It was probably early morning but it felt like the middle of the night when we were awakened by the guards. We had only been in bed a few hours because of the vigil for Kambing, the baby goat who had magically joined our household one day, tiny and spindly legged, marked just like our black […]
animals
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Zoo Animal Council Meeting Minutes
On April 22, the Ferndale City Council voted against a proposed kindness resolution, the scaled back version of an earlier anti-hate resolution. Giraffe: The next item is the proposed Anti-Shit-Throwing Resolution. This is unrelated to the incident by the ice cream cart and not intended to assign blame. Its authors, some of whom reside within […]
Posted inNews
Searching for Bertie
For Tim McDonald and Julie Geary, schoolteachers from the Los Angeles area, a July road trip up the coast with a stop in Arcata to see friends from his Humboldt State University days, was both a first and a last chance to get away after a year hunkered down and before the new school year. […]
Posted inNews
Protect the Otters
Sequoia Park Zoo will continue to mandate masks for guests who are 3 years old and older on the grounds that some animals, like the adorable river otters, are more susceptible to contracting the COVID-19 virus. In a video tweeted by the zoo, keeper Ruth Mock talks about why they wear masks and why guests […]
Posted inArts + Scene
You’ve Got Time for This: Dorsie the Porcupine’s Snacktrack
Who makes chewing, smacking, eating-with-your-mouth-open noises delightful? This little guy over at Sequoia Park Zoo. Dorsie, a North American porcupine, enjoys a healthy and musical breakfast of veggies — and illustrates that a certain cuteness factor can override the effects of misophonia, a disorder where people have abnormally strong and negative reactions to sounds like chewing. At […]
Posted inNews
NCJ Preview: Grand Jury Reports, Powers Creek Produce and Flocking Up
The Grand Jury reports are in — what does that mean? We’re talking with Access Humboldt about how this team of volunteers acts as a kind of watchdog over everything in our county from criminal investigations to mental health care. And if you’ve ever thought about getting into the small-scale produce racket or raising your […]
Posted inNews
Marijuana-related Pesticides are Killing Even More Fishers
The rodenticides used on marijuana grows are posing an ever-greater danger to Pacific fishers, according to a recently released study by University of California Davis researchers and Integral Ecology Research Center Director Mourad Gabriel. Gabriel has been studying the effects of pesticide use on the medium-size weasel-like species for several years, and concluded that “increasing […]
Posted inNews
The Marten’s Fine, Says the Feds
A years-long tussle to get U.S. Fish and Wildlife to recognize the plight of the Pacific marten (which includes the Humboldt marten) just ended, with the national service announcing that the furry creatures’s problems “do not rise to the level of a threat either individually or cumulatively.” The marten’s “stressors,” which Fish and Wildlife says […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Where the Wild Things Are
I recently wrote a column for the Journal about the river otter, one of the many adorable, cuddly denizens of the North Coast. “They’re so cute,” several readers commented, seeing the photo in the story. Then the April issue of National Geographic arrived in our mailbox with an article about our desire to bring wild […]
Posted inNews
Top 10 Stories of 2013
Summing up the tumult and transformations of a year in Humboldt County with only 10 stories is impossible. Collected here are some — definitely not all — of the events that stayed with us. For more on these stories, go to northcoastjournal.com. The Fires The communities tucked along the rivers in our mountains know fire. […]
Posted inNews
Calf Saved After Falling out of a Truck on Highway 101
Arcata Exchange owner Gene Joyce is a lot of things. Businessman. Family man. Scout leader. Member of various boards. Bat N’ Rouge player. Probably more. But today, he added another to the list: Baby cow rescuer. From Joyce’s FB page: To the person that was driving south on 101 in Arcata around noon with the […]
Posted inNews
Dog Abandoned on Samoa Beach Dies
One of the three dogs found abandoned on Samoa beach last month died Friday. A veterinarian euthanized “Becky,” a black Labrador retriever, after discovering she was bleeding internally from invasive nasal cancer, the Sheriff’s Office reported. Veterinary records gathered by Animal Control indicate Becky had been experiencing symptoms since at least May 2012. “Angel” and “Ginger” […]