Earthquakes And Animals

Some say that animals can sense an earthquake before it hits.

According to National Geographic, strange animal behavior has been reported prior to seismic activity since ancient times.

But that same source says the United States Geological Survey isn’t so certain.

Here are some reports about animal antics during from Hyattsville’s wild side.

Two Hyattsville hounds barked and whined for 10 minutes before the quake. Another city dog ran circles around his owner’s legs as his home shook. Another canine whined and whimpered from behind his home’s closed front door just moments after the earthquake.

Strange behavior or just the call of the wild?

Scaredy Cat

When Monique Clark came home from work on Tuesday evening, she couldn’t find her feline friend Shadow-Cat.

She walked into her Hyattsville apartment and called his name.

Nothing.

She looked for the black two-year-old cat in her bedroom, in the closet, in the bathroom, all over.

Nothing.

And then it dawned on her—check the kitchen cupboards.

With some coaxing and a meek meow, Shadow-Cat stalked out of the cupboard and trotted into the bedroom.

The cat had fled to the cover of a kitchen cupboard after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook his apartment building four hours earlier.

Bengal Fever

Jen Riggs was out riding her motorcycle and had just returned home when the quake hit.

“I thought it was the effects from still riding,” she said with a laugh.

But her Bengal cats felt otherwise. Here’s their story:

“When I went inside my two … cats were howling at me,” she said. “I thought they were hungry and plopped some food in their bowls. They didn't eat and continued to meow at me and follow me around. I just figured that they had missed me.

“I happened to go outside when I realized that I had left something out there and that is when the shaking started. I live near a busy road and thought that it was a big truck going by. 

"Low and behold it didn't pass as usual and I realized that it was an earthquake," Riggs said. "Afterwards, I realized that the cats had been warning me by howling and meowing.”