Edgar sits precariously atop an electrical pole before his eventual rescue. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

A 9-year-old orange tabby named Edgar spent a frosty night alone atop a utility pole in an alley earlier this week. WTTW News reporter Marc Vitali details Edgar’s rescue.

In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, file photo, one of the tigers living at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park is pictured at the park in Wynnewood, Okla. (AP Photo / Sue Ogrocki, File)

Federal officials have removed the last of the 68 big cats from the private zoo in Oklahoma that had been the center of the “Tiger King” saga.

Ricky, a male cat at Chicago's Animal Care and Control shelter (Chicago Animal Care and Control)

The number of rescued cats at Chicago’s Animal Care and Control shelter reached a high of 300 earlier this week, prompting the agency to sound the alarm on social media.

Four-week-old kittens are fed at Chicago Animal Care and Control (Alex Ruppenthal / Chicago Tonight)

Residents who come across young animals in the city often think they’ve been abandoned. But that’s rarely the case. Learn how to respond when you spot kittens or other baby animals on your block. 

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Counties in Illinois will soon be able to tap into their animal population control funds to support programs aimed at reducing feral cat populations.

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Pet owners should not panic, local health officials say, but take precautions after a rabid kitten was found in Carroll County.

Pete Marra appears on Chicago Tonight with host Phil Ponce on Feb. 1.

Last month, ornithologist Pete Marra sat down with Chicago Tonight to discuss his book detailing outdoor cats’ impact on U.S. bird populations. It was an interview that stirred up emotions on all sides. 

(Courtesy of the Field Museum)

A Smithsonian ornithologist says outdoor cats are devastating bird populations.

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The Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control is urging pet owners to vaccinate their cats, dogs and ferrets against rabies after two outdoor cats tested positive for the virus in Illinois and Missouri.

We look into what the City of Chicago is doing to protect the dogs and cats in its care.

Like most big cities, Chicago has a rat problem. Exterminators and local municipalities do their best to make a dent, but now there's a new approach to rodent control that is actually quite old. 

While Jay Shefsky tagged along with city workers to learn more about rat control in Chicago, we were curious to find out about other local organizations that had alternative ways of dealing with rats – aside from spreading poison to kill the pesky creatures. We spoke with Jenny Schlueter, Community Cats Program Director at the Tree House Humane Society, about a “green” approach to rat control in Chicago called the Cats at Work Project. Read an interview.

Cat Comments

Our host, Phil Ponce, spends some time in the doghouse for a remark he made recently about cats. We have your howls of protest in tonight's Viewer Mail.