It's been a wild year for Texas fauna with tales ranging from the unusual to the heartwarming. From aquatic beasts to airborne predators, the state has seen its share of animal antics in 2023, as reported by KSAT.
Take, for instance, the shocking sighting at an H-E-B supermarket on Austin Highway where a customer stumbled upon a fish with a mouthful of razor-sharp chompers nestled among the seafood offerings. Initially startling shoppers, which the creature was a monkfish, a specimen sometimes referred to as 'poor man's lobster'. This affordable delicacy, loved by none other than culinary icon Julia Child, could be snagged for $5.97 a pound, as per a KSAT article.
Outside grocery stores, Texas' wildlife continued to showcase its diversity. Roaming alligators became local celebrities with their lake prowlings and roadside appearances. Specifically, a 10-foot gator startled the Atascosa County Animal Control, a creature that had to be relocated and believed to have been driven from its home due to flooding, as per the same KSAT roundup.
Bearing witness to the circle of life, San Antonio's zoological offerings swelled with new additions, including meerkat pups and rare okapi calves, trumpeting the success of conservation efforts. Even rare bird sightings, like the endangered secretary bird, brought awe and wonder to zoo patrons and feather aficionados. Amid the marvels of birth and life, the inevitable hunt played out in New Braunfels where a snake was photogenically captured tangled in a life-or-death grip with its piscine prey, according to a witness of KSAT.
Not all encounters were cause for celebration, such as Peggy Jones' unanticipated brush with nature when a hawk attacked her following a snake's unexpected descent from the sky. "The snake was squeezing so hard, and I was waving my arms in the air. And then, this hawk was swooping down clawing at my arm over and over," Jones recounted the harrowing event to KSAT. Her pleas for divine intervention under the Texan sun, "Help me, Jesus, Help me, Jesus," became a tale of survival in the heart of the Lone Star State.
No account of Texas wildlife would be complete without mentioning its nocturnal denizens, as KSAT reporters took to the field for a late-night frog survey, or the tale of a horde of feral hogs uprooted by development, now freely roaming Southeast Side neighborhoods. Whether grounded or gliding, creeping or croaking, the creatures of Texas never cease to amaze or, occasionally, terrify.
