Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Stories of Hope (Dec. 1): The Town that Rallied to Save a Cub

This month, with the Holidays fast approaching, I am going to try to focus on positive stories about the special relationship between people and animals.

In the small northern ski town of Incline Village, Nevada, an entire town rallied together to save a sick and orphaned bear cub. Townsfolk found the cub alone and severely malnourished in a meadow near the town. "She looked dazed when I found her," said Madonna Dunbar, who works as a conservationist for the Incline Village General Improvement District. "She was definitely underweight." (Source) BEAR League Executive Director Ann Bryant added: "She was about a basketball-sized cub. She was shivering and listless and approaching people in search of help." Thanks to Bryant, Dunbar and other volunteers who took the time to care for the cub and feed her, the bear made a remarkable comeback. Now the bear has been moved to an animal sanctuary in Reno called Animal Ark. She will live with another orphaned bear cub and receive lots of TLC for the next year. Eventually, volunteers will attempt to transition her from captivity to wildlife.

With all of the exploitation, factory farming, animal abuse and wanton destruction of life that you hear about all the time, it is deeply moving to hear stories like this one. This is a tale with a happy ending, and those are more common than you might think. More importantly, it shows that there are plenty of good people out there who genuinely care about animals and are doing what they can to help. If we lose sight of these stories and just focus on all the grim and tragic tales, we run the risk of succumbing to despair.

Keep in mind: There are lots of kindred spirits out there who care about the animals and will do whatever it takes to help.

By the way, Happy Hanukkah.

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