5 animals that will inspire your kid
These stories about supercute animals that have overcome adversity will inspire your kids to be better humans.
Pig Teaches Resilience
Chris P. Bacon the pig just wanted to run and play. But he was born without the use of his back legs. Luckily the porker was adopted by veterinarian Len Lucero, who built him a different pair of “legs.” He attached a wheeled cart behind Chris so the pig could pull himself along, sort of like a miniature pig-mobile. Lucero was so impressed with Chris’ spirit that the vet started bringing the pig to visit children in hospitals, hoping that he’d inspire them as well. This pig is really on a roll!
Sloth Inspires Compassion
Judy Avey-Arroyo didn’t quite know what to do when three girls showed up with an orphaned baby sloth wrapped in a blanket. She and her husband ran a small hotel and didn’t know anything about sloths. But she couldn’t turn away the animal, which she named Buttercup. Finding little advice from experts, Avey-Arroyo let Buttercup teach her what the sloth needed to grow into a healthy youngster. Soon more orphaned sloths started showing up at Avey-Arroyo’s door, and she eventually opened the Sloth Sanctuary. Thanks to Buttercup’s lessons, Avey-Arroyo has helped many sloths live better lives—even if most of their lives are spent sleeping.
Cat Sparks Courage
Fred the cat didn’t get off to a great start. Stricken with pneumonia, the four-month-old kitten was wandering alone on the streets before being adopted. But his new owner gave Fred more than a home. She gave him a purpose that would help save other animals. Hearing about a man suspected of illegally treating sick animals without proper training, Fred’s owner—whose job it was to oversee animal cruelty cases for the city—had a clever idea. She would send in Fred undercover, posing as a patient. Working with a human detective, Fred became the “bait” so the fake vet could be stopped. Looks like Fred put a halt to the purr-fect crime.
Bald Eagle Stirs Innovation
When Beauty the bald eagle was found in the Alaskan mountains after a stray bullet shattered her beak, rescuers from Idaho’s Birds of Prey Northwest rushed to save her. Rehabilitators helped her get stronger, but after a few months she still couldn’t eat or drink without help. But then an engineer came up with a crazy idea: They would make Beauty a new beak, built from a 3-D printer. It worked! Over time, her beak began regrowing so that she needed her new beak less and less. And now Beauty has inspired scientists and rescuers to use this technology on other injured animals. It’s like a fairy tale: “Beauty and the Beak.”
Dogs Champion Altruism
Some dogs sniff out their food; Bonnie, Clyde, and Didi sniff out bad guys. Trained by Big Life Foundation, a conservation group working in East Africa, the dogs sniff out poachers who hunt protected animals such as elephants and rhinoceroses. With their powerful noses, the dogs have led handlers straight to criminals’ doors and even sniffed out weapons and traps, saving countless animals. In fact, the dogs are so good at their job that conservation workers have actually seen a drop in the number of area poachers. Hope these pooches are being rewarded with lots of toys!
