BEAUMONT, Texas — In 2023, 12News was dubbed the "Animal Headquarters" of Southeast Texas. From stories about Black Bears to hawks and even lizards, here are some of the most memorable animal stories from this year.
In January, we celebrated the retirement of K9 Rico from the Port Neches Police Department.
"It's the best job in the department. He's gonna be a porch dog, he's gonna be able to run and
do whatever he wants to do whenever he wants to do it," Sergeant Eric Heilman said.
Officer Rico was deployed more than 114 times and served the City of Port Neches for eight years.
Rico even inspired a few of his biggest fans to pursue future jobs in law enforcement.
"I want to be a K9 unit when I grow up. I want to follow in sergeant Heilman's footsteps," William Albrecht said.
A month later, February brought heartbreak to animal lover in Southeast Texas when nine deceased dogs were discovered dumped on the side of the road near Mauriceville.
Related Article: 'Hundreds of buzzards' lead to disturbing discovery of nine dead dogs near private road in Orange County
"It was very, It made me very angry I love animals and I think this is wrong," Kathleen McNally said.
Natural curiosity caused Kathleen to find the disturbing scene after seeing hundreds of buzzards in the area.
"I'm hoping that the people doing this will be punished," she said.
In August, Silsbee resident, Peggy Jones created a fear of the outdoors for practically everyone flying above her was a hawk that dropped a snake directly on her.
"He wrapped his self around me as I was slinging my arm," she said.
Soon enough, the hawk came back for it's lunch and both animals began attacking Peggy Simultaneously.
"He's striking my face, striking my face. I looked down and I was covered in blood," she said.
Peggy says she's thankful to be alive and we believe it.
November brought not one but two out-of-this-world stories to your screens, starting with a resident in Orange.
"I got to noticing he just kinda stopped and put his head down was eating he picked that ol head
up and I realized i said hey this ain't no hog," Guy Bland said.
Who discovered a Black Bear right in his own backyard, Guy Bland, says in 46 years, he's never seen anything like it.
"That, that was just a total surprise," he said.
A week later in Beaumont, a family was torn apart after it's Red Tegu Lizard escaped from it's home but it wasn't long before a nearby neighbor found him under his vehicle.
"I tried to see how close it let me get, I started kind of petting it's tail and I saw that it didn't try to
bite me or anything. Then, I finally just picked it up and put it in my truck," Mario Torres said.
With a little bit of help, the neighbor helped to reunite "Sylvio" with his reptile loving family who was just a few doors down from where he was found.
"Some good people in Southeast Texas here. I love to be able to educate people up on how
great of pets they are It's like owning a cat or a dog you know," Sylvia Cooper said.
These are the stories that Southeast Texas connected with the most this year, and we are looking forward to another year of putting Southeast Texas first.
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device