Special indeed. Lurch’s horns, which continued to grow even when his body settled down, would ultimately land him a spot in the Guinness World Records for their amazing circumference of 37½ inches (they eventually reached 38 inches or more). The length of the horns was also nothing to sneeze at: They reached at least 8 feet tip to tip!
Ankole-Watusi Cattle
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Genus: Bos
Species: Bos taurus
But before his horns made him famous, Lurch became well known for that sweet temperament toward other animals, and toward one in particular. “When he was young,” Janice recalls, “I rescued a crippled horse. Once I got him walking a bit and able to live in the big field with the rest of his kind, the other horses would crowd him out of the food troughs and leave him behind when they ran off to play.”
Lurch observed the lone soul being pushed around and seemed distressed. “From then on he appointed himself Chance’s bodyguard,” says Janice. “He stayed near him and slept with him, and when the other horses pushed Chance away from the food, Lurch even shared his own food pan, something he never did with any others. They had such a tight bond.”
She says Lurch seemed to be particularly careful around Chance as if understanding that the horse was vulnerable. “When Lurch had a fly on him or an itch, he could really fling that head around to scratch it, and those horns were dangerous! But around Chance he never did that.” Also, “he let Chance use one of his horns to scratch itchy places the horse couldn’t reach, even standing perfectly still so Chance could rub his eyelid on the tip!” Apparently, the bull understood that his headgear had the power to injure as well as to aide.
The horse trusted him completely, Janice says, just as the rest of the animals did.
Sadly, Lurch passed away in 2010. Ironically, perhaps, it was cancer in one of his mighty horns that killed him—when it caused blood vessels to rupture.
Janice says she can’t think of Lurch without remembering the remarkable faith and kindness he brought out of the creatures with which he shared the world. “I think that’s the kind of love we’re all looking for.”
{Tarragona, Spain, 2011}
The Owl and the Pussycat
One rainy day, I was browsing the Internet in search of cute and funny things, and I came across a video that blew me away. The characters: a slender black cat and a striking barn owl, face white as snow. The moment caught on film: the cat’s amazing jump from the ground straight up to meet the owl in the air. Now, felines are naturally good jumpers, but this cat clearly had springs in its paws, letting it reach new heights, to high-five a bird swooping well overhead.
The owner of these acrobats is Jordi Amenós, of Tarragona, a city located near the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Catalonia on Spain’s northeast coast. Here’s what he told me.
Fum was the only black cat in the litter; his three brothers (and also his mom) were bone white. Adopted by Jordi, the cat was soon living the good life in the great outdoors. Fum, his “stage name,” means “smoke” in Catalan. His name is appropriate; like smoke, occasionally he disappears!
And then there’s Gebra, a barn owl. In Catalan, the bird’s name means “frost,” in lovely contrast to Fum. The owl was young and came without any feathers (as owlets do), so for a while, she stayed inside with Jordi and he fed her by hand. As Gebra’s feathers grew and she started using her wings, the two animals began to notice each other. When Jordi, who practices falconry, began training Gebra outdoors, the bird was tethered and he kept the two apart to avoid them becoming entangled. But once Gebra was ready to fly freely, cat and owl were allowed to meet on their own terms.
“That first jump by Fum—leaping up to the flying bird—had quite a big impact on me because I thought it was the end of Gebra,” Jordi recalls. “I didn’t know what Fum’s intentions were.” Jordi recalls crying out, “Mare de Déu! Aqui prendrem mal?” which from Catalan he translates to, “Oh, my God, will there be an injury?”
Fortunately, there wasn’t. And fortunately for all of us who love this story, Jordi soon realized he couldn’t stop the animals from their antics, so it was better to just let them develop their game. “Soon it was no longer a circus spectacle, but something deeper,” he says.
Whatever that depth between owl and bird, their acrobatics, which quickly became part of their normal outdoor routine, are certainly a spectacle! As Gebra flies down from a tree and soars like a big-winged jet parallel with the earth, Fum leaps into the sky with his front paws overhead, as if to smack down a moth, and his timing is perfect for reaching the lowest point of the bird’s mighty swoop. It’s as exhilarating to watch as any trapeze artist flying through the air, reaching for that swinging bar.
Fum and Gebra find other ways to entertain themselves when the flying games are done. The natural surroundings on the farm in Tarragona are like an amusement park for a feline and a bird. The nearly 2 acres are a mix of tall grasses, carob and olive trees, a big fig tree with plenty of perches for owl and cat alike, rock walls and boulders, dirt paths and open skies. Jordi’s videos show the pair chasing and leaping on each other both on the ground and up in the trees, the cat batting, the bird nipping, both returning again and again for more.
“Their relationship was completely spontaneous and has grown on its own,” says Jordi. “Seeing them moves something in people’s hearts.” He says he feels so fortunate to be the main witness to this unique connection.
“What’s most important, though, is their lesson of how to have a better, kinder world,” Jordi says. “Here are animals, different in many ways, and there is no prejudice, no hatred. Hopefully their message can endure.”
{Cornwall, England, 2010}
The Fox and the Hound
Truth sometimes mirrors fiction, and in this case the real thing comes awfully close to the animated story. Disney’s version of The Fox and the Hound was plenty sweet: Though instinct and social pressure to be adversaries pull childhood friends apart, their loving bond is never truly broken. Now meet Copper and Jack, the living, breathing fairy tale.
Copper is a male fox that, like many animals in these stories, got off to a rough start. He was an orphan—on his own in a grassy field for at least a few days after birth. And then, somehow he managed to fall into a rocky pit in the back garden of a rural home. Luckily, a tangle of ivy caught him as he fell, preventing what might have been a deadly landing. Fortune shined on him again when his squealing cries met the garden owners’ ears. Not knowing how to handle the little animal, they called on animal expert Gary Zammit to come rescue him.
Gary runs the Feadon Wildlife Center in Cornwall, England, an 80-acre patchwork of grasslands, woodlands, and ponds. Visitors come to get up close to the wild roe deer, badgers, reindeer, hedgehogs, owls, hawks, and, of course, foxes.
Red Fox
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Vulpes
Species: Vulpes vulpes
“When I rescued Copper, he was probably a week or two old,” Gary says. “But he still needed bottle feeding ’round the clock. He was dehydrated and in poor condition—hadn’t had food for days. We don’t know what happened to Mom or the rest of the litter, and this guy wouldn’t have survived much longer on his own.”
Copper was quite vocal, which stirred the interest of another animal at the center, Jack the dog.
Jack is a lurcher, a hound mix whose breed originated in Ireland and England. Like Copper, he had a sad beginning—his at the hands of an unfeeling owner. Soon after birth, the owner scooped up the entire litter and took them to the vet to be put to sleep because she thought they were ugly! Of cou
rse, the vet refused to kill the pups and instead found homes for them.
“I hadn’t planned to have another dog, but after getting to know Jack, we had to have him,” Gary says. “He’s so lovely and affectionate, walks around among the chickens, goats, and ducks without chasing them. He has no hunting instinct at all. A wonderful animal.”
But Jack had never really mixed with foxes before (there were two others at the facility when Copper came). Even though he wasn’t an aggressive sort, Gary says, “Most dogs would attack and kill a fox, so we never thought to put them together. Copper at that point would have fit nicely into Jack’s mouth, so we had to be cautious.” But Jack kept coming around to see what the fuss was about. His interest was piqued by the squealing cub and he wasn’t going to back down. Gary finally decided to let the dog inspect the new arrival.
“There were no signs of aggression, just a wagging tail and other friendly gestures,” he says. “The fox cub, meanwhile, latched onto Jack right away. He was submissive, rolling over to show his belly, squealing and squeaking. After that he wanted to be with Jack all the time.” So fox and hound became napping buddies, spooning for hours at a time, with plenty of reciprocal muzzle licking. And they love to play together: The two charge around the house and wrestle until fully exhausted, and somehow Jack knows to be gentle. If things get a little rough, a tiny yelp from Copper settles the dog right down. Jack wears a bell around his neck, and Gary says Copper quickly associated the sound with his new friend. “When he hears it, he wags his tail and calls, searching around for the dog, wanting to play. They’re totally devoted to each other, even though Copper now has other foxes in his life.”
This time, truth is even sweeter than fiction.
Red Fox
That beautiful fluffy tail performs many tasks: It gives the fox better balance, serves as a warm blanket on cold nights, and is used like a signal flag in fox-to-fox communication.
{Warwickshire, England, 2010 & 2006}
Tales from Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary
Geoff Grewcock needed a career change. As an armored truck driver, he’d been injured during a robbery, and the trauma got him thinking: Was there something more meaningful he could do with his life? Something to improve the lives of others? Happily for the stray and wounded creatures of Warwickshire in England, in 2001 Geoff opened the Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, to care for both wild and domestic animals in need. Even those left on his doorstep during the night—everything from pet spiders to foxes and deer—are welcomed inside, and into his heart. The place changed his life. It also became the setting for our next two unlikely love stories.
The Turkey and the Deer
Tinsel the turkey’s tale began, appropriately, right around Christmas. She was packed onto a truck with crates of other birds, all destined for holiday dinner tables. Who knows if she sensed she was in danger and took a leap of faith, or if the truck swerved and she was thrown from the back onto the road. Either way, despite the hard landing, it was a true holiday gift for her to hit the pavement instead of the market.
“Another lorry driver saw her in the road and stopped to pick her up,” Geoff says. “She was just a little thing and had pretty bad leg injuries and scratched-up skin. So he brought her to us.”
Meanwhile, Geoff had recently taken in a fawn he called Bramble. The little animal, maybe two weeks old, had been unconscious in a field when some folks walking their dog came upon her. Her mother was nowhere to be seen. Geoff, of course, agreed to care for her and tucked her into a bed of hay in his shed, hoping she’d come back to life. Wonderfully, she was roused from her coma when one of Geoff’s dogs began licking her.
Domestic Turkey
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Meleagridinae
Genus: Meleagris
Species: Meleagris gallopavo
“We put Tinsel next to Bramble’s pen, where the deer was lying down,” he recalls. “The turkey walked right in and settled down between the deer’s front legs. They were instant friends.” As companions, they walked around the yard together, nuzzled, played, and shared naptime. At night, Tinsel would peck gently at Bramble’s fur and ears, grooming him. “Bramble just loved it. He’d put his head down and let her peck away.”
Compared with mammals, turkeys aren’t terribly long lived. And this one was bred specifically to be poultry—which, even if it escapes the pot, means a particularly short existence. So Tinsel passed away after about two years as Bramble’s best friend. The loss was very hard on the deer, Geoff says. “He was clearly upset. He’d sit in his pen not really moving around much. He wouldn’t eat.” Bramble, for Geoff, answered the question of whether a deer can mourn a loved one. “That’s really what was happening,” he says.
But time heals, and the deer, now an adult and 5 feet tall, is doing fine, says Geoff. “We put another bird in with him, a Canada goose named Cleo. They don’t have as strong a relationship as Bramble had with Tinsel, but at least he has company.”
The Badger and the Fox
Well before the turkey met and fell for the fawn, the Warwickshire Sanctuary was the setting of another love affair, between a badger and a fox.
“Both arrived tiny, just a week or so old, and we had to hand rear them,” Geoff says. Lulu the badger had been found lying helpless and alone in a garden in Coventry, while Humbug the fox was rescued from a railway embankment near Stratford. “We put them in the same pen, and they instantly took to each other.” Soon they were nosing each other, wrestling, running, and playing tag. In one game, the fox would jump over the badger and the badger would try to follow suit—but he was a bit round, not as agile as the svelte fox, and couldn’t make it. (Both animals were feeding well. Thus, the round badger.) They’d end up in a happy heap of fur on the ground.
Badger
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Meles
Species: Meles meles
Geoff knew from the start they wouldn’t grow old together, as Humbug would likely be released back into the wild while Lulu, who it turned out had poor eyesight, would stay put at the sanctuary. Still, “They got so close, the two different creatures, it was a beautiful thing,” Geoff says.
Both animals are gone now, but they’ve left behind quite a legacy. Geoff says Lulu and Humbug were the animals that prompted him to open his sanctuary. So, in addition to making each other’s lives nicer, these unlikely friends gave better lives to Tinsel, Bramble, and hundreds of other creatures in need of a good home.
I’d say his animals have given Geoff a much better life, too. He agrees.
{Florida, U.S.A., 1996}
The Dolphin and the Stray Cat
Earlier I described my experience dallying with a dolphin in the waters off southern Ireland. Ask around, as I have, and you’ll find that all kinds of people share the desire to get close to dolphins. There’s something about these aquatic mammals—not just that permanent smile (which actually has nothing to do with mood and everything to do with feeding), but their curiosity, playfulness, exuberance—that makes us want to get to know them, and to reach out a hand to touch one.
But is the yen to sidle up to dolphins, to reach out to them, also a feline thing? Apparently, yes, if Arthur is any indication.
Arthur was a mixed-breed cat, one of the many strays to make his home at the Theater of the Sea marine park in the Florida Keys. Opened in 1947, the family-owned destination is a happy place for homeless felines, with plenty of animal-loving people around, endless fish bits to nibble, and lots of outdoor napping spots warmed by the Florida sun.
For Arthur, there was the added bonus of the dolphins. The way some cats chase moths and others a ball on a
string, this cat had a special penchant for big, smooth-headed creatures that popped up like puppets from the water, flinging salty water at passersby. Arthur, like the human visitors to the park, just wanted to be near them.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Family: Delphinidae
Genus: Tursiops
Species: Tursiops truncates
“He was a friendly guy, maybe about 15 pounds, definitely the boss among the cats,” says Janie Ferguson, who then ran a photo concession booth at the park and whose husband shot video of the animals.
Arthur was also fearless. So fearless, in fact, that when visitors would go out to the platform in the 25-million-gallon lagoon where the dolphins were housed, Janie says, “He’d walk out with us to the float to get a look at the animals himself.”
It started as just inquisitive observation from well back, but with two curious-by-nature species involved, it quickly became something more intimate. Arthur began going to the edge and engaging with the dolphins directly. “They’d nudge him with their beaks and he’d bat at their faces—not with claws, just gently—and he’d even rub his head against them,” says Janie. “One in particular, named Thunder, really seemed to like him.” The cat would prance back and forth along the platform edge and Thunder would swim up and back in reply, then bob up high so Arthur could reach him for a cheek-to-beak caress. “Each dolphin really has its own personality,” Janie says. “And Thunder revealed his when it came to Arthur.” Arthur showed his stripes, too. “The cat was very sure of himself, looking for a little adventure.”
Unlikely Loves Page 7
