So it goes: an obituary for a local beloved marine mammal. more ›

Soon, SPD officers may not ride horses, because money. The Seattle City Council is even turning down money from the Seattle Police Foundation to preserve the program. But is this maybe for the best? You tell us! more ›

If you've licensed your pet, give yourself a little back-pat: you've done your part. But if you haven't, you and your little buddy are not only depriving the Animal Shelter of the critical funds that it needs to remain operational, you're also running the risk of receiving a steep fine from Animal Shelter employees, who will be patrolling parks and other public places. more ›

If your pony is feeling perky, go ahead and let it horse around--the horse herpes outbreak has been contained. more ›

Today in Zoo news, Woodland Park offers shelter for some smuggled spiders--and who knows what else? more ›

Today in things that have to be repeated every single year, the Seattle Animal Shelter is once again urging parents not to give their children live animals for Easter. Do we need to go over this again? more ›

The Woodland Park Zoo sent along these photos of animals frolicking in (or at least tolerating) yesterday's snowfall. The zoo closed at 3 p.m. yesterday due to weather. more ›

The Annual Fall Fecal Fest will be up and running September 1-19 at the Woodland Park Zoo. Apparently, this is the time of year when gardeners, farmers, and "Zoo Doo" loyalists scramble to get their hands on some prized, limited quantities of ... animal poo. more ›

We retweeted this earlier, but the Woodland Park Zoo has an announcement up for a Digital Photography Internship Opportunity. The zoo is looking to staff their Communications and Marketing Department with a separate unpaid intern for each a Spring and Summer 2010 session - a three month opportunity. Here’s a summary: more ›

As per the usual holiday tradition, animals at Woodland Park Zoo this past weekend were lovingly fed custom treats in celebration of Valentine's Day. The zoo's otters, red pandas, gorillas, snow leopards - among others - snacked on valentines made of fruit juice, honey, strawberries and cranberries (along with some heart-shaped steaks, we hear.) Here are the otters playing with heart-shaped ice pops, made from fruit juice, smelt, and carrots. more ›

The nights on the farm were restless, especially in such a tiny tent, but we wouldn’t have slept any better indoors. We’re never at ease sleeping away from home. Nevertheless, waking at five in the morning was effortless. Maybe it was the anticipation of all the new experiences that each day brought or maybe it was because we hadn’t been stuck breaking down our station so late the night before. As we walked from our tent to the school, we said good morning to the ducks for the last time. In a half an hour we would return with the rest of the class to butcher several of them. more ›

Seal pupping season has begun, which means those cute widdle furry seal pups will soon enough start popping up on West Seattle beaches. And when they do--watch the seal cam!--the Seal Sitters, an all-volunteer seal superhero group will be on the lookout. This year the group needs more trained helpers on the beaches, protecting the resting seal pups from curious dogs and the "I want to pet it!" type of people. more ›

We're reluctant to spend this absolutely glorious sunny Monday morning writing about this weekend's horrific murders down in Graham, Washington. What Seattlest would rather do is watch web cams of Northwest wildlife, and we bet that's what you'd rather think about, too. The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has two live streaming web cams of bald eagle nests in British Columbia, and a handful of other recorded segments from years past of such wonders as the Chehalis salmon run. When will Dreamworks make a movie about talking, singing bald eagles and Chinook salmon? We'd buy that DVD/BluRay combo pack. Mornings and webcams like these remind us that we have the privilege of making our home in one of the world's most bountiful, beautiful areas. Sunshine, please stay! more ›

Seattlest gathered the top economic writers in the country and asked them to discuss the ramifications of the $819 billion economic recovery plan. more ›

HOLIDAYS AT THE ZOO: Even the animals at the Woodland Park Zoo are getting into the holiday spirit. For the next three days of the zoo's Winter Celebration, zookeepers will bring the animals gifts of tasty treats like "wreaths trimmed with fish or assorted fruit, evergreen trees with ornamental fruit, or wrapped boxes filled with favorite tidbits." For today, the schedule of feedings is sun bears at 11 a.m., grizzlies and pigs at noon, and the elephants at 2 p.m. Tomorrow, the orangutans, otters, golden lion tamarins, and tigers get theirs, and Wednesday closes things out with the emus, gorillas, and Australian birds and keas. more ›

Ninety-five baby turtles of a rare species hatched today at the Woodland Park Zoo! Awww. The little amphibians, only as big as a quarter each, will eventually be returned to the wild from whence they were rescued as part of a conservation and recovery project. (The big mean bullfrogs were eating all the exotic baby turtles, making them even more rare.) These specific newly-hatched turtles are not on display at the Zoo, but there are photos here and here. 100% adorable. Just look at his little mouth gaping wide! Happy Halloween to Turtle Boy, by the way, wherever you are in life. more ›

The King County Animal Care and Control department is far too understaffed to check up on dogs running loose, even aggressive ones, reports the Seattle Times. Animal control officers have reiterated--after a pit bull attack on a 71-year-old SeaTac woman last Monday--that they can't do much until after you've got bite marks. Bottom line: as it's hard to dial with a pit bull hanging off you, hands-free phone technology is clearly more important than ever. For those who enjoy fact-based argument, in 2007 pit bulls represented four percent of licensed dogs in Seattle and 22 percent of reported dog bite attacks. Poodles didn't bite anyone, but we still advise keeping an eye on them. more ›

Seattlest, as you know, has long been an advocate of playing hooky on Friday. Today, if you're looking for an excuse to cut out early, just tell your boss you can't bear to sit in the office any longer on the Happiest Day of the Year. How did "they" figure out that today is the happiest? A simple math formula, of course: "According to the research this has been worked out using the equation O + (N xS) + Cpm/T + He." Naturally, divide the Cpm by T. more ›

Brooklyn trio A Place to Bury Strangers bills themselves as "the loudest band in New York," but that's not exactly true. A band's loudness is of course the product of several factors, the volume and intensity assuredly a function of the sound system every night they play, or the sound guy, or the venue itself. So perhaps it's more accurate to describe APtBS as "the effects-pedaliest band in New York" or "the My Bloody Valentiney-est band in New York." Because both of those claims are true, without a doubt. more ›

Welsh five-piece Super Furry Animals are known for crafting catchy orchestral psychedelic pop-rock -- hence the terribly "trippy" cover art for their latest album Hey Venus. The band's been together since '94, and while most UK groups of that time period have split up or gone on permanent hiatus, SFA are still going strong. For that, you can credit the drugs. Seriously though, the Furries make songs with sunny melodies and melancholy, nearly doo-wop arrangements that come off effortlessly. Check out the above track "Run-Away," which begins with the simple yet heartbreaking (and difficult to discern, at least in the live version) declaration: "This song is based on a true story, which would be fine if it wasn't autobiographical." Ouch. more ›

Since this week's storm didn’t claim any lives in Seattle, most of us tend to think of the damage in terms of washed out images of I-5 and that Subaru in Golden Gardens. more ›

Ah, football. We love it. It’s easily our favorite sport to watch as it gets our usual docile selves all fired up and yelling at the television every week. Basketball, even with its fast pace and high scoring, is a bore. And baseball? Baseball is almost as fun to watch as golf or the Lifetime channel. But for all of football’s glory, there remains its biggest upset. Which is that it’s one of those high-testosterone... more ›

Walking down 15th the other afternoon, we were a little Hitchcocked out by the sight of a crowd of crows (or ravens, the comments section is of two minds about which) assembled on a neighbor's house and lawn. Naturally, we immediately suspected said neighbors of being witches. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. Live and let magick, we say.) A woman got out of her car while we were taking the picture and,... more ›

Yeah, yeah, yeah… we’ve bawled a bunch about the blahness of Queen Anne cuisine, from the "exotic" Chinoise at the top of the hill to the "exotic" Racha at the bottom of the hill. So we lowered our expectations a bit to try some good ol' American food at Floyd's Place, which reviewers consistently Yelped as, well, "decent." more ›

Foul weather holds off until Sunday afternoon, leaving plenty of time under cool gray skies for Seattlest & friends to launch a Flexcar and sail out to the farm. Once we get past Redmond, the familiar trappings fall off: shopping malls, housing developments, the last Whole Foods, the last gas station & mini-mart. more ›

Eaten: An onion burger and brick of fries. more ›

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland snake enthusiast, Matt Williamson was rushed to the hospital after a recent assault by an unnamed rattlesnake. more ›

The eternal feud between evolutionary rivals bears and crows finally came to a dramatic conclusion recently at the Woodland Park Zoo, as the persecuted bears claimed a decisive victory over their winged foe, the goddamned crows. Jim Woodring was on the scene and documented the victory on his blog (click through the drawing below for a larger more readable version): more ›

Kakuta Hamisi, a member of the Maasai tribe of Kenya, is working over the summer at the Woodland Park Zoo, talking to zoo visitors about Maasai culture and conservation. more ›

We attended an advance, VIP screening of The Simpsons movie at Cinerama on Friday night (or at least that's what the guy who sold us the ticket for the special price of $45 told us). more ›