By Julie Russo, Vice President

It’s been a banner month for animals making news. 

Just last week, Lily the Black Bear had a baby. Newsworthy? Doesn’t seem like it. But a webcam was there to bring the event to the masses. And therein lies the news. It turns out black bears don’t usually give birth in such close proximity to a webcam. (Reality TV humans, please take a cue from black bears’ privacy mores.) Great PR for bears, especially after the beating their public image takes at the hands of Stephen Colbert. With nearly 63,000 fans on Facebook, Lily is another example of great content being the best way to draw attention. 

Earlier this month, Yun Zi, a panda cub at the San Diego Zoo made his public debut. A webcam had been a part of that news also - Panda Cam, to be specific. Oh, how I love Panda Cam. There is even a time-lapse feature, which comes in handy, given pandas aren’t notoriously vivacious. (Not to say they couldn’t be, but according to the news, they mostly “eat, nap, forage, repeat“.) 

In other news, a Chupacabra — literally “goat sucker” — was found on a golf course Northwest of Dallas. They are rare, hairless, vampiric creatures. This one was ugly, and it was dead. Again, these were pretty much the elements of the news. Kind of a low bar. 

Animals are cute, ugly, born, and they die. News? Really? Yes! Refreshing news. 

There are no politics involved in these animal stories, no questioning the impartiality of the newscaster delivering the details. Just cuteness, novelty or uncontested eww factor. Animal stories are feel-good stories (oh, except stories about those cats in Russia who were forced to get tattoos). Still, most animal stories are the feel-good kind. 

It’s difficult to take exception to a story when the point is “wow, this panda is cute,” or “wow, this dead Chupacabra is vile.” And that simplicity and consensus is refreshing amid healthcare legislation debates and unfaithful golfer-watch. 

But, if you’d like to make the case that baby pandas aren’t cute, or Chupacabras are cuddly, please write. I’d welcome that level of creativity in a comment.  

photo credit: alan.stoddard