In the last two weeks, several Bethesda joggers have reported being attacked by what is believed to be a large adolescent barred owl. The attacks took place at night on the popular Capital Crescent Trail. This nocturnal menace has apparently been swooping down and knocking into people from behind, leaving them bewildered and lightly scratched. The owl’s exploits have been covered by NBC, Fox News, and the Washington Post. Montgomery County park staff have issued a warning to runners and installed signs announcing that “An Aggressive Owl Lives Here!” The owl even has its own Twitter account.
This is an impressive amount of notoriety for a young bird to achieve. But the Aggressive Owl is only the latest in a series of misbehaving critters to capture Washington’s imagination. Every once in a while a local creature will act out, make headlines, and remind us all that as urban or suburban as our lives may seem, we still share our city with wild animals.
Here are a few other animal troublemakers you may recall:
This black bear wandered on to the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health and was spotted in a tree. The so called “NIH bear” drew crowds both physical and digital, with many gathering to catch a glimpse of it in its 65-foot perch, and thousands following the Twitter accounts it quickly inspired. The NIH Bear was eventually scared down from the tree by police and tranquilized. Its 15 minutes may have passed, but it still has a fan in the Aggressive Owl, who has referenced @NIH_bear in several of its tweets.
When heavy rain created an opening in his enclosure at the National Zoo, Rusty the Red Panda saw an opportunity and made a break for it. He made it as far as Adams Morgan before being spotted around 20th and Biltmore streets, Northwest, and recaptured about six hours after his disappearance was announced. Rusty’s escape so captivated the nation that news outlets followed up on his story a year later, when it was reported that he and his lady red panda Shama had welcomed three new cubs.
You may not know what an Agouti is, so just call this one a copycat crime. Two years after Rusty’s Adam’s Morgan jaunt, this rodent chewed through his mesh cage at the National Zoo and escaped. Macadamia didn’t make it as far as his predecessor, being successfully recaptured within about half an hour, but his little adventure was enough to merit a press release from the Smithsonian and a flurry of local headlines about the large rodent who chewed his way to freedom. Sadly, Macadamia died in August, just a few weeks after his escape.
4) The Kicking Deer, 2014
There’s a lady-kicking deer on the loose in DC. Be careful out there, Washingtonians.
Deer sightings are common in Washington, but the animals have a benign reputation as harmless garden-ruiners. This was not the experience of Dena Lyles, who was knocked out by a deer while exiting a Metro bus in the spring of 2014. The deer, apparently startled by the crowd of people near the bus stop, tried to leap over them, kicking Lyles with its back legs on the way down. “Just like a big white light hit me,” she said of the incident. “I fell to the floor and I didn’t get back up.” Lyles recovered and the culprit escaped, but the “kicked by a deer” story was widely circulated by sheer force of weirdness.
4 Animals Who Made Trouble in DC Before the "Aggressive Owl"
In the last two weeks, several Bethesda joggers have reported being attacked by what is believed to be a large adolescent barred owl. The attacks took place at night on the popular Capital Crescent Trail. This nocturnal menace has apparently been swooping down and knocking into people from behind, leaving them bewildered and lightly scratched. The owl’s exploits have been covered by NBC, Fox News, and the Washington Post. Montgomery County park staff have issued a warning to runners and installed signs announcing that “An Aggressive Owl Lives Here!” The owl even has its own Twitter account.
This is an impressive amount of notoriety for a young bird to achieve. But the Aggressive Owl is only the latest in a series of misbehaving critters to capture Washington’s imagination. Every once in a while a local creature will act out, make headlines, and remind us all that as urban or suburban as our lives may seem, we still share our city with wild animals.
Here are a few other animal troublemakers you may recall:
1) The NIH Bear, 2014
This black bear wandered on to the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health and was spotted in a tree. The so called “NIH bear” drew crowds both physical and digital, with many gathering to catch a glimpse of it in its 65-foot perch, and thousands following the Twitter accounts it quickly inspired. The NIH Bear was eventually scared down from the tree by police and tranquilized. Its 15 minutes may have passed, but it still has a fan in the Aggressive Owl, who has referenced @NIH_bear in several of its tweets.
2) Rusty the Red Panda, 2013
When heavy rain created an opening in his enclosure at the National Zoo, Rusty the Red Panda saw an opportunity and made a break for it. He made it as far as Adams Morgan before being spotted around 20th and Biltmore streets, Northwest, and recaptured about six hours after his disappearance was announced. Rusty’s escape so captivated the nation that news outlets followed up on his story a year later, when it was reported that he and his lady red panda Shama had welcomed three new cubs.
3) Macadamia the Agouti, 2015
You may not know what an Agouti is, so just call this one a copycat crime. Two years after Rusty’s Adam’s Morgan jaunt, this rodent chewed through his mesh cage at the National Zoo and escaped. Macadamia didn’t make it as far as his predecessor, being successfully recaptured within about half an hour, but his little adventure was enough to merit a press release from the Smithsonian and a flurry of local headlines about the large rodent who chewed his way to freedom. Sadly, Macadamia died in August, just a few weeks after his escape.
4) The Kicking Deer, 2014
Deer sightings are common in Washington, but the animals have a benign reputation as harmless garden-ruiners. This was not the experience of Dena Lyles, who was knocked out by a deer while exiting a Metro bus in the spring of 2014. The deer, apparently startled by the crowd of people near the bus stop, tried to leap over them, kicking Lyles with its back legs on the way down. “Just like a big white light hit me,” she said of the incident. “I fell to the floor and I didn’t get back up.” Lyles recovered and the culprit escaped, but the “kicked by a deer” story was widely circulated by sheer force of weirdness.
Most Popular in News & Politics
Slugging Makes a Comeback for DC Area Commuters
Please Stop Joking That JD Vance Killed the Pope
“I’m Angry at Elon Musk”: Former US Digital Service Workers on DOGE, the “Fork in the Road,” and Trump’s First 100 Days
DC and Commanders Will Announce Stadium Deal Today, Virginia GOP Candidate Accuses Virginia Governor’s Team of Extortion, and Trump Says He Runs the Entire World
“She Developed A Culture of Madness”: Inside the Casa Ruby Scandal
Washingtonian Magazine
May Issue: 52 Perfect Saturdays
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
Viral DC-Area Food Truck Flavor Hive Has It in the Bag
Slugging Makes a Comeback for DC Area Commuters
The Smithsonian’s Surprisingly Dangerous Early Days
An Unusual DC Novel Turns Out to Have an Interesting Explanation
More from News & Politics
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This May
Trump’s DC Prosecutor, a Former J6 Defense Lawyer, Holds Meeting to Address Crime on Capitol Hill
“Absolute Despair”: An NIH Worker on Job and Budget Cuts, RFK Jr., and Trump’s First 100 Days
Tesla’s Also Sick of DOGE, Alexandria Wants to Censor a Student Newspaper, and We Highlight Some Excellent Soul Food
Amazon Avoids President’s Wrath Over Tariff Price Hikes, DC Budget Fix May Be Doomed, and Trump Would Like to Be Pope
“Pointed Cruelty”: A Former USAID Worker on Cuts, Life After Layoffs, and Trump’s First 100 Days
Is Ed Martin’s Denunciation of a J6 Rioter Sincere? A Reporter Who Covers Him Is Skeptical.
DC Takes Maryland and Virginia Drivers to Court