From cows who jumped ship to Grumpy Cat’s film, here are some more Vancouver animal facts<\/p>\n
Vancouver is one of the most nature-friendly major cities in the world, and as a relatively new large city, it has plenty of stories involving non-humans.<\/p>\n
Here are a few times animals and people interacted in Vancouver. And by “few” we mean five.<\/p>\n
Bounty for dead crows<\/p>\n
Vancouver may be a fairly animal-friendly city now, but in its early days that wasn’t true in a lot of cases.<\/p>\n
For example, in 1903 the provincial government authorized the City of Vancouver to offer a nickel per\u00a0crow head due to the “voracious crows” in the city.<\/p>\n
The goal was to kill 5,000 crows. City aldermen discussed the issue, including whether it should be limited to a few men, or to allow boys in on the bounty hunt.<\/p>\n
They also discussed that poison seemed ineffective against\u00a0the “almost human intelligence” of the birds. They also discussed the use of guns in the city to get the job done.<\/p>\n
In 2026 dollars, the bounty would be around $1.50.<\/p>\n
Raccoon caught, sent to zoo<\/p>\n
While raccoons may look like little thieves, they are, in fact, not covered by human laws.<\/p>\n
However, in 1924, a raccoon ended up in something of a prison after an incident in a tree near Hastings Park.<\/p>\n
A raccoon was up a tree being chased by a couple of men.<\/p>\n
It attempted to leap to freedom, but unfortunately it landed by the Vancouver police chief, who caught it.<\/p>\n
Instead of setting it free somewhere more fitting of a raccoon, the chief took it to the zoo.<\/p>\n
Albino orcas in local waters<\/p>\n
In 1954 an albino orca was spotted in Burrard Inlet. It may have been the same one called Albino Alice, which was spotted in 1947 around Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n
At the time, they weren’t very popular with locals, and Vancouver Province columnist Norman Hacking lit into the marine mammal, calling them savage and arguably the most dangerous mammal in BC.<\/p>\n
In 1970 a different albino orca was caught off Vancouver Island\u00a0and taken to Victoria’s Sealand. She was named\u00a0Moby Dick, and died a couple of years later.<\/p>\n
Cows overboard<\/p>\n
In 1976, boaters in the Burrard Inlet had a strange sight after nine cows went overboard one night.<\/p>\n
They were being moved from a ranch on Gambier Island to market on the mainland via a tugboat and barge, according to Grant Lawrence, who shared the story with VIA a few years ago.<\/a><\/p>\n As they passed by Lions Gate Bridge, the cows decided they had better plans and jumped ship.<\/p>\n The call went out to the surrounding area that cows had gone overboard, and a bovine rescue mission was thrown into action.<\/p>\n Two calves were pulled from the water, while the adults swam off in a different direction. A couple of cows were lassoed and guided to shore, a few others were caught\u00a0by Third Beach, and cops were called to a beach in West Vancouver for two others. One cow was found swimming and given a life jacket to keep its head above water.<\/p>\n The last cow found alive was spotted by the Coast Guard the next day and brought home safe.<\/p>\n Two cows didn’t make it.<\/p>\n Grumpy Cat film<\/p>\n Most famous animals don’t travel too much, but Tardar\u00a0Sauce, aka Grumpy Cat, was an exception. As one of the most famous cats of her time, she was taken around to a variety of events, and even spent some time in Metro Vancouver.<\/p>\n