Animals of all sorts have inhabited the land Vancouver sits on now for tens of millions of years.
No doubt there have been some interesting stories involving local fauna in that time. Unfortunately, we can only go back a fraction of that, but here are some Vancouver-based animal stories you might not know.
1. The Salish Woolly Dog
This isn't Vancouver-specific so much as regional; there was a breed of dog unique to the area.
The Salish Woolly dog was a breed that lived with the local First Nations for thousands of years.
Known for its long fur which was used as a fibre for blankets and clothing, the dog was an important part of culture and trade.
However, you won't find one now, they died out as a unique breed over 150 years ago, it's believed, due to European settlers arriving on the Pacific Coast and the oppression of local Indigenous culture.
2. A Vancouver shark attack
Shark attacks in B.C. are essentially unheard of.
However, the only confirmed incident appears to have been a 1925 encounter between a diver and a shark in the Burrard Inlet.
In the Vancouver Daily Province published Jan. 8, 1925, details of the incident are shared.
The man, John Bruce, was working on water mains when a seven-foot shark approached and attacked.
During the attack, he used an iron bar to fight back. After hitting it a few times he was able to stun and likely kill it.
It might all sound like a tall tale, but he hooked a line up to the shark so his crew mates on the surface could haul the shark out of the water and to a wharf.
3. Vancouver used to have cuckoos
Humans have caused several animals to leave the area and invasive species to arrive.
One that's no longer found in the lower mainland is the yellow-billed cuckoo. Nicknamed the storm crow, the cuckoos still exist in the eastern U.S. but the western population is essentially gone.
"Most records of this species in British Columbia are from the lower Fraser Valley and southeastern Vancouver Island and were obtained between 1881 and 1927," reads a provincial report from 2000.
It's believed habitat loss due to urban and agricultural development led to their disappearance.
4. A grey whale at the Port Mann Bridge
These days grey whales are a rare sight in the ocean off of Vancouver, never mind the Fraser River.
But for a short time in January 2007, one young grey whale made it all the way to the Port Mann Bridge, and potentially further.
All baleen whales are rather large, ocean-going mammals that tend not to head up rivers, so one heading some 30 km inland is rare.
5. Billy the symphony-loving dog
For those on TikTok you may have come across Billy.
In many ways, Billy is a fairly regular mid-sized black dog, but he's become a bit of an internet celebrity not for any of his abilities, but for what he enjoys listening to.
And it's not just a passing interest. He uses buttons or walks to a piano to request music regularly and has been taken to see musicians play live. And instead of getting excited, like one might expect a two- or three-year-old dog to be, he sits and listens intently to the music.
There are dozens of videos of him sitting or lying down to appreciate live and recorded music.
