“Why would anyone keep a tiny tiger in the house?” I asked my immediate circle approximately 1,000 times over the course of the last 20 years. Never mind that I’d made it a lifelong habit of always having at least one tiny wolf by my side. To me, housecats were miscreants who spent their days … Continue reading I Brought a Tiny Tiger into My Home—and Did Not Get Eaten
Lip Gloss' grin made me smile again. And now we're healing from our pain together.
Today's story is a little different. Today I invite you to become a little part of the story of a serene place called Ranger's Refuge--a slice of paradise where hundreds of unwanted and discarded farmed animals have found a new lease on life. Tucked away in rural Virginia, Ranger's Refuge has been special to me, … Continue reading Cover Your Snout and Save a (Pig) Snout!
The world as we know it is crumbling to our feet. We're locked in our homes, we've lost employment, and loved ones are dying. We long for someone to wake us up and tell us that it's all been a cruel joke. While I can't make that happen, I can introduce you to someone who … Continue reading You Need a Smile. This 3-Legged Goat’s Got You.
Peppercorn the potbellied piglet, all 12 pounds of him, came into my life squealing one April afternoon about five years ago. He was skittish and jumpy, obstinate and forever hungry--and really, really tiny. It was love at first oink.
He was supposed to live 70 years. Instead, as he traveled to his forever home in paradise, a series of mistakes and, ultimately, negligence killed him.
Meet Beacon. Hunched over, timid, and hardly bigger than a gallon of milk -- you'd think he was just a piglet. But Beacon was two years old when he was rescued and given a chance to truly live. He was born February 6, 2016. "That date is also the date I got married in 1996," … Continue reading Meet a 2-Year-Old Pig the Size of a Milk Jug. Where He Came from Will Shock You.
In 2003, when I was 15, I screen-printed a t-shirt with a photo of my albino rat, Hammy, and paraded it around school. The other kids laughed, but I wasn't fazed. I'd made a best friend--one who was a whole lot more loyal, and maybe even a little smarter, than my classmates. It was February … Continue reading The Red-Eyed Rat Who Stole My Heart
(Story by Laura Lee Cascada / Photographs by Steve Byun, @chinnybuddy) This ball of fluff is Mr. Bagel. Despite how it looks, he's not a gargantuan field mouse from some alternate universe of adorable creatures with big eyes and even bigger ears. He's a chinchilla from regular old planet Earth. But before you run out … Continue reading This Little Furball Is on a Big Mission
(By Laura Lee Cascada / Photographs by Annie Blumenfeld) Meet Teddy. Four years ago, he bounded into Connecticut teen Annie Blumenfeld's life and changed it forever. Now, in 2016, Teddy spends his days watching chickens and roosters peck around the neighborhood, eagerly awaiting his next adventure with each walk and car ride. He lives a … Continue reading This Shaggy Dog Beat Heartworms–Now the Art He Inspired Is Saving Others Like Him
