My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡). It’s unusual for a grouse to have any contact with people. In fact, they’re hard to spot, because they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching.

This grouse came into our lives in spring. Tom was working out in the field when he noticed her walking around at the edge of the field. She was surprisingly unafraid and seemed to be curious about what he was doing.

Tom saw the friendly bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew fond of the bird and decided to call her Mildred.

One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom pretended (假装) he didn’t see her and kept working to see what she would do next. Apparently, she didn’t like to be ignored (忽视). She’d run up and peck (啄) at Tom’s hands, then back off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the game and left.

As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to come out more and more often. Eventually Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom’s leg and stay long enough for me to get a picture of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt comfortable not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.

When hunting season opened, we put a sign (标牌) at the end of our driveway asking hunters not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road also warned people not to shoot her. In fact, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.

One day, when Tom worked as usual, Mildred didn’t show up.

While all of us thought Mildred was dead, she came out the next spring with many small cute grouses.

I was an extremely shy girl in primary school and couldn’t make friends easily. My teacher, Mr. Doocy, called my mother and explained that I hadn’t spoken a single word in class. And we were more than half way through the school year. Even as a little girl, I knew this was unusual. I watched the free and happy interaction of my classmates with envy.

Mom tried to excuse my behavior as something that I would outgrow. But Mr. Doocy was still quite concerned about me. He asked Mom if I had something at home that I liked. He said he would arrange a show-and-tell activity for the class if I brought it to school. My mom told him about my cat who had given birth to several baby cats about three weeks earlier. I was crazy about those baby cats.

Then Mr. Doocy suggested I bring the baby cats to school the next day and introduce them to my classmates. It seemed that Mom didn’t think this show-and-tell activity would help me and hoped to discourage Mr. Doocy. She explained that I would have to bring the mother cat along with the six baby cats because they were too young to be separated from their mother. She probably thought this would put an end to the plan. But Mr. Doocy said that was fine.

I normally walked to school, but my mother drove me the next morning along with a big brown cardboard box. I struggled to walk toward the classroom with the heavy load. In no time, the group of baby cats caught the attention of my classmates. Their eyes lit up in wonder when they caught sight of my tiny treasures. My heart beat quickly against my chest as pride swelled within me. I had never felt so important in my entire nine years of life!

Mr. Doocy instructed me to sit on the steps outside the classroom so everyone could get a good look inside the container. “Can I hold one?” a little girl asked aloud with excitement. Then all the other children chimed in like a choir, begging to hold one of the baby cats.

I nodded and said, “Yes.”

With everyone sitting in the classroom, Mr. Doocy invited me to say something about my cats.

Kay Day, an 87-year-old UK woman, loves elephants. But Day, who suffers from dementia(痴呆), rarely leaves her nursing home room and hasn’t seen a real elephant for a really long time. Until now.

Day is so fond of elephants that her room is full of elephant photos and toys. She dreamed of seeing an elephant up close again but never thought it would happen. On Wednesday, August 9, 2023, Day’s dream became a reality after her nursing home took her on a special trip to the Whipsnade Zoo.

The nursing home collected money to be able to realize Day’s dream. “Day doesn’t join in many activities and tends to spend quite a lot of time alone,” said the nursing home manager. “So when we sat and discussed wishes, we found out she would love to see an elephant. When we found the Elephant Experience at Whipsnade and contacted them, we said we should make her dream come true!”

Day was so excited about going to the zoo that she marked off the days on her elephant-themed calendar. Day’s carers telephoned her family and asked them to come along on the trip to support her on that exciting day.

Since the Whipsnade Zoo is a protection zoo that is working to protect wildlife as well as connect people with nature, the staff runs a lot of programs including various animal experiences and “Be a Keeper” days.

Day often told people around her that she would like to pet and feed the elephants herself as she did many years before. And she said that the elephants’ trunks (象鼻) are her favourite part of the huge animals. “It’s such a wonderful feeling to have an elephant take some food out of your hand, put it in his trunk, curl (卷起) it up and put it in his mouth, ” she told the reporter when she was interviewed.

The day for going to the zoo finally came.

The moment arrived when Day was able to meet the elephants up close.