My friends are always sending me gems of features,thoughts and inspiration. I never know where the vignettes that I feature on this blog originate, but I just know that they have meaning for me and, hopefully, for you also.  The following are of my favorite subject–ANIMALS:

Animals can teach us everyday!

Jasmine
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 Warwickshire Wildlife  Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock  and 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. But Jasmine had other  ideas. No one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary.  It wouldn’t matter if it was  a puppy, a  fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting animal, 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.

“They  are  inseparable,are  inseparable,” says Geoff “Bramble walks
between Jasmine’s legs while kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It’s a real  treat to see  them.”

Jasmine  will continue  to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to  woodland  life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too  busy  showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of  abuse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  From  left, Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, orphaned Roe  deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn  owl; and Jasmine with a Mothers heart doing best what a caring Mother would do….

Such is the order of God’s Creation.

        A wonderful story to lift your spirit

A  female whale had become entangled in a spider  web of crab traps  and  lines.

She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused   her to struggle to stay afloat. 

She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped  around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed  for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way  to save her was to dive in and untangle  her–a very dangerous proposition.  One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. 

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.  She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and  pushed gently,  thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was  following him the whole time, and  he will never be the same. 

May you, and all those you love, be so fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  And the next heartwarming story in photos:

I  come in  peace.

Norbert Rosing’s  striking images of a wild polar  bear  coming upon
tethered sled dogs in  the wild.  The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear  wandered  in: