CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 14, 2013 | By Maura Dolan
SAN FRANCISCO - He shot squirrels in the head so their bodies would be intact for meals. He caught frogs, lizards and a two-foot brown snake, killing them with a rock and toasting them thoroughly so he would not get salmonella. Each night, before burying himself under rotting leaves, he carefully covered his fire with gravel to prevent it from spreading. Gene Penaflor made it through 19 days lost in the wilds of Northern California's Mendocino National Forest by going into "survival mode," his son, Gale Penaflor, 37, said Monday.
SPORTS
October 4, 2013 | By David Wharton
Forget about golf, the biggest story from the President's Cup this week has been Sammy the Squirrel. The rodent has become an overnight media star after snuggling with Tiger Woods and his girlfriend, skier Lindsey Vonn, at the Muirfield Village golf course in Ohio. Sammy became the American team's unofficial mascot on Thursday when assistant coach Davis Love III found it near the second hole and, fearing it might get trampled, scooped it up. The Americans were doing well against their competitors , the International team, so Love hung onto his new pal. "My dad always picked up sticks for good luck and he told me I had to keep it as long as we were winning holes," said Love, who is a hunter and outdoorsman.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 25, 2013 | By Ari Bloomekatz
Los Angeles County health officials confirmed this week that a trapped ground squirrel tested positive for plague, and as a precaution parts of the Angeles National Forest near Wrightwood have been closed. The areas closed, since 1 p.m. Wednesday, include the Twisted Arrow, Broken Blade and Pima Loops of the Table Mountain campgrounds. The areas will be closed for at least a week, according to a health advisory from the county Department of Public Health. "Plague is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas, which is why we close affected campgrounds and recreational areas as a precaution while preventive measures are taken to control the flea population," Jonathan E. Fielding, head of the health department, said in the advisory.
OPINION
June 7, 2013
Re "Shark catch fuels frenzy," June 5 The photo of the grinning anglers with their "prize" - a 1,300-plus-pound mako shark - should make any caring person feel physically ill. While there are a handful of well-publicized shark attacks around the world each year, humans pose the much bigger threat. We kill an estimated 100 million sharks every year, as was made shockingly clear in the "Shark Attack" infographic online that went viral a couple of months ago. Anglers may not want to hear this, but fishing is a cruel blood sport.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 23, 2013 | By Rosanna Xia
Here's a summer reminder: Chipmunks and squirrels can carry infected fleas and plague, a bacterial disease people can contract through close contact with the furry animals, health officials warned. “Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation ... so we all need to be cautious around animals that can carry it,” El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Alicia Paris-Pombo said in a statement Thursday. Because of the increased plague activity in the Tahoe Basin area last fall, El Dorado County health officials have been urging the public to take precaution this summer.
NATIONAL
February 15, 2013 | By Tamara Jones
For the last six years, the volunteer fire department of rural Holley, N.Y., has raised money for new equipment by sponsoring a hunting contest to see who could shoot the fattest squirrel. Other than some concerns that cheaters might pack squirrels with rocks before weigh-in, the event has always gone off without a hitch. Until now. This year, the squirrels have gone viral, and the social media campaign to stop Holley's seventh annual “Squirrel Slam” on Saturday has turned into full-fledged cultural warfare between Americans who feed squirrels and Americans who serve them in pot pies with sherried mushrooms.