How Sherman joined our life

By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor

My mom helps run a dog rescue in Southern California, and one of her jobs is to go to high-intake shelters and pull dogs that might otherwise be euthanized. Many of them are like Sherman, a corgi left in the anonymous night drop in San Bernardino. He had a skin infection and was missing half the fur on his back. Whoever left him also left a note that said, “Very sweet and loving dog...Please find him a good, loving home. He deserves the best.”

Someone loved him a lot, but maybe they lost their job during the pandemic and couldn’t afford his medical bills? Unfortunately, neither could the shelter. So my mom went and got him. The rescue had funding to treat him, and he’d clearly make a good family dog—a perfect candidate.

Long story short, my husband and I ended up adopting Sherman (pictured below, camping with us). We became one of many, many households to adopt a dog during the pandemic, and it was the best decision we could have made. By the end of summer 2020, many shelters were nearly empty and people were having a hard time finding dogs.

But a year later, shelters are in crisis again (pictured at top, an overcrowded shelter in Atlanta). Some are so full that dogs are kept in crates on the floor and others are turning away rabbits. There are anecdotal reports of recent adopters surrendering their pandemic pets, but the full explanation is more complicated. Because of the pandemic, staffing shortages, fewer public adoption events, and long waitlists for spay and neuter procedures have caused a backup. Shelters simply can’t get animals ready for adoption as quickly as they used to, Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly reports.

You can help! Contact your local shelters for foster and volunteer opportunities. You can walk dogs, help at adoption events, and—critically, Daly says—transport animals from overburdened shelters to rescue groups and shelters that have more space and higher demand for adoptions. Look up groups near you here.

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TODAY IN A MINUTE

Tuna bounce back: Good news for the ocean: Two bluefin species, a yellowfin, and an albacore are no longer critically endangered or have moved off the leading international list of endangered species entirely. Their rapid migration from the edge of extinction demonstrates that tuna conservation is working, Nat Geo reports. (Above, Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea off Sardinia, Italy.)

Zebras on the loose: Residents of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, thought they were seeing things when they first spotted zebras outside their windows, NBC Washington reports. They weren’t. The zebras are legally owned and apparently escaped from a nearby farm nine days ago. It’s unclear how they escaped, but animal control tells Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly that the owner of the farm has set up a feeding station with cameras to try to corral the pack, who’ve been returning for breakfast.

Can birds predict natural disasters? Researchers hope so. Scientists have been focusing on birds’ ability to hear infrasound, the low frequencies inaudible to humans ­that researchers believe are the most likely sounds birds would use to sense hurricanes and tsunamis. The team has been tracking birds, to see if they move ahead of a tsunami or storm. The research could help with the development of a bird-based early warning system, Hakai magazine reports.

Endangered: Franklin’s bumblebee, a rare black-and-yellow bee that hasn’t been seen in 15 years, is now on the U.S. endangered species list, Nat Geo reports. Scientists say they don’t think it’s extinct yet. The Endangered Species Act listing means there will be additional funding available for recovery and search initiatives.

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

Two years, two phenomena: Last year, hiking along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Karine Aigner came across one dead bird after another. Wildfires and a severe cold snap left many of the birds emaciated as they began migrating. This year, in a different phenomenon in the eastern U.S., birds showed up with crusty eyes, blindness, and apparent neurological issues—and then died. Tests have ruled out avian viruses. Human-linked toxins and infectious disease—or a possible link to the Brood X cicadas this year— still remain possibilities. If you find a dead or sick bird, take photos, make note of its symptoms and location, and report it on the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s online portal.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

Parental care: Daddy squids historically were thought to mate and run. But two researchers, working independently, noticed something that could be construed as fatherly care among bigfin reef squid (pictured above). While a male typically sticks close to his partner to deter others from mating with her, he apparently also sometimes leaves for a few seconds to scout crevices to see if they’d make good egg-laying nests, biologist and Nat Geo Explorer Eduardo Sampaio tells Nat Geo. “The more we learn about squid,” Sampaio says, “the more we’re blown away by their complexities and quirks.”

DIVE DEEPER 

IN A FEW WORDS

THE LAST GLIMPSE

How Garfield got his stripes: A new study delves into a long-held mystery: How exactly does a tabby cat's genes make those stripes in its fur? In the study, published this week in Nature Communications, scientists report that the genes that set up the tabby pattern are activated in an embryo’s skin cells before the cat’s fur develops, JoAnna Klein reports for Nat Geo. The early skin cells even mimic tabby stripes under the microscope.

Subscriber exclusive: Read “Out of the shadows, wildcats you’ve never seen,” featuring photos from the National Geographic Photo Ark by Explorer Joel Sartore. Speaking of Sartore, catch his appearance on the latest episode of our Overheard podcast, in which he chronicles his shift to photographing bugs in his backyard and elsewhere during the pandemic.

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