Just in case you missed this tragic news from last week, about little Barbie getting killed.

Was Barbie the miniature horse killed by coyotes in Lake Worth as reported by Terri Parker at WPBF (ABC25)?

No. Little Barbie was killed out near the Village of Wellington in a place reporters should accurately refer to as “suburban Lake Worth” (read more about little Barbie later in this blog post).

Note in the image below the zip codes in western PBC. The actual City of Lake Worth only has two zip codes: 33460 and part of 33461 (more maps follow).

If you are a viewer of WPBF/ABC25, find out why you should make the switch to NBC5/WPTV for accurate news in Palm Beach County.

How many kids in this City of Lake Worth got upset and cried on learning a miniature horse was killed by coyotes in our little City? And how many parents scratched their heads and wondered, “I don’t know of any pastures in Lake Worth?”

Barbie, the little miniature horse, was not killed in Lake Worth. Barbie was killed by coyotes in a place far out west near the Village of Wellington, a place with a ‘Lake Worth’ zip code in suburban Lake Worth. The reporter got it wrong. But the editor(s) should have caught this reporting error.

Three years ago a lot of reporters and editors in the press and news media were shocked to read about this,

“How could the City of Lake Worth have 9 Zip Codes? And this City is only 6 square miles!”

However, it is true that since 2015 news reporting, especially as it relates to locations of crime and other sorts of mayhem in this County has gotten much better, but there are still some holdouts who don’t know any better or just don’t care.

The first clue for the editor at WPBF that this “fenced pasture” was in suburban Lake Worth is this line:


She [owner of Barbie] said Florida Power and Light came out and agreed to install a floodlight in the back pasture to help keep the coyotes away.


The City of Lake Worth does not have FP&L; this City has its own Electric Utility. So if a person is calling FP&L to have a floodlight installed that should prompt any reporter or editor to pause for a few moments and maybe try to find out where exactly one is. If you know anyone out in western Palm Beach County with small pets or farm animals and think they need to know more about “skulking” coyotes click on this link to read about what happened to little Barbie.

Maybe you’re wondering by now, “How easy is it to find out where the little horse Barbie was killed?”

It’s actually very easy and only takes a few moments.

Below is a video from the Palm Beach County Property Appraisers Office. Please take a few moments and follow the instructions by Dino Maniotis, CFE, and afterwards find the location of the coyote attack in suburban Wellington for yourself.

Please note: After a few tries using this new “mapping tool” it becomes very easy to find out for yourself where all thirty-nine municipalities are in PBC in relation to suburban areas:

More information and about
zip codes too.

Maybe you’re located in an unincorporated area in Palm Beach County (PBC) but you’re not exactly sure? Or maybe you’re wondering where your city, town, or village is in relation to other municipalities in PBC? How can you find out? It’s very easy. Click on this link for the “Boundary Maps” in Palm Beach County.

Two examples are below to illustrate how these maps work.

Please read the captions below and
then refer to the maps.

Click on images to enlarge:

This first map is a small part of Central PBC. The white areas are called “unincorporated” (meaning outside the borders of a municipality).

This second map uses “zip codes”. For example, zip code 33461 covers just a small part of “Lake Worth”.

Despite what you hear and read often John Prince Park is not ‘in Lake Worth’. That County park is located in what’s called “suburban Lake Worth”.

Thank You for visiting today and hope you found this information helpful. And if accurate TV news is important to you then start watching NBC5/WPTV. They are by far the most accurate TV news station in Palm Beach County.

Take for example this crime news from WPTV by reporter Jennifer Tintner last May headlined,

“Driver suspected in fatal suburban Lake Worth hit-and-run under arrest, PBSO says”.

It’s easy to make a mistake from time to time reporting about news in this City versus outside the City limits in suburban Lake Worth. The western municipal border can be confusing. But consistently, time and time again, it’s been WPTV that’s taken the time to be accurate and for that the City of Lake Worth and its residents are grateful.