From bears and sea turtles to sharks and horses, there was no shortage of animal stories in 2024.
As I looked back on the animal stories I covered over the last year, a dozen articles jumped out as memorable ones.
We’ve cut that number in half and wanted to share our top six.
B.C. delivery driver throws package at cat's face
An Abbotsford family was shocked to find out a delivery driver threw a package at their pet at their front door. The entire incident was caught on camera and the delivery driver company responded after our story. The company — UniUni — said the situation has been thoroughly investigated and the driver has been "addressed."
'Ghostly' creature with dozens of teeth leaves B.C. scientists perplexed
An ecoguardian at Race Rocks off the southern tip of Vancouver Island made a discovery that left her perplexed. On Oct. 26, Kendra Luckow found a creature with dozens of teeth. She snapped a bunch of photographs and shared the images online to figure out what it was. After examining the photos, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it could be a ghostly grenadier — a deep-water fish with a rat-like tail.
Tired of having his fence bashed down, North Van man builds a 'bear door’
North Vancouver’s Curt Scheewe installed a handmade door for bears to give them access to the Seymour River after they kept knocking down his fence. He used just the bare necessities to create the large door and it was a success. When he checked his security camera footage on Oct. 6, he saw a bear passing through the door.
'Exceptionally rare': Great white shark washes up dead in B.C.
A great white shark washed up dead on the east coast of Haida Gwaii in October, exciting both residents and scientists. Jackie King, a shark research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Ocean Canada, confirmed the species was a great white and was about 13 and a half feet long.
Sea turtle found at Pedder Bay only second ever found in B.C. waters
A severely hypothermic loggerhead sea turtle was found in Vancouver Island’s Pedder Bay. A resident was cleaning up litter and checking crab traps and found the loggerhead turtle in “cold shock.” The sea turtle was rushed by local biologist Anna Hall to the Lower Mainland, with BC Ferries holding a sailing for the precious and very rare cargo. The turtle, nicknamed Moira, has been nursed back to health by the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society and was released into the wild in warmer waters near San Diego in October.
Join the rescue: How the public can help orca calf stranded in B.C. lagoon
A two-year-old orca got stranded in a lagoon on northern Vancouver Island, in the village of Zeballos, on March 23. Its pregnant mother became trapped by the low tide and died on the rocky beach. Whale experts and a rescue team attempted to get the young calf out for weeks. In April, after four weeks, the killer whale calf swam out and escaped the lagoon during high tide.
