World Animal Day 2024

 

He was waiting for her, pacing, watching, calling. At her approach,  the cat rubbed its body against the fencing, then stood, bracing his forepaws against it. And purred.

Six months since he’d seen her—scented her, Lil thought. But he hadn’t forgotten her. “Hello, Baby.”

She reached through to stroke the tawny fur, and he bumped his head affectionately to hers.

“I missed you, too.”

Black Hills

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MathKnight, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

World Animal Day: History, significance, theme, quotes and more

World Animal Day is observed every year on October 4 to highlight the importance of animals and spread awareness for their welfare to maintain ecological balance

Business Standard

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Connor slipped through the employees’ gate for the falconry school. 

As always,  he felt a little flutter—a bit like beating wings—in his heart, along his skin. 

It had always been the hawk for him. That connection, like his power, came down through the blood.

Shadow Spell

King of the jungle finds his queen

On the other side of the fence, Boris rose on his hind legs, called to her. She kept low, kept subservient, but approached the fence to sniff at him. When he lowered, she scurried back to stand at the entrance to her cage.

To what, Lil knew, she thought of as safety. He called her again, insistently, until she bellied over to the fence, quivering, trembling as he sniffed her nose, her front paws.

When he licked her, Lil smiled. “We should’ve called him Romeo. Let’s get the cage away, close her in. Boris will take it from here.”

Black Hills

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By Masterwiki1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32631365

Lions who were both born into captivity have found happiness together 

after their rescuers decided to introduce them to one another.

DAILYMAIL

The emotional depth of animals

Lil wound her way, following the trail formed by feet trampling through the snow.

He was waiting for her, pacing, watching, calling. At her approach, the cat rubbed its body against the fencing, then stood, bracing his fore paws against it. And purred.

Six months since he’d seen her—scented her, Lil thought. But he hadn’t forgotten her. “Hello, Baby.”

She reached through to stroke the tawny fur, and he bumped his head affectionately to hers.

“I missed you, too.”

He was four now, full-grown, lithe and magnificent. He hadn’t been fully weaned when she’d found him, and his two litter mates, orphaned and half starved. She’d hand-fed them, tended them, guarded them. And when they’d been old enough, strong enough, had reintroduced them to the wild.

But he’d kept coming back.

She’d named him Ramses, for power and dignity, but he was Baby.

And her one true love.

“Have you been good? Of course, you have. You’re the best. Keeping everybody in line? I knew I could count on you.”

As she spoke and stroked, Baby purred, hummed in his throat, and looked at her with golden eyes full of love.

She heard movement behind her, glanced back. The one Tansy had called Eric stood staring. “They said he was like that with you, but . . . I didn’t believe it.”

Black Hills

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Other animals have 'human' emotions, too

Emotions are like organs: vital and universal, and not just for our species, primatologist Frans de Waal argues in a new book.

Mother Nature Network

Reasons Shopping Makes You Happy

“It’s a great dress.” Sighing, Lil let her head tip back. “I haven’t done

a shopping marathon like that in years. Literally years.”

“I know it wasn’t easy for you to take a full day away like this.

And now you’re planning a spa day. You’re a good friend.”

“She’d do the same for me. Plus, great dress, fabulous shoes,

and assorted other items I really had no need for.”

“It’s more fun when you don’t need them.”

“Too true.” Lil toyed with the new earrings she’d bought, and

—like her mother and the shoes—

had worn out of the store. “Why is that?”

“Buying what you need’s the result of hard work.

Buying what you don’t need’s the reward for hard work.

You work hard, honey. I’m glad you took the time away.”

Black Hills 

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By Cocktailmania - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53853624

We all know the good feeling that goes along with walking out of a store with a new shade of lipstick or after ordering a killer pair of boots online. They call it retail therapy for a reason and more than one scientific study has backed up its effectiveness.

Career Girl Daily

Quoting Nora