Newspaper obituaries for animals?
October 24, 2024 10:49 AM   Subscribe

I just read the Washington Post obituary for Grizzly 399. It got me interested in what other animal deaths have merited obituaries in major newspapers. Koko the gorilla springs to mind, but I'm sure there are others. I'm especially interested in wild animals, but also fine to read obituaries of animal actors or famous pets or zoo animals.
posted by potrzebie to Pets & Animals (28 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: P-22. That one hurt, the whole city was rooting for him.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:53 AM on October 24, 2024 [10 favorites]


Secretariat's passing got front page in the New York Times.

Keiko, the orca from Free Willy.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:57 AM on October 24, 2024


Mighty Mary, the elephant.
posted by coevals at 10:59 AM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: 926F, a wolf in Yellowstone

Speaking of orcas, both Tilikum and Lolita also got obits

Finnegan the dog and Spencer the dog

Alex the parrot
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 11:10 AM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: Flaco, a male Eurasian Eagle-Owl, escaped from his enclosure (vandals) at the Central Park Zoo in February 2023 and roamed freely around Manhattan for about year before passing away earlier this year. I don't have an NYT Subscription, but this appears to be their obituary for him. Here's the MeFi Obit thread which includes some additional links.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:13 AM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: Grumpy Cat, NYT
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 11:18 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]


Dolly the sheep
posted by Melismata at 11:23 AM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: One recently: Kabosu, the "doge" Shiba Inu, various in this search including NYT, WashPost.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:44 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Mighty Mary, the elephant.

Did she get an obituary though, or news coverage? I thought also of Topsy (tw animal cruelty) and of Laika (same) but couldn't find actual obituaries per se for them; formal obituaries for notable animals seems like a fairly recent thing.

Notable gorillas: Guy (couldn't find an obituary); Koko (obituaries in NYT, New York Magazine); Harambe (lots of news coverage and lots of memes but no obituaries as far as I could see).
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:00 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Smokey Bear (NYT)
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:11 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: I had NO idea Smokey was an actual alive bear. Incredible
posted by potrzebie at 1:32 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Yes indeed! Story of Smokey. Would have been 80 this year.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:43 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Stubbs the cat, mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska. International coverage, even..
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:02 PM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: At 54 years old, Packy was one of the oldest captive pachyderms and the oldest male of his species in North America.

One of the first two pandas in the US, Hsing-Hsing, died in 1999.
posted by hydra77 at 3:04 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Finnegan, Known for His Exemplary Nose, Dies at 14
posted by praemunire at 4:28 PM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: Benson, England’s best-loved fish, died on July 29th, aged about 25. (The Economist calls itself a "newspaper" so I will contend that it counts.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:40 PM on October 24, 2024


Best answer: Tama, beloved Japanese station-master cat: obituary (archived, but a bit flaky)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:49 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Grumpy Cat, NYT

Lil Bub, also NYT
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:53 PM on October 24, 2024


to pair with the obit Lyn Never linked above, here’s a beautiful eulogy for P-22 written by the CA director of the National Wildlife Federation. even thinking about this line makes me choke up.

“Yet a mountain lion lived here, right here in Los Angeles.”
posted by changeling at 6:08 PM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]


Some Downing Street cats: current incumbent Larry still going strong at 17 but obituaries are probably already pre-written.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:15 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]


an absolutely bizarre obituary for the Clintons' cat Socks
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:20 PM on October 24, 2024 [4 favorites]


NatGeo: Lonesome George (archive); Lonely George (archive)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:44 PM on October 24, 2024


Pelorus Jack, pilot fish, apparently reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:46 PM on October 24, 2024


I don't have an exceptional obit for Bart the Bear (1977-2000), who was a talented actor that appeared in some of my favourite films.
posted by ovvl at 8:47 PM on October 24, 2024


Grizzly399 made the Recent Deaths on Wikipedia front page today. Clicking on Recent Deaths takes you to "Notable" Deaths which feature animals once or twice a month: mostly racehorses.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:06 AM on October 25, 2024


Andre the Seal.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:28 AM on October 25, 2024


Benson the carp
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 8:01 AM on October 25, 2024


Kavna the whale, who lived in the Vancouver aquarium! She was the inspiration for "Baby Beluga"
posted by Valancy Rachel at 2:50 PM on October 25, 2024


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