THE WEST
One doesn’t expect century-old government agencies to send out hilarious dispatches. But that’s what makes the National Park Service’s social media posts such a treat, including one Instagram post that urges wild turkey aficionados to treat the big birds with respect. “Your chances of being hunted by a turkey are low, but never zero,” it begins, followed by a closeup view of a turkey looking remarkably like a velociraptor, and then a third image with an even closer and frankly terrifying image of the turkey’s eye, glaring at you. The accompanying text reads, “Gobble, gobble. Be careful out there. Did you know turkeys can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Can you? They can also fly as fast as 55 miles per hour (in short bursts). When they need to, turkeys can even swim by tucking their wings, spreading their tails, and kicking. So basically, be alert for any fowl play whether you’re on land or water.” Check out the National Park Service’s Instagram for more — and be careful out there.
CALIFORNIA/LOS ANGELES
Amid the devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires, bright stories emerge, showing humans — and animals — at their best. Witness Tiptoe, an African sulcata tortoise. When the fires reached her Pacific Palisades neighborhood, Tiptoe’s human, Caitlin Doran, knew she had to act. She lured Tiptoe from his hutch with bell peppers, covered him with a blanket and, with the help of family members, hoisted all 175 pounds of the tortoise — which is a lot of tortoise — into the back of an SUV. Tiptoe was a neighborhood celebrity, enjoying regular “romps,” assuming tortoises romp, along nearby streets, where he liked to stop and not just smell, but eagerly snack on the roses. Tiptoe was also a popular guest star at local festivals and daycare centers. “People will grow vegetables for him. They grow flowers for him. When the grandkids are in town, they’ll come over and check Tiptoe out,” Doran told NPR. Their very popular Instagram account, caitlinandtiptoe, shows Tiptoe hanging out, munching on fruit and leafy greens or modeling unusual headgear. Doran believes Tiptoe, who is happily adjusting to his new home in Marina del Rey, has valuable lessons to impart in these insecure times: “Tiptoe has everything he needs on his back, including his home. And for so many of us in the Palisades, that’s kind of the same boat we’re rocking in.”
BEFORE ALTADENA’S legendary Bunny Museum and its 46,000-plus bunny objects and memorabilia were destroyed by the Eaton Fire, it was a certified Guinness World Record holder for the world’s biggest bunny collection, the LA Times reported. The quirky museum, dubbed “the hoppiest place on earth,” was founded in 1998 by lagomorph-loving husband and wife Steve Lubanski and Candace Frazee. Over the years, as their collection grew, it moved from an appointment-only venue in their Pasadena home to a 7,000-square-foot building on Lake Avenue. Frazee has promised to rebuild at the same location, and bunny boosters are welcome to hop on over to the museum’s GoFundMe page and lend a paw.
NOT LONG BEFORE the LA fires broke out, Sam Arbid bought a home in Altadena. He was checking out the property when he peeked into the crawl space, only to find that it was already occupied: A 525-pound black bear had taken up residence and was snug as a bug in a rug, convinced he’d found the ideal AirBearNBear to hibernate in. As Arbid told ABC7, “I couldn’t believe it,” when his Ring camera revealed the unexpected tenant. He was still trying to figure out how to evict him when the Eaton Fire forced him and his family to evacuate. Luckily, their home survived. When the utility company came to restore power, however, its employees found “Beary” still in residence. Not surprisingly, they declined to work, saying, in what may have been an understatement, that they felt “discomfort about working around a 525-pound bear.” Tranquilizing a bear that large and heavy and then dragging him out of a crawl space wasn’t an option, so a wildlife expert from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife finally lured Beary out from under the house and into a box-shaped trap, using tins of sardines, peanut butter and a rotisserie chicken. (No eggs, however; they’re too pricey, even for a bruin-size budget.) Beary was loaded onto a truck and taken to Angeles National Forest, where he was safely released.
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This article appeared in the March 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Heard around the West.”
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