White linens lined the tables, and Barbra Streisand's voice filled the air. The banquet hall oozed with love. We paid our respects to the bright-eyed newlyweds and took our seats. And that's when I first saw him. The glass vase, the centerpiece of it all, confined not flowers, but fins. There he swam, in endless circles, … Continue reading When the Wedding Favors Have Fins
This blog was originally posted on One Green Planet. One thing’s quite obvious when you look at a picture of Bear the Pit Bull: He can’t see — at least, not through his eyes. At just one year of age, Bear was hit by a car and wound up at an emergency vet with severe injuries … Continue reading One Green Planet: This Dog May Have Lost His Eyes, but His Heart Just Keeps on Growing
This article was originally published by One Green Planet. (By Laura Lee Cascada) We all know and love Esther the Wonder Pig, the “micro pig” who fell into the arms of Canadian couple Derek Walter and Steve Jenkins and then kept growing, and growing, and growing. At 650 pounds, today she fills Facebook, Instagram, and … Continue reading One Green Planet: How Esther the Wonder Pig Helped Save the Lives of 10 Pigs from North Carolina
(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 / Photos by Alysoun Mahoney) These caterpillars sure are hungry. And they've struck gold, munching their way through an all-you-can-eat milkweed buffet. But many others aren't so lucky. On a beautiful plot of land in Virginia, these two were seen plumping themselves up, preparing to blossom into the striking orange-and-black butterflies … Continue reading Why Are Millions of These Caterpillars So Hungry?
(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
You might recognize it as a trinket on a beach shop shelf. You pick it up, press it against your ear, and listen for the sound of the ocean. But I got to see inside. Several years ago, I visited rural Andros Island, Bahamas, with a class for grad school. Our goal: to learn about geology … Continue reading What’s Inside This Shell Will Blow Your Mind
It was 7 p.m. on a Thursday night in late winter. Instead of catching the tail end of happy hour with friends after a long day of editing scientific manuscripts, I was hunched over the kitchen floor with a soiled rag in one hand while the other groped around inside a tiny mouth seeking the … Continue reading Poppyseed: The “Teacup” Toddler
When I met Patchouli at Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen, New York shelter, home to over 500 rescued animals, in mid-2014, I was amazed that I managed to capture a photograph of him at all. As the jet-black rooster darted around visitors' feet, our tour guide shared the beginnings of his story. A shipment of chicks … Continue reading Patchouli, Rooster Reject
It was late one evening in the spring of 2015 as a carload of us--my wife, Rachel, and I, along with two friends--were making the long trip back from Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to my parents' home in the Ka'u District halfway around the Big Island. We'd just hit a straight stretch of road outside … Continue reading The Pup from Na’alehu
