In 2018, the orca Tahlequah (J35) carried her dead calf for 17 days. Now researchers have spotted her with a newborn son, J65, swimming, socializing and nursing. It is hopeful news for the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
Two barn owlets were found on the ground in a Michigan yard in August, the first known in the state in more than 40 years. One had died. The other was nursed back to health at Wildside in Eaton Rapids, trained by a falconer, banded and set free.
A spring freeze and a dry summer left Colorado’s black bears short on food. Now 70-year-old Nanci Limbach and her tiny team in Silt are fattening up more than 30 orphaned and underweight cubs, with donated peaches, apples and even carved Halloween pumpkins.
Rascal, an American Bully, spent more than 300 days at the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia, becoming its longest-stay resident. When a new dad finally adopted him, he brought a step stool from home to help Rascal into the car, and millions of viewers fell in love.
Orphaned baby elephants Kaikai and Bungalu spun around, flapped their ears and trumpeted with joy when their favorite keeper, Joseph, came back to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s Kaluku unit. Here is how one lost her mother as a newborn and the other survived lions, hunger and a storm alone.
Four cats were found shaking, soaking wet and covered in fleas inside a mesh tunnel left out in heavy rain in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The Monmouth County SPCA nursed Morticia, Delilah, Matisse and Autumn back to health, and less than two weeks later all four were adopted.
A mother orangutan named Gadis and her baby, Garis, were rescued in the middle of the night in Kandan Village, Central Kalimantan, after a rope suspected to be a pig snare was found wrapped around both her wrists. Both are now in care.
A nearly 10-foot female dusky shark nicknamed Bukangi spent more than a month circling a narrow canal in Busan, South Korea, drawing more than 1.7 million visitors. After two failed attempts, workers guided her out on October 21. She came back hours later, so they let her leave on her own.
An off-duty officer fishing near Corry, Pennsylvania thought he saw a bear cub in the brush. It was a young bald eagle who had fallen from her nest. After more than four months at Tamarack Wildlife Center, Ursa was released at Hartstown Marsh and circled the crowd five times.
When two orphaned raccoon kits died because no rehabilitator had room for them, veterinarian Paul Bookbinder and his wife Sarah promised it would never happen again. They built a raccoon rehabilitation center on 53 acres in Earlville, New York, and estimate they have helped more than 800 raccoons.