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2010 was not kind to the furry or feathered in the metro area. The happy birth of two cheetahs at the National Zoo, announced Wednesday, could not cancel out all the wrongs experienced by the animals of D.C. this year. Among their ordeals: being locked in trunks, accused of crimes, persecuted by municipal boards, and shot. A look back at their darkest moments.

1. Dog caught up in marijuana hijinks

   Senator the toy poodle tested positive for marijuana at a Friendship Heights animal hospital after his owner grew alarmed at his listless behavior. The owner said Senator was chewing on what she thought was a cigarette butt during a walk around the neighborhood.

2. Bear lost on Connecticut Avenue

   A confused bear was recorded by a security camera at an apartment complex on Connecticut Avenue NW in June. His whereabouts today are unknown.

3. Bedbugs persecuted by local librarians

   Book-loving bedbugs were discovered in the book return at a Frederick County public library and sentenced to die by baking in a truck in the parking lot.

4. Deer accused of chasing purse thief

   After being apprehended by police, an alleged purse snatcher tried to claim that he was not running from cops, but from a deer who was chasing him.

5. Cats freed from hoarder

   A whopping 161 cats flooded the adoption market in December after they were found in an Annandale home last year. Authorities called the house uninhabitable.

6. Goat trapped in trunk

   A goat was discovered in a car trunk during a drunk-driving checkpoint stop. The driver said she was transporting the goat, which was in distress in the 94 degree trunk, in a manner acceptable to the United Kingdom, where she is from.

7. Mosquitoes tarred as pests by Fairfax County

   Despite a meager eight cases of West Nile Virus recorded in the entire Metro area in 2009, Fairfax County targeted mosquitoes as a source of a disease and peskiness and declared a week in June “Mosquito Control Awareness Week.”

8. Pitbull shot in stairwell

   In a hugely controversial incident, Parrot the pit bull was thrown down a stairwell and shot by a police officer after the dog was said to have gone wild at an Adams Morgan street festival.

9. Puppy stolen from animal shelter

   Ivan, a pit bull mix, was snatched from his cage at the Washington Humane Society, a place that tries to give animals away. He was later returned.