SAN ANTONIO – Massive eels. Adorable baby meerkats. Nosey wild hogs. Texas had an interesting year when it came to stories about animals and wildlife.
From a woman getting attacked by a snake and hawk, to KSAT tagging along on a late-night frog expedition, here are some of the top animal headlines from KSAT in 2023:
Mystery creatures
- Toothy fish seen in H-E-B seafood department is actually known as ‘poor man’s lobster’: One shopper at the H-E-B on Austin Highway near Harry Wurzbach snapped a photo of a unique-looking fish in the seafood department — but it was the mouth full of sharp teeth that caught the customer’s attention, not the everyday low prices. Turns out, the toothy aquatic animal was a monkfish.
- Chupacabra or The Coyote? Manu Ginobili posts video of hairless creature in his neighborhood: Spurs legend Manu Ginobili posted a picture and video of a hairless creature that he spotted in his neighborhood in September. He called it a “Weird looking one for sure” and speculated that it was a hairless coyote — and it turned out, he was correct. TPWD said it was a coyote with mange.
- What is it? Canyon Lake resident discovers mystery animal hiding in gutter.: A Canyon Lake couple used water to force out an interesting-looking creature in their gutter. Wildlife officials said they couldn’t be 100% certain of the species, but believed it could have been a wet squirrel or mink.
- San Antonio Zoo bear says he’s real after Chinese zoo sun bear controversy goes viral: In August, a viral video from a Chinese zoo had social media questioning whether or not the zoo’s sun bear was real or fake. It didn’t take long for the San Antonio Zoo’s spectacled bear to weigh in. Curt, the San Antonio bear, was photographed on social media with the caption “#IAmReal”.
- Huge, ‘rare’ American eel washes ashore on Mustang Island: Jace Tunnell with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute posted a photo of a “rare” monster-like fish on the Mission-Aransas Reserve’s Facebook page in January. Tunnell said it was a dead, 4-foot American eel.
Alligators in the news
- Video shows alligator swimming toward Girl Scout troop at Southeast Texas lake: A Girl Scout troop’s trip to Huntsville State Park in Southeast Texas in September turned into a terrifying encounter when they spotted an alligator swimming toward them in the lake. Luckily, everyone was able to get out safely and no one was injured.
- Texas homeowner takes baby alligator as pet, receives citation: Just because it’s cute, doesn’t mean it would make a good pet. Police in Nacogdoches found a baby alligator being kept in a 40-gallon aquarium over the summer. The owner confessed to finding the alligator at a local river and keeping it, which is a no-no. The owner was issued a citation.
- 10-foot alligator found on side of road in Atascosa County. ‘It was a heck of a sight.’: When the Atascosa County Animal Control responded to a call in March, they were met with a toothy and scaly surprise — an alligator between 10 and 11 feet long. Henry Dominguez, the chief and director of the Atascosa County Animal Control, told KSAT that while alligators are common in the area, this gator was larger than normal. He believed the animal was flooded out of its home. The gator was relocated by TPWD.
Oh, baby! Zoos welcome newborns in 2023
- See adorable baby meerkats recently born at San Antonio Zoo: Meerkats returned to the San Antonio Zoo this year after a nearly three-decade absence with the birth of four meerkat pups. The meerkat habitat, located in Kronkosky’s Tiny Tot Nature Spot, reopened in May — the first time meerkats have called the zoo home since the previous habitat closed 27 years ago.
- San Antonio Zoo welcomes new white-cheeked gibbon: At the beginning of the year, a white-cheeked gibbon was born at the San Antonio Zoo. It can be seen in the Asian Forest exhibit.
- Rare okapi calf born at San Antonio Zoo: A rare okapi calf was born at the San Antonio Zoo in September — a conservation win for an endangered species.
- Video: Endangered secretary bird hatches at San Antonio Zoo: Over the summer, a rare secretary bird hatched at the San Antonio Zoo for the first time in more than 15 years. Its parents are Bernard and Santika, who have been mates for five years.
- Baby warthog born at Dallas Zoo: Dallas Zoo said the new piglet, Tikiti, was born on Feb. 17 to mom Weela and dad Toby.
Rare sightings
- Videos show man’s ‘bucket list’ sighting of badger on Padre Island: When Tom Howe visited Padre Island in August, he didn’t expect to see a badger in broad daylight, much less on the beach hunting for crabs. Howe saw the animal — what he says is a “bucket list” sighting — by coincidence.
- Endangered whale shark caught on camera swimming 6 miles off Texas coast: Addison Smith and his friend Alexus Broome were roughly six miles off the Port Aransas shore on Aug. 13 when they spotted something in the water. “We were drifting from one of the rigs and all of a sudden I saw this big black shadow and didn’t take me but a few seconds to realize it was a whale shark,” Smith told KSAT. “So I started yelling ‘whale shark, whale shark’ to Alexus.”
- Bear seen roaming Uvalde has been captured, relocated: A bear that was seen roaming Uvalde in September was safely captured and relocated to a less populated area.
- KSAT goes on late-night frog expedition at Natural Bridge Caverns to see what’s croaking in the water: Frogs make up some of the unique sounds of the South Texas wildlife. In June, a KSAT crew tagged along with local biologist Jeremiah McKinney, who was conducting a three-week habitat surface survey to count frogs at the Wuest family ranch at Natural Bridge Caverns.
Caught on camera
- Park officials share update on ‘mystery animal’ caught on camera in Rio Grande Valley: Texas State Park officials may have figured out the “mystery creature” lurking around the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in Mission over the spring. They believed it was an American badger.
- KSAT goes inside Mexican Free-tailed ‘Batnado’ at Bracken Bat Cave: One by one, they emerged. KSAT’s RJ Marquez and Gavin Nesbitt went inside the Bracken Cave Preserve north of San Antonio, which is home to an estimated 20 million Mexican Free-tailed bats that fly out at sunset to forage for food.
- ‘I don’t come out of the house’: SE Side woman shares video of feral hogs roaming neighborhood: Wild hogs made themselves a home in one Southeast Side neighborhood at the beginning of the year. Neighbors told KSAT the hogs rummaged their front yards. They believed recent development and construction drove the wild hogs out of their natural habitat.
- Texas family alerted to bobcat sitting on their fence thanks to Ring camera: A bobcat was spotted sitting on a family’s fence outside their home in Frisco in January thanks to a Ring floodlight camera. “I was terrified to go outside and didn’t leave my house that day. I wasn’t sure if there were multiple bobcats or just one,” the homeowner said.
- KSAT viewers share photos of squirrels ‘splooting’ around San Antonio, animals trying to keep cool in heat: “Splooting” was in this summer. In several photos posted on KSAT Connect, squirrels, dogs and more animals were seen lying on patios, in the dirt, and on a fence in the classic “sploot” position, When animals “sploot,” they try to make as much body contact as possible with something cool, according to TPWD.
- Crazy photo shows snake eating fish at Landa Park in New Braunfels: Hobbyist photographer Ed Means snapped a pretty awesome picture of nature at work — a big snake eating an equally large fish — at Landa Park in April.
Dramatic rescues
- Kitten rescued from underneath highway overpass by 3 ACS officers: A distressed kitten got to keep all nine of its lives after being rescued from underneath a highway overpass in October. The kitten, named Zelda, was taken into custody by San Antonio’s ACS and was later given to the Animal Defense League for care.
- 2-week-old kitten rescued from walls of San Antonio apartment complex needs foster family: That darn cat! A 2-week-old kitten was rescued from the wall of an apartment building in September. Though it’s unknown how the feline became trapped, firefighters, an animal care officer and an animal care cadet with ACS rescued the kitten by cutting a hole in the wall of one of the apartment units.
- Seguin officer rescues cat stuck on a log on Guadalupe River: An animal services officer in Seguin got to cool off during the summer when he rescued a cat in the Guadalupe River. Animal Service Field Supervisor Brendon Moore waded into the water in full uniform to save the black cat as it was trapped on a log. The cat was later adopted.
- Video shows Round Rock firefighters rescuing ducklings from storm drain: Ducks in Round Rock waddled themselves to a potentially dangerous situation in July. “What the duck?! Round Rock firefighters jumped into action to help save a crew of ducklings,” the city posted on Facebook. “Yep, they quackalacked their way right down into a storm drain with momma looking on to pull the little quackers to safety.”
When humans get involved
- Texas woman attacked by hawk after snake falls out of sky, lands on her: Texas woman Peggy Jones said she felt like “the luckiest person alive” after a snake fell out of the sky and landed on her in August. That wasn’t all — she was then attacked by a hawk. “The snake was squeezing so hard, and I was waving my arms in the air. And then, this hawk was swooping down clawing at my arm over and over,” Jones said. “I just kept saying, ‘Help me, Jesus, Help me, Jesus.’”
- ‘Opossum Queen:’ Texas woman seen in viral video calmly rescuing opossum from country bar: All hail the opossum queen. That’s the moniker Jessica White was given after wrangling a varmint out of the Banita Creek Hall in Nacogdoches in April.