Animal Columnist Gary Bogue is Retiring

Gary Bogue, an animal lover who wrote a popular column for 42 years with the Contra Costa Times, announced in his column Friday that he would retire.

His columns delved into animal encounters from readers and sometimes provided advice. In his most recent column, he commented upon looks exchanged between a dog and a squirrel, a mysterious disappearance of a squirrel family, and lizards who had been separated from their tails, perhaps through the agency of airborne predators. He often ran animal-appreciation haikus at the beginning of his column.

Bogue, a former curator of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, mobilized his loyal readership to give generously to the wildlife museum.