Pet Scoop: Chihuahua Saved in Puppy Pursuit, Sea Turtle Treated in Human Hospital
Published on April 04, 2016
April 4, 2016: We’ve scoured the Web to find the best and most compelling animal stories, videos and photos. And it’s all right here.

Officers Trail Dog on Bay Bridge
A wayward Chihuahua led the California Highway Patrol on a chase over the Bay Bridge on Sunday morning. Video was rolling as officers on motorcycles followed the little black dog in his harrowing run over the suspension bridge in San Francisco. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of traffic to contend with at the time. “Suspect taken into custody. All are safe! #onlyinSF” CHP San Francisco Tweeted later Sunday morning, along with the footage. The pup was taken to a San Francisco animal shelter, where he was named Ponch after the character played by Eric Estrada in the classic TV series “CHiPs.” Ponch was wearing a collar but didn’t have an ID tag. The shelter is working to try to find his owner. — Watch it at San Francisco’s KRON
Study: Tiger Numbers Could Double by 2022
A new study suggests the seemingly wildly ambitious goal put forward in 2010 of doubling the number of tigers by 2022 could really be achieved. Researchers using data from Google Earth and Global Forest Watch found there was enough remaining habitat for their numbers to double to 6,400 tigers, so long as those areas remain intact. “What we found was that in most tiger conservation landscapes … it was pretty intact. That is because the protection is pretty good, the people on the ground are protecting the core tiger reserves,” said lead author Anup Joshi of the University of Minnesota. The study was published in the journal Science Advances. — Read it at Discovery News
Jon Stewart Comes to Bull’s Rescue
Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his wife, Tracey, are giving a runaway bull a new life at Farm Sanctuary. The comedian and his animal activist wife stepped in to help with the bull, who was found on the lawn outside a Queens, New York, school building Friday after he escaped from a nearby holding area for livestock. The black and white Angus was taken into custody by the Animal Care Centers of NYC, which was able to acquire him from his owner, a cattle rancher. The Stewarts later picked him up to bring him to Farm Sanctuary, and video aired on NBC’s Today showed the comedian feeding the bull through a fence. The animal was named Frank Lee for Frank Lee Morris, a prisoner who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962. — Read it at The New York Times

Turtle Treated in Seattle Hospital
Tucker, a 70-pound olive ridley sea turtle, got some special treatment at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Hospital last week. The rescued turtle is being rehabilitated at the Seattle Aquarium, and became the first non-human to be treated in the hospital’s hyperbaric chamber, in an effort to compress internal gas bubbles that experts believe were preventing him from diving or remaining underwater. The 20-year-old turtle needs to be able to dive normally before he can be released into the Pacific Ocean. Tucker was found stranded on the Oregon coast and in bad shape in December. He’s regained weight and normal body temperature, but a CT scan showed gas bubbles might be trapped in his body, affecting his buoyancy. The aquarium said on Facebook that Tucker tolerated the treatment well, and they’ll know more about how much it helped in the weeks to come. — See photos from Virginia Mason Hospital on Facebook
Old Pals Need a Home Together
Cleopatra and Buddy “LIGHT UP when they see each other,” and a sweet video posted by Dallas Animal Services on Facebook shows it. The two dogs were sadly brought to the shelter a month ago after their owner passed away. The shelter would love to keep them together all the time, but says they’re too big to share a kennel, so “their favorite part of the day is when they get to go out in the yard and spend time together.” The shelter didn’t post an age for Buddy, but said Cleopatra was listed as 15 years old — even though she trots around like a much younger dog. Buddy “rarely leaves her side” when they’re playing, and “even gave her a kiss goodbye when they were put back in their kennels recently.” The shelter is looking for a home where the two friends can always be together. — Watch it from Dallas Animal Services via Facebook