We have seen many lovely stories where infant animals, which have been
abandoned by their parents, link up with totally different species and make
close, loving friendships. Here we have a pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a
set of young orang-utans, all abandoned at birth, and have become
inseparable after sharing a room at an Indonesian zoo.
The four have lived side by side for a month without a hitch, although
this goes against their natural instincts. Will and Guy learned that, 'This
is unusual and would never happen in the wild,' zookeeper Sri Suwarni
commented, adding, 'like human babies, they only want to play.'
Sadly we also learned that the friendship is not destined to last as
tigers start eating meat when they are three months old and will need to be
separated from their new playmates.
When elephants retire, many head for the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald,
Tennessee, USA. They arrive one by one, but they tend to live out their
lives two-by-two so Will and Guy have discovered.
'Every elephant that comes here searches out someone that she then spends
most all of her time with,' sanctuary co-founder Carol Buckley has told us.
'It's like having a best girlfriend, Buckley says. Somebody they can
relate to, they have something in common with.'
Debbie has Ronnie. Misty can't live without Dulary. Those are
pachyderm-pachyderm pairs.
Strangely the closest friends of all are Tarra and Bella. That would be
Tarra the 8,700 pound Asian elephant and Bella the dog. 'This is her
friend,' Buckley says, scratching Bella's tummy. 'Her friend just happens to
be a dog and not an elephant. Bella knows she's not an elephant. Tarra knows
she's not a dog," Buckley adds. 'But that's not a problem for them.'
It is perhaps dangerous and unwise to credit the animal kingdom, in this
case birds, with human emotions. However, this sequence of photos brought to
you by Will and Guy lend themselves to writing a short, sad and pithy love
story.
Here his mate is injured and the her condition appears to be appalling.
In an attempt to revive her he brings her food and attends to her with
love and compassion.
Sadly he finds that despite bringing her food she has died to he attempts
move her.
He stands beside her and calls out; saddened by her death.
Finally aware that she would not return to him and she has departed he
remains beside her body in sadness and sorrow.
Will and Guy believe that the photographs showing this animal love story
were taken in the Republic of Ukraine. We are unable to record the name of
the photographer and would ask that he makes himself/herself known so we can
add the name to our site.
We apologize if the photos offend our readers.
A True Story Of Courage And Love
Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a water puddle
ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the
path that wasn't covered by water and mud. As I reached the puddle, I was
suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack was so unpredictable and
from a source so totally unexpected. I was startled as well as unhurt,
despite having been struck four or five times already. I backed up a foot
and my attacker stopped attacking me. Instead of attacking more, he hovered
in the air on graceful butterfly wings in front of me. Had I been hurt I
wouldn't have found it amusing, but I was unhurt, it was funny, and I was
laughing.
After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me
again. He rammed me in the chest with his head and body, striking me over
and over again with all his might, still to no avail. For a second time, I
retreated a step while my attacker relented in his attack. Yet again, I
tried moving forward. My attacker charged me again. I was rammed in the
chest over and over again. I wasn't sure what to do, other than to retreat a
third time. After all, it's just not every day that one is attacked by a
butterfly. This time, though, I stepped back several paces to look the
situation over. My attacker moved back as well to land on the ground. That's
when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He
had a mate and she was dying. She was beside the puddle where he landed.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan
her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his
concern for his mate. He had taken it upon himself to attack me for his
mate's sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so
just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have
been careless enough to step on her. Now I knew why and what he was fighting
for. There was really only one option left for me. I carefully made my way
around the puddle to the other side of the path, though it was only inches
wide and extremely muddy. His courage in attacking something thousands of
times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety justified
it. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more
difficult side of the puddle. He had truly earned those moments to be with
her, undisturbed.
I left them in peace for those last few moments, cleaning the mud from my
boots when I later reached my car.
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly
whenever I see huge obstacles facing me. I use that butterfly's courage as
an inspiration and to remind myself that good things are worth fighting for.
There once was an ugly duckling..............a story of true love?
A male swan shunned by females
because of his deformed neck may finally have found a girlfriend after
seven years. 'Crinkly' the ugly swan became well-known at bird sanctuary
in Gloucester UK. Each winter he would flying in from Russia, conservation workers
and visitors have watched with dismay as Crinkly
failed miserably to attract a mate. Experts at Slimbridge were amazed when Crinkly first arrived as a cygnet with parents Lucius and Coletta, with a strangely deformed neck probably caused by a birth
defect.
'We were worried about Crinkly because he is such a strange-looking bird,' said Jools Mackin, spokesperson for Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Until now, none of the females at the
sanctuary was
prepared to mate with him but conservation workers say they can see signs of a budding romance.
'We are delighted because we think Crinkly has finally found a girlfriend,' commented Ms Mackin. 'He appears to
be loosely associating with another Slimbridge Bewick's swan called Taciturn. It is too early to say whether or not they are mates, but we'll be monitoring them over the next few days to see. At the moment they
are associating on Swan Lake. They are flying in and out together and we do hope they will become mates.'
Footnote: Please send us your animal love story.
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