Zebras and dinosaurs and chickens, oh my!: Top animal stories of 2023

This year, the cat dragged in a number of unique and interesting stories about animals.

980 CJME and 650 CKOM reporters took listeners out to the farmyard, through the courthouse, and even back in time.

Below are some of our top animal stories of 2023.

A Picasso among horses

In the stables, Tuff, a retired racehorse, took up a new hobby.

Ella Wall taught her horse Tuff how to paint after seeing others do so on TikTok.

She said the horse’s favourite colours are blue and yellow, because horses can see those two colours clearly.

A debate hatches

Amy Snider, the founder of Queen City Chickens, is pushing for Regina to change its bylaws to allow for backyard chicken keeping.

Snider’s four hens live in her backyard in Regina. The hens have been prescribed to her as emotional support animals, but she wants others to have the opportunity to keep chickens as well.

“We feel like it’s not going to go away,” said Snider.

“The demand for people wanting to keep chickens is going to increase, as it is more common across the country to allow this, and people are excited about all the benefits they can get from keeping chickens, and that news spreads.”

Her pilot project proposal to Regina city council will be debated in the new year. It proposes allowing 20 homes to keep between two and six chickens over a two-year period.

Black and white charges

An unexpected discovery in the Candiac area left conservation officers with no black and white solutions.

A dazzle of five zebras was seized from the property. The African animals are now living at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, and a man was charged with breaking wildlife regulations by importing and holding zebras in captivity.

The zebras have been enjoying the warmer winter weather this year, but will soon need a heated barn.

Hello (and goodbye) to Brutus

Brutus the Rottweiler was his owner’s best friend. So when Brutus got sick, Kelly Yahnke wanted to send him off the right way.

“I’ve had him since he was a puppy. He’s only five years old and has been the greatest dog to me and my family, so the best way to give back was to share him with the world,” Yahnke said.

“It’s the best I can do to give him a final farewell of 1,000 pets.”

Yahnke sat with Brutus at Pet Valu in Regina, greeting happy customers on their way in.

Brutus took a turn for the worse and spent his final moments with his family only days later.

Man’s best friend

A little bit of Joy often helps in times of crisis.

St. John Ambulance has 160 therapy dogs across the province. They go with their handlers to hospitals, crisis scenes, senior centres, and daycares.

980 CJME followed Joy, a two-year-old therapy dog, to the Harbour Landing Village, where she met senior resident Sadie Lipp.

Joy, one of the St. John Ambulance therapy dog, works her magic at Harbour Landing Village in Regina. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

“It brings back a lot of memories,” said Lipp. “I was born and raised on a farm, so we always had a dog.”

The Regina Police Service said goodbye to Merlot, a Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) therapy animal, after eight years of service.

Tia Froh, Merlot’s handler, said the dogs can be a quiet companion for victims when police officers cannot.

“They’re using the dog (or) petting that dog to take the stress away,” Froh said.

Merlot spent her time with victims on the court stand and in the interrogation room.

Holy cow!

Many producers were praying for some moisture throughout this year, and Josef Buttigieg, a farmer in the Lumsden area, also struggled with an infestation of grasshoppers.

With the crops dry, he got creative trying to figure out how to supplement his sparse feed sources.

After Halloween, he collected nine tons of jack-o-lanterns from people’s doorsteps to use as feed for his livestock.

He said he hopes the carved pumpkins will last until February.

Not all producers struggled with drought. Kelly Frizzell’s colony of bees thrived in the warmer conditions.

Josef Buttigieg’s livestock enjoys pumpkins left over from Halloween. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

An iconic T. Rex goes extinct

Megamunch, a half-sized robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, will be retiring in February.

Laura Ross, Saskatchewan’s minister of parks, culture and sport, congratulated the prehistoric beast on 37 amazing years of service.

In February of 1990, he witnessed a fire at the museum. In 1997, he served as a greeter and baggage handler at the Regina airport during the construction of the Life Sciences Gallery at the museum.