2012 was a big year for news in New York, and City Room was there for Hurricane Sandy, developments in the Etan Patz case, the brazen daytime shooting in Midtown Manhattan.
But enough about stories that do not involve animals. Here are 16 favorites that did, chosen and ranked more or less arbitrarily.
16
Victor J. Blue for The New York Times Frankli n, a pot-bellied pig, with Joe Franquinha, who co-owns the pig and Crest Hardware and Urban Garden Center in Brooklyn.A Hardware Store's Four-Legged Star
On a chilly day, Franklin, a pot-bellied pig, was dressed in a black sweater with a stretched-out neck, his wiggling tail showing his joy at having free rein of the 5,000-square-foot garden at a hardware store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Soon, his world would shrink.
15
Famous Players-Lasky Corp Beware of bird: W.C. Fields examines an avian adversary in the 1926 film “So's Your Old Man.â€Before ‘Chickadee' Fame, Fields Had Canary Trouble
The judge, George Simpson of Magistrates' Court in Manhattan, read out the charge: the defendant “did carry a bird in his pocket and took the same from his pocket and permitted the bird to fly upon the stage and cause said bird to fall to the floor so as to produce torture.â€
14
Robert Ca plin for The New York Times A carriage horse named Oreo lying on Ninth Avenue after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, minutes after he ran amok on Columbus Circle.3 Are Injured When Horse Sheds Coach in Manhattan
The horse, a 6-year-old draft gelding named Oreo who has a white and brown coat, suffered a minor scratch to his muzzle in a high-profile mishap that sparked renewed debate over the ethics of the carriage-horse industry.
13
Patagonian cavies are native to the steppes of Argentina and elsewhere in South America and are the world's fourth-largest rodent, reaching heights of about 18 inches. As of August, when these little girls were born (to Mara, at left in photo), they are native to the Central Park Zoo.
12
Michael Kamber for The New York Times The police carried nearly 50 dogs out of a basement in the Bronx where the authorities said they were being bred for fighting.47 Pit Bulls, Bred for Fighting, Are Rescued in the Bronx
They stayed in cages, some two to a cage, and, the police said, some of them might never have seen the sun before their rescue.
11
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times The wayward peacock roaming a Queens neigh borhood for weeks has been captured and returned to John Bowne High School.Wayward Peacock Returns for the First Day of School
After two weeks on the lam on the streets of Queens, Kevin the peacock was returned to the grounds of an agriculturally focused high school nearby.
10
Holy Herring, It's Sea Otter Awareness Week!
Tazo, 2, and Jacob, 10, the aquarium's resident Enhydra lutris, co-hosted an entire week of educational activities at the aquarium in Coney Island.
9
Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society A baby crested coua shows off its eye-catching mouth markings at the Central Park Zoo.
Open Wide, Baby Coua! We Want to Look in Your Mouth
The markings, different for each coua chick, are believed to be used by parents for identification or to visually remind them where to put the food. They fade as the bird matures.
8
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times The groundhogs at the Museum of Natural History have never made an incorrect prediction about the weather.
Prediction: This Groundhog Will Never Change
It would be heartening to report that the stuffed hogs' first Groundhog Day on public view since the last millennium drew crowds of adoring, groundhog-starved fans. But it would not be true.
7
Nathan Elchert Sam Elchert has kept bees for the past three years in a community garden on 124th Street. The bees calmly go about their business as he performs his inspection.
On Roofs and in Gardens, the Beehives of New York
Since the veil has been lifted on this once clandestine activity, we asked readers to send us photos of their setups.
6
N.Y.C. Dept. of Parks and RecreationIn a Shoebox, an Owl and a Mystery
“He didn't stay, he didn't give a name,†a parks department spokeswoman said of a man who dropped off a box at parks headquarters in Central Park. “He just said, ‘Here's an owl.'â€
5
Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society, via Associated Press A Siberian tiger and her cubs at the Bronx Zoo last month.
Man Mauled After Leaping Into Tiger Area at Bronx Zoo
On the last afternoon of summer, a 25-year-old man leaped from the Wild Asia Monorail and landed inside the tiger enclosure, where he was suddenly alone with Bachuta, an 11-year-old male Siberian tiger weighing 400 pounds.
4
Jean Shum Bobby approaches Rosie, who is perched on a cross atop Judson Memorial Ch urch.
Washington Square Park Hawks Consummate Their Union
He slowly landed on Rosie's back, where he stayed for about six seconds, then lifted himself into the air and then sat next to her for about 15 minutes.
3
Lucas Jackson/Reuters Researchers plan to conduct a necropsy of the whale.
For Dead Whale of Breezy Point, Necropsy and Beach Burial
A 60-foot finback, an endangered species that is one of the largest animals on earth, washed up, on the shore of a Queens neighborhood still reeling from Hurricane Sandy. It died the next day and was buried in the dunes nearby.
2
Brian Curry What's my name?There's a new frog in town, or at least a newly identified one: a variety of leopard frog first spotted on Staten Island in 2009 was declared its own species, based in part on its unique one-cluck mating call.
1
Randy Leonard for The New York Times Giovanni Schirripa with his 4-month-old zebra foal, Razzi, back at home on Staten Island Wednesday evening.Spotted (and Striped): The Runaway Zebra of Staten Island
Razzi the juvenile zebra and his older mentor Casper the Pony went briefly galloping through the streets of Staten Island after their owner left a gate open at feeding time.
