Lucy and the Bee

Huahua swims nearly three miles every day to care for her stranded pups

A dog, nicknamed Huahua by the local people in the Chinese Province, Chongqing City,  has become quite the local celebrity.  She gave birth to four puppies in Shanhuba, a smaller town located outside the city along the Changjiang River.  When heavy rains wouldn’t subside the Changjiang River flooded, driving several people from their homes as

Huahua cares for her pups on an island during a flood

Shanhuba became an island.  No one realized that Huahua’s newborn pups were stranded on that island.  Huahua began swimming nearly six miles every day in order to feed herself and care for her pups.  Her long journey would begin on Shanhuba, where she would wake up and swim back to Chongqing City to feed herself, then she would swim back to feed the pups.  She would repeat this process every evening and would stay with the pups throughout the night on the island.  Huang Pingren found the pups by accident when he was on the island, “I was resting on the island, and found the unprotected litter of dogs. Then in the evening, around 7 pm, I saw a dog swimming to the bank and then running to the newborns.”  Huahua’s story hit the local news and though, no one claims to be Huahua’s owner it seems everywhere she goes she is recognized and kept well-fed.  She has become an inspiration to many who lost their homes due to the devastating floods.  “If she can do this, if she can swim six miles everyday, then we can rebuild.  Never underestimate the Will of a Mother,” said a woman (and mother) who had been following Huahua’s story, on the local news.

Joker has been adopted by a wild pod of dolphins

One day a stray dog appeared at the Dolphin Reef Resort in town of Eliat, a beautiful beach town bordering the Red Sea in Israel.  The scruffy sheep dog seemed fascinated with the wild dolphins and would wait on the beach for hours to see the wild

Joker fascinated by his dolphin friends

pod emerge.  The staff at the resort chased him away several times but it became obvious that he wasn’t leaving.  They called him Joker and he never let anyone, except the dolphins, get close to him.  He obviously wasn’t people-friendly.  As Joker seemed to get closer to the dolphins he began to swim with them.  The wild pod of dolphins seemed to enjoy his company too, never going too far from shore nor diving too deep when Joker was with them.  Someone noticed Joker would walk back to the town of Eliat everyday after spending it at the beach.  That’s when the “locals” began giving Joker

Joker playing with one of the dolphins

rides, to and from the beach, where the dolphins were waiting.  Joker would sit by the edge of the road in Eliat until someone recognized him and would give him a lift.  He would do the same in the evenings.  Instead of letting anyone pet him he let them give him a ride.  Staff members at the the Dolphin Reef began to take turns looking for Joker as their shifts would end to give him a ride back to town. “I have a blanket in my car specially for him,” admits Nir Avni, the founder and manager of the beach. “I can’t refuse him.”  No one knew where Joker went once he went into town but the following morning he

Hitching a ride to see his friends

was in his usual place by the road.  This character trait backfired one day when someone picked Joker up and took him more than 100 miles away and dropped him off at a farm.  The employees at the resort were so distraught they raised money, went on the local news and put up fliers everywhere.  Remarkably somebody recognized him and he was reunited with his dolphins after three long weeks.  He now wears a collar with the resort’s information on it to prevent it from ever happening again.  He has become a favorite of the local tourists.  Everyone wants to see Joker swim with the wild dolphins and the dolphins seem to have grown quite fond of Joker as well.  They come to the same place everyday and wait to play with him too.  It seems he has been accepted as one of their own too making their friendship, which has now spanned years, one of the most unique anyone has ever witnessed!

The Starlings Find the Mother Load

The new Manager at Magic Wand Car Wash Systems in Frederick, MD noticed something wasn’t adding up. Every night at closing all of their car washing

A Starling on the look-out...

machines were missing money…and significant amounts. After speaking to all of the employees he decided to install a hidden camera to catch the

A Starling going in...

culprits in action. After watching the video he couldn’t believe what he saw. Several Starling birds, working together, were robbing his machines of quarters. They are very attracted to bright, shiny objects and once they got their beak on one quarter they just couldn’t seem to stop

Making the getaway with the loot

themselves. He watched as they unloaded his machines of literally hundreds of quarters. After some searching he was able to locate two of their nests and collect part of the ransom. On the roof of the car wash alone he was able to collect more than $400 worth in quarters. Though, he never did get his full amount, the video provided a good laugh, insurance was able to cover the rest. And protective measures were taken on the machines, the Starlings were breaking into so easily, making future heists impossible!

Sheena, the leopard, gets an unexpected guest for dinner. (All pictures taken by Casey Gutteridge)

A keeper at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in the UK noticed something was odd when he went to feed Sheena, a 14 year old resident, and she didn’t immediately

Sheena nudges the young fellow away from her food.

begin to eat as she always did.  Upon closer inspection he could see why.  She had been joined by a young rat who, according to the experts, was “inexperienced”, to say the least.  “I have no idea where it came from – he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard.  He didn’t take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself,”  explained Casey Gutteridge, who took these pictures.  But Sheena was pretty surprised.  She bent down and sniffed at it and flinched a bit

Undaunted, the young rat continues to eat and amazingly Sheena allows him to finish before having her meal.

like she was scared.  It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked and said he’d never seen anything like it before.  After awhile Sheena got use to the young rat and allowed him to get full before eating the rest of the meal herself.  Even stranger is that the young rat has been a returning visitor and Sheena allows him to eat before she does.  It seems they have developed a sort of odd friendship that has stunned the experts!  Hmmm…

Blanche and Bianco sitting in their favorite tree

Eight years ago an Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo flew into a car breaking it’s wing.  The people who hit the bird rushed it to a local vet where it’s wing had to be amputated.  She would never be able to fly again.  A kind-hearted couple, Alice and Roger, heard about her story and decided to adopt her.  They knew they would have to take extra provisions to make sure she remained safe from ground predators,

A visit from a family of Cockatoo's

such as cats, and if she climbed, as Cockatoo’s love to do, that she wouldn’t fall.  They named her Blanche. She seemed lonely and they spent as much time with her as they could.  They knew there were other Cockatoo’s in the area.  Blanche was allowed to go wherever she pleased unless Alice and Roger weren’t home, then, for protection  she would go in the cage.  She seemed to understand that she couldn’t fly and preferred staying in her cage, even when she could go out.  Then they noticed several Cockatoo’s began to visit her.  The birds didn’t seem to understand why she was being kept in a cage

Bianco unlatches the cage and goes for a visit

when they could fly free.  One of the males began to show more interest than the others and he was named Bianco.  They watched as Bianco carefully and skillfully figured out how to undo the lock on Blanche’s cage. Blanche didn’t seem to mind and so their daily routine began.  He would visit her day in and day out, undoing the lock each time and climbing into her cage to sit next to her.  Eventually the couple stopped locking the cage even though Blanche, who was aware that she could not fly, wanted to stay there.  One day Bianco convinced

Blanche and Bianco in their favorite tree

Blanche to come out for play and when she did Bianco realized that she could not fly.  He stopped prodding her to fly into the tree with him.  Instead he walked behind her as they climbed up together and hung out on a lower limb that would become their favorite perch.  Alice and Roger were nervous that she would be attacked by a local cat but Bianco seemed to take great care of her, ready to defend her at a moment’s notice.  Then they all got a huge surprise.  Blanche began nesting in the flower bed and before they knew it Blanche had laid a tiny egg.  Bianco rotated shifts

Blanche sitting on an egg

with Blanche taking turns sitting on it and one day, to everyone’s amazement, a baby chick was hatched.  He was named Bruno.  Bruno was taught to fly by Bianco but always stays close to home and

Baby Bruno

all three are very close with Alice and Roger who keep them well fed and protected.  “Instead of adopting one bird we ended up with three full-time birds and as many as 20 extended family members.  It has been an amazing experience!”  Alice said.

Volunteers fly dogs from a pound where more than 15 dogs were going to euthanized to a no-kill shelter where they were all adopted successfully!

When the Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary, (a no kill shelter) in Middleton, New York, heard about more than 15 dogs that were scheduled to be euthanized at a local dog pound in South Carolina they sprung into action. They contacted everyone they knew on their mailing list to find pilots that would be willing to donate their planes and their time to fly the dogs from the pound to their sanctuary.

Ten pilots came forward, which was more than they had hoped for, and they were able to bring all 15 dogs to the sanctuary. Local papers ran stories about their volunteer efforts and most of the dogs were adopted immediately. The rest were adopted within the following weeks. Thanks to the efforts of the volunteers and the pilots, who not only donated their time and planes but also the fuel expense, love and compassion that made it all possible!

Toby saves owner from choking by jumping on her chest

Toby, a two year-old golden retriever is credited for saving his owner, Debbie Parkhurst reported the Cecil Whig.  While eating an apple a piece got lodged in her throat.  She began choking and tried to do the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it wouldn’t work.  That’s when Toby got on his hind legs, put his paws on her shoulders pushing her to the ground and began jumping vigorously on her chest.

Suddenly the apple dislodged itself and Toby began licking her face.  “I literally have paw-print shaped bruises on my chest, I’m still a little hoarse but otherwise I’m ok.  The doctor said I wouldn’t be here without Toby so I keep looking at him and saying, ‘Your Amazing,’” Parkhurst said.

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