Sacramento County Animals Digest

As the first serious case of bird flu in a human is reported and more dairy herds across the state are infected, California Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency. Read on to learn what that entails.

Learn how health officials and California dairies are responding, or not, to the explosive spread of bird flu through dairy herds across the state.

Most ships discharging ballast water into California waters are inspected, but state officials have tested the water of only 16 ships. Experts say invaders like mussels are inevitable under current rules and enforcement.

Bird flu has been spreading among dairy workers in California’s Central Valley, jumping from cows to people. A new suspected case in the Bay Area came from an unknown source.

The invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitos have been detected in more areas of Santa Clara County, prompting officials to hold meetings to discuss their response to the threat posed by the species. 

Sixty years ago, I was a reporter for the Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and with my family lived in a small house on the Link River, which flows out of Upper Klamath Lake, draining a large portion of the Cascade mountain range.

Low counts of spawning salmon could mean another year without fishing. Experts say the outlook still has time to turn around.

A strain of bird flu that imperiled California poultry and cattle has jumped to people. In humans, the symptoms are mild and the virus has not been transmitted among people.

Growers support a federal and state proposal for operating California’s massive systems that send river water south. But it could harm more salmon and other endangered fish.

Jennifer Brent has been named as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

On October 4, the Sacramento Zoo announced the resignation of Executive Director Jason Jacobs and named a new team as the zoo prepares to move to Elk Grove.

H5N1 bird flu has been reported in three California dairy herds.

The Sacramento Observer shines a light on the hundreds of thousands of bats who make their home in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, and how they benefit local sustainable agriculture (and eat a lot of insects.)

A resident of the Roseville Road homeless shelter in Sacramento talks about their experience there.

The Citrus Heights City Council heard concerns expressed at a recent meeting about the increase in feral cats locally, many sick and starving, and some possibly carrying a deadly virus.

For the second year, the California Fish and Game Commission is banning salmon fishing in the Sacramento, American, Feather, and Mokelumne rivers.

The Elk Grove City Council voted to approve the move of the Sacramento Zoo to a 100 acre lot at Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway.

Several bills making their way through the California Legislature seek to address overcrowded animal shelters and streamline how animals receive care.

Each year, a herd of 7,000 sheep graze and goats tend to the grass with their kids, or baby goats, in creeks and channels throughout the city, clear vegetation grow during the wet season to cut down on wildfire dangers.

California has released 500,000 salmon into the Klamath River. As dams are removed, the fish will be some of the first to return to a free-flowing river.

Obstacles are mounting for officials who are attempting to rescue a young gray whale that was discovered entangled in a gillnet off Laguna Beach was recently sighted off the coast of Thornton State Beach in Daly City .

Although Elk Grove taxpayers will shoulder most of the $302 million cost of the initial phase of the relocation and construction of a new Sacramento Zoo, other parties including the Sacramento Zoological Society will share the burden.

Captains of fishing boats on the California coast are bracing for salmon fishing to be severely restricted — or possibly canceled for a second year.

The goal is to eliminate habitat competition between "invasive" owls and native owls.

If hikers, bikers, campers, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts haven't encountered a mountain lion while in the California wilderness, they might know somebody who has.

A man was fatally attacked and his brother injured by a mountain lion in a remote area near Georgetown.

Unlike the record low Chinook salmon returns on the Sacramento River this year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife noted a new record for the number of steelhead returning to the Mokelumne River.

The City of Elk Grove has released information about the financing for the $400M multi-phase project to move the Sacramento Zoo to Elk Grove, but questions remain.

There was a time not so long ago when trained observers were overwhelmed by the number of whales migrating through Monterey Bay.

The Wildlife Conservation Board voted to award $10.3 million to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to preserve the 27,000-acre Camatta Ranch in Santa Margarita.

While temperatures aren’t warm enough for mosquitoes to run rampant, now’s the time to prevent breeding grounds.

Ten conservation groups filed an intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its failure to list western wolves under the Endangered Species Act.