Running News Daily

The Weirdest Things Runners Found in 2023

Angry cows, lost kittens, exotic fish, oh my!While on a trip outside, getting the miles in, runners usually focus on the task at hand, perhaps hoping to find a new personal best. Sometimes, however, what they see in the middle of a run can range from bizarre to downright absurd, and in 2023, those findings delivered. From extinct fish and ancient teeth to many cows and other livestock, these are the strangest things runners came across in 2023.

A runner in Australia—running along Primrose Sands Beach in Tasmania—stumbled upon a fish many scientists thought was locally extinct. The fish, known as a spotted handfish, was dead when found by runner Kerri Yare, who was struck by the odd look of the sea-dweller. The handfish is characterized by orange fins resembling webbed duck feet, measuring about 3-4 inches.

“If you’ve never seen a handfish before, imagine dipping a toad in some brightly colored paint, telling it a sad story, and forcing it to wear gloves two sizes too big,” the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said about the discovery. The CSIRO says that the spotted handfish once had a thriving population along Tasmania’s east coast. Still, over the last three decades, their numbers have shrunk due to dredge fisheries and the invasive North Pacific seastar, which prey on the fish’s eggs and the sea tulips they use to spawn. The CSIRO also said that spotted handfish are “rare and elusive,” since their size and solitary lifestyles make them tricky to spot—perhaps even more challenging when running past them at a decent pace.

Not to be outdone by merely finding an extinct animal, one runner made a downright prehistoric discovery while on the run.

Jim Smith of Santa Cruz, California, was on a run when he discovered a mastodon tooth on the beach dating from the Ice Age. Scientists believe the prehistoric elephants roamed North and Central America before going extinct 2,000 years ago. Despite being a couple of millennia old, this was the second sighting of the tooth in a week. A tourist had seen the mastodon molar a week before, with images of the tooth circulating on social media. However, when workers from the Santa Cruz County Museum of Natural History went to look for it, they found no trace. Luckily, Smith found it while out on his run and turned it into the museum to study.

Of course, not all animals found while counting morning miles are extinct or petrified; some just got stuck and needed assistance. That’s what happened when Brian Glover of San Francisco heard a bark while running along Ocean Beach. “I turned around immediately to make sure I wasn’t about to get jumped by a dog,” Glover told Runner’s World. However, nothing was behind him. “I continued running, and I just kept thinking back to the way the dog’s bark sounded.”

After 10 minutes of peering between crevices and calling out, Glover finally saw a pair of eyes staring back at him from a small hole beneath the rocks. He reached down to help, but the anxious animal growled in fear. Luckily, it was still low tide, but the canine only had a few more hours until the ocean crept towards the rocks. Glover rushed home and called San Francisco Animal Care & Control to help. Soon after, animal control called Glover to inform him they rescued the dog, Gwen, and delivered her back to her owners unharmed.

Not just dogs needed rescuing from runners this year, as one stray kitten in Chicago can tell you.

While running in the Chicago Marathon, Sarah Bohan, a mere 5 miles from the finish, discovered a stray cat that had been separated from its mother. “I saw this fluffy thing scurrying under a bridge and recognized it as a dirty, scared cat that was obviously a stray separated from its mother.” Setting aside her need for a PR, Bohan, who says she was running the race for Team PAWS Chicago, one of the country's largest No Kill animal welfare organizations, knew she had to act. Upon discovering the kitten, she and another runner, Gia Nigro walked for about a mile, asking spectators along the way if they could care for the cat. Eventually, they found a cat owner who promised she’d look after the kitten.

Once they knew the kitten was in good hands, Bohan and Nigro finished the race together.

Not all animals runners find along the run need assistance. Aggressive cows also dominated the headlines in 2023, as two separate incidences of aggressive cows were reported.

A 43-year-old woman was injured when a bull charged at her while preparing for a run on the Whistle Stop trail in Farmington, Maine.

According to police, the woman said she was “lifted off the ground by the animal’s horns but was able to escape into the nearby tree line.”

She required stitches from a laceration, according to the police report. Since the incident was reported on April 1, the police department let the public know this wasn’t an April Fool’s Day prank in their statement.

In another attack, a runner was hospitalized after being attacked by a small herd of cows on a Colorado trail. Another person called 911 after seeing the runner trying to protect themselves while on the ground surrounded by 15 to 20 cows, mostly mothers with their calves.

Rangers responded within 15 minutes, and the runner was taken to the hospital. The attack led to the trail's closure, while rangers advised runners to run away from any cows in the area. A sign at the start of the trail reads: “Give Cows Space. They Can Be Aggressive.” Words to live by.

Other livestock also chased after runners, although less aggressively. A group of goats in Ontario, Canada, caused runners to hoof it in the opposite direction as they gave chase. The Ontario Provincial Police posted on X about the runner’s run-in with the goats, which occurred near the Grenville Park Camping and RV Park in the township of Johnstown, near Ottawa. Besides throwing in goat-related puns about the animals, police didn’t share detailed information about the encounter.