Santa Clara County Animals Digest

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

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 .

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.

Shravan Sundaram is an environmental scientist who photographs urban bobcats in the South Bay, including in San Jose.

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.

Foragers at the beaches in Half Moon Bay might be damaging the area’s reef.

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.

An extinct species of walrus was unearthed in Santa Cruz County, evoking a time when California was teeming with odd creatures that feel closer to fantasy than reality, researchers said.

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America bag deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

Chinook and other salmon runs are collapsing. Conservation groups call it too little, too late. Plan includes dam removals and restoring river flows.

Monarch butterflies have a long way to go before reaching stable population numbers.

Those pandemic puppies are growing up to be a public health concern.

For months, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has been waging war on the oriental fruit fly, a voracious pest that can attack hundreds of types of fruits and vegetables.

New rules took effect Jan. 1 permanently protecting the most fragile deep sea corals off Southern California. Simultaneously, more than 4,500 square miles of ocean waters are now reopened to fishing after more than 20 years of closures.

Research shows that a mountain chickadee facing deep snow is like a canary in a coal mine—its survivability tells us about the challenges ahead.

An outbreak of the avian flu that began in California in October has killed 5.5 million birds throughout the Golden State. About 20% of the deaths have come in Sonoma County.

Visitors can see the critically endangered Lord How Island stick insect, on display for the first time in North America, in a special habitat at the zoo’s Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.

A dark-sky movement to save birds from window strikes is sweeping the San Francisco Bay Area. Several cities have passed or are drafting laws restricting light pollution while making windows easier for birds to see.

Novelist Jonathan Franzen looks at how trap-neuter-release policies in feral cat colonies have troubling consequences for city residents, local wildlife and even the felines themselves.

Sarah Grimes investigates reports of dead marine mammals up and down the coast. So when she began finding the decapitated bodies of harbor seal pups just a few miles north of Fort Bragg in 2016, she was on the case. Grimes wasn’t able to pin down the culprit until last year, with the help of a UCSC student.

Advocates and San Jose officials can agree on one thing: The conditions in the city’s animal shelter are harrowing.

Salmon populations in the Scott and Shasta rivers have crashed, so state officials are about to restrict irrigation again. And the controversial rules may even become permanent.

Birds are affected by the mass use of fireworks on New Year’s Eve up to a distance of 10 km away, reports an international team of researchers.

A coyote recently was found at the $27 million Russian Hill home of AI mogul Sam Altman. This relates to a study, which found that coyote sightings were more frequent in higher-income areas of San Francisco.

Conservationists intend to shoot all of the deer on Santa Catalina Island by helicopter. Some people are opposed, either for not wanting to eliminate the deer or for missing out on future chances to hunt them.

A dog trainer who allegedly attempted to substitute a Palo Alto resident's German shepherd with another dog after failing to return the pet to its owner will face charges, the Palo Alto Police Department has confirmed.

A beaver that was recolonizing the Matadero Creek in Palo Alto was taken to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley after being spotted immobile in a pile of leaves, officials said.

A beaver that is recolonizing the Matadero Creek in Palo Alto was taken to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley after being spotted immobile in a pile of leaves, officials said.