Through the highs and lows of the year, animals have been there to offer comedic relief and heartwarming respites. Here are some of our favourite animal stories from 2022:
Lonely Nicomen Island duck follows humans around after coyotes kill her friends
A lonely duck raised on a Nicomen Island farm, just east of Mission, has recently found a new home with other birds after losing her two best friends to coyotes.
Ever since, the little black duck has become attached to humans.
“She is lost without her friends. She can’t stand to be away from you.” READ MORE
A lonely duck has attached itself to its owners, after its two best friends were killed by coyotes. (Screenshot from Fraser Valley Rose Farm YouTube video)
46-day blender box standoff with 3 stubborn B.C. cats ends with margaritas
After a more than six week stand-off between three particularly power-hungry cats battling to claim the one true Vitamix-box throne, Greater Victoria’s best known “middle-aged lesbians” have finally obtained their blender.
Jessica Gerson-Neeves and her wife Nikii rose to international cat-owner stardom after their three cats – Max (sentient soccer ball), George Destroyer of Worlds (sentient potato), and Lando Calrissian (questionably sentient dust bunny) – refused to allow them access to their Black Friday purchased Vitamix. READ MORE
Nikki and Jessica Gerson-Neeves (left to right) hold their blender triumphantly over their heads. (Facebook/Temperamental Chucklefuck and Friends)
Gang of turkeys attacks B.C. man, breaking both his hips and a finger
A Shuswap man was seriously injured after being attacked by a rooster and turkeys over the summer. The pack of birds left him with two broken hips, a broken finger and multiple lacerations. READ MORE
A B.C. man suffered serious injuries after his turkeys turned on him. (Jill Hayward photo)
Life carries on at Abbotsford dairy farm where 200 cows died
Phillip Graham recalls wanting to “save everything” on his Sumas Prairie dairy farm in the days before it flooded.
But when the main dike breached within a stone’s throw of his land, he saw a wave of water coming toward him. He had already moved 240 cows from his 500-plus herd at that point and, in that moment, he knew choices needed to be made quickly. READ MORE
Phillip Graham spends a minute with some of the heifers at his dairy barn who were just brand new calves during the flood and were rescued by boat and taken to Chilliwack farms. (Jessica Peters/Abbotsford News)
Olive the pig is learning to love the snowy Okanagan
Olive is a seven-month-old potbelly pig living a life of luxury at her family’s home in Summerland. She experienced snow for the first time this winter and is slowly learning to love the chilly white stuff.
One of Olive’s favourite activities is finding treats that her ‘parents’ throw into the snow. READ MORE
Olive doesn’t mind the snow if there are treats involved (Jacqueline Gelineau/Capital News)
In too deep: Rescuers suck distressed B.C. kitten out of abandoned well
A Cranbrook couple and their young daughter were disapointed after they showed up to pick up their new kitten from a local property and realized it was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until they heard a faint meow coming from underneath an old outbuilding that they realized their new pet had gotten stuck. The family spent hours trying to rescue the young cat, but eventually had to call in a local plumbing company to save the day. READ MORE
Pictured are Dan Meldrum (left), Hunter and kitten Rocky (middle) and Ashlie Meldrum (right). The Meldrum family own Roto-Rooter in Cranbrook, and helped Hunter and her mom Tara save Rocky the kitten from an old well on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (Submitted file)
Canada goose from Vancouver Island makes it all the way to the Great Lakes
Mountain ranges tend to be barriers for most migrating fowl, but one Canada goose, tagged as part of a research project in Nanaimo, managed to make its way to a park in Chicago.
Why the bird ended up 3,000 kilometres from its home turf is a mystery. READ MORE
A Vancouver Island University biology professor says how and why a Canada goose ended up in a Chicago park is a mystery. (News Bulletin file photo)
Osoyoos rattlesnake hitches ride in Ferrari to Vancouver
Meet Enzo Ferrari, a Northern Pacific rattlesnake with a need for speed.
In June, the rattlesnake hitched a ride from Spirit Ridge Lodge in Nk’Mip, Osoyoos to the Ferrari dealership in Vancouver. READ MORE
Enzo Ferrari, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake hitched a ride in a Ferrari from Osoyoos to the Vancouver dealership. A Maple Ridge vet returned the snake back to his home in the Nk’Mip desert. (Credit: Dewdney Animal Hospital)
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