Maybe there was a sale on exfoliant at Bluemercury, or perhaps it was a reptile print bag in the window at Tory Burch that lured a five-foot-long black eastern rat snake to Georgetown in May. Oh, who are we kidding? It was bottomless brunch. A month later, a more bookish member of the species was spotted slithering along Connecticut Avenue near the Cleveland Park library. 

What’s black and white and read all over? News coverage of a trio of zebras that zigzagged the Maryland suburbs for four months after escaping a farm in Upper Marlboro, 20 miles southeast of DC. The striped equines sparked a social media frenzy, including their own Twitter handle, and myriad strange calls to animal control before being captured and returned to their herd in December. 

A snowy owl that took a wrong turn on its way to the tundra spent several weeks wintering at Union Station in January. During its layover in the District, the bird of prey feasted on local delicacies—pigeons and rats—much to the delight of Washingtonians hoo dubbed the city’s fine-feathered new friend Duchess. 

After his first mate, the First Lady, left the nest they’d shared atop a tulip poplar tree at the US National Arboretum since 2014, Mr. President took up with a newer, younger bald eagle. Lotus, who swooped onto the scene in 2021, and Mr. P have a male eaglet that hatched in March—the first offspring in three seasons. 

They weren’t the first to flee DC in search of a modest patch of grass and they won’t be the last. But a trio of rare albino squirrels that called Franklin Square home for years before a recent $21 million renovation sent them packing are certainly the most unusual. While many of their grey and black cousins remain in the park, the threesome disappeared shortly after one of their favorite trees was felled.

Maryland and Virginia boast a rivalry as deep as the Potomac, but the only state black bears seem to care about is the state of their next meal. In May, a black bear was caught munching on seeds from a bird feeder in Silver Spring. A month later, another one was spotted in Arlington, where it was no doubt headed to the Saturday morning farmers market in search of local honey.

They weren’t the first to flee DC in search of a modest patch of grass and they won’t be the last. But a trio of rare albino squirrels that called Franklin Square home for years before a recent $21 million renovation sent them packing are certainly the most unusual. While many of their grey and black cousins remain in the park, the threesome disappeared shortly after one of their favorite trees was felled.

It was a not-so-fantastic day for nine people, including Representative Ami Bera (D-CA) and a Politico reporter, who were bitten by a rabid fox on Capitol Hill in April. For 24 hours before she was captured and euthanized, the vicious vixen dominated the local news cycle—no small feet for a mammal on the Hill with more than two of them.

This spring five people ran afoul of a tyrannical tom ruffling feathers along a stretch of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail since dubbed “Gobbler’s Gulch.” The badly behaved butterball—one of about 100 wild turkeys strutting about DC—sent one person to urgent care with puncture wounds before finally flying the coop in June.