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March 22, 2009
Animals Have Feelings Too!
Posted by Jack
In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.
In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.
Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.
They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.
The dog had other ideas. No-one remembers now how it began, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn't matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, probably, a rhinoceros, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.
Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."
"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings.
"She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."
Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.
And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted in her fur.
Posted by Post Scripts at March 22, 2009 10:38 AM
Comments
Dear "Post Scripts" Jack,
I am so glad I clicked on this site. This is not only heart-warming (after the initial horror) but excuse me, Jasmine is almost like a metaphorical example for this country: take all you've learned from protracted abuse and neglect and turn it into an extraordinary compassion for our fellow living creatures.
My gosh, this should be on nationwide news. Just incredible.
Thank You for sharing this.
Sincerely,
Jean
San Jose, CA
Posted by: Jean | March 22, 2009 12:36 PM
What a wonderful story, Jack. It reminds me of a cat I once took in. We named him Mao. He was abandoned (age four) in our country neighborhood...probably, said the vet, by a graduating college student. Mau was a tabby with huge beautiful bue jean blue eyes. Our first trip to the vet must have been a reminder of his abandonment because he continued to utter the most mournful sound I had ever heard all the way there and back home. Poor guy was in bad shape, scrawney and matted with an absessed tooth and an injury to his hind leg. But he soon gained back his weight and his pale grey striped coat came back...he was the sweetest guy!
Before long he started collecting some friends. It started with a small black and white kitty with extra toes and within a couple of years we had rescued five cats of various shapes and sizes...all female of course. Like I said, he was a sweet guy.
Posted by: Tina | March 22, 2009 12:37 PM
I am reminded of a Blue Jay chick behind the shop at work about ten years ago. It was so young and unprotected that I was sure it would be just a matter of time before it was lunch for some larger critter. It was still featherless except for a few tiny fuzzy ones so I decided to take it home and start nursing it by feeding the bird anything it would eat. Not really knowing what a baby Blue Jay eats I tried everything, eventually I realized that it likes the same worms I fed my Box Turtle.
After about two weeks it began looking more and more like a Blue Jay as its wings filled in with feathers. We called him Jay and began teaching it to fly. Well, actually I threw it into the air until he finally started to flap his wings and fly. I had been keeping in a cage until he could fly for protection, but after he began to fly I let Jay stay outside. My hope was the he would return to the wild where he was born to live.
Every time I went outside it would fly down to my shoulder and squawk for food until I relented and fed it. The neighborhood kids loved that the guy down the street owned his own Blue Jay. Soon jay became more of a pain in the neck then a friend. I could not step outside without him landing on my shoulder and squawking in my ear for food. I realized he was not searching for food because he never learned to. After all, I had always fed him from the time I rescued him, so why should he forage.
Then one day I was driving to work in my truck and just as I began to turn onto Eaton Rd from my neighborhood, Jay decided to fly onto my shoulder. Unfortunately for him, he did not understand the concept of windows that you could see through but not fly through. It had been a problem in the past as he tried to fly into the house a few times when he was hungry. However, this time the window was moving forward at about ten miles per hour and when he hit it. Well lets just say that Jay is now bugging God for food.
It took me two years to tell my wife what really happened to him, until then she thought he just flew away. The moral of my little adventure is that some animals are best left to nature. Or maybe next time I'll send it to the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary where Jasmine can nurse it.
Posted by: OneVike | March 23, 2009 9:25 AM