle of life. When it happens at an Aquarium, with an animal you have grown to know, care for 24/7 and adore, it is devastating,” said the aquarium’s chief zoological officer, Allison Tuttle. Read more on Mystic Patch:

• Mystic Aquarium Beluga Whale Dies