Animal obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Shopper, 6, a California sea lion who swam up the Napa
River to visit a Petaluma motorcycle shop, was shot circa July 5 by
an unknown person near Benessere Vineyards, north of St. Helena.
Captured by Marine Mammal Center staff after his first swim inland,
Shopper was released on June 22 at Point Reyes National Seashore,
but returned upriver the next day. Napa radio station KVON raised a
reward fund of $12,500 for the conviction of his killer.

Tina, 34, an Asian elephant born at the Oregon Zoo, kept
at the Greater Vancou-ver Zoo 1972-2003, died suddenly on July 21,
2004 at the Elephant Sanctuary at Hohenwald, Tennessee, her home
since August 2003, much missed by two companions.

A.J., 12, the bloodhound who inspired Kat Albrecht to use
dogs to track lost pets, died on July 7. “His history included many
searches for criminals and lost people,” Albrecht wrote. “In 1998,
A.J. was retired from police work due to hip displasia, and moved
straight into tracking pets. On his first search he found a missing
diabetic cat named Marmalade in less than eight minutes. He received
hip replacement surgery in 1999 and lived afterward in relative
comfort. A.J. was featured in the PBS program Dogs With Jobs., and
in the PAX program Miracle Pets (now shown on Animal Planet as Animal
Miracles). Several of his searches are featured in The Lost Pet
Chronicles,” reviewed on page 20.