Old Abe soon proved his loyalty. Once, as his platoon was about to enter a wood, the eagle began swooping over their heads so crazily that their commander called a halt. When they tried to resume their advance, he began flying into the faces of the men on the front line. Spooked, the soldiers decided to fire a few rounds into the woods. Instantly, Rebel troops, lying in wait, fired back and the Union troops took cover. Were it not for Old Abe's warning, the Union soldiers would have walked into a trap and been massacred.
Thereafter, whenever his regiment fought, Old Abe appeared and his troops were always victorious. The eagle became such a symbol that Confederate General Major Sterling Price once remarked that he would “rather kill or capture the eagle than take a whole brigade.”
Finally old Abe was wounded and the “Yankee Buzzard,” as the Confederates called him, became part of the North's public relations campaign. Old Abe traveled around the United States and was a featured attraction at parades and patriotic events. When his local regiment returned home to Wisconsin after the war, a banquet was held in the State Capitol building with Old Abe as the guest of honor.
For the last fifteen years of his life, Old Abe lived in a cage in the Capitol Building of Madison, Wisconsin. One day, a fire broke out in the building and he roused the watchman by banging his tin cup against his cage. Again Abe had been a hero. Although his warning was enough to save the building, the watchman forgot the bird in the excitement of the fire and Old Abe died of smoke inhalation.
“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of the whole human being.”
—Abraham Lincoln
“I wish people would realize that animals are totally dependent on us, helpless, like children; a trust that is put upon us.”
—James Herriot
The dogs of the neighborhood were apparently not on guard duty this particular day. Indeed, the one animal that was making a fuss about whatever was going on across the street was a cat named Emily.
She paced back and forth in the front room window, growling ominously to signal that something, in her opinion, was very wrong. Drawn by her vocalizations, Emily's family looked across the city street just in time to see a burglar climbing in a neighbor's window. Emily's family alerted the police, the man was apprehended, and all was well.
When he dined, Winston Churchill would have his servants bring his cat Jock to the table to share dinner. Churchill considered Jock one of his more agreeable dining companions.
While collecting specimens of birds, a naturalist named George Romanes shot a tern, which fell into the sea. At once, other terns gathered around the fallen bird, “manifesting much apparent solicitude, as terns and gulls always do under such circumstances.”
The wounded bird began drifting toward the shore accompanied by his companions. Edward walked towards the downed bird to collect it. To his utter shock, two of the attendant terns grasped the wounded bird, one tern holding each wing, and lifted him out of the water. The two terns began to carry the injured bird towards the sea. They carried him about seven yards and carefully set him down again, where he was then taken up again by a fresh pair of birds and carried a little farther. In this way, the terns continued to carry the injured bird alternately, until they had brought him to a sea rock at some distance from the human attacker.
Shaking his head, the man started toward the bird again with the intention of capturing it. To his surprise, a great swarm of birds descended in front of him, obstructing his path. As he pushed through the birds, getting closer to the rock, he watched as two birds again took hold of the wounded bird's wings and carried him out to sea, far beyond the man's reach.
“This, had I been so inclined,” Romanes wrote, “I could no doubt have prevented. Under the circumstances, however, my feelings would not permit me; and I willingly allowed them to perform an act of mercy which man himself need not be ashamed to imitate.”
“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
—Henry Beston
ways to return the kindness
If you have an animal that plays in your backyard, try planting the herbs pennyroyal, rosemary, fennel and rue along with eucalyptus trees to act as a natural flea repellent. Not only will it help keep your backyard free of fleas, but when your animal sleeps or lies in these herbs, the oils will discourage any fleas from staying in their fur.
Birds frequently fly into large picture windows and injure themselves. You can help prevent this by placing cut-out silhouettes of hawks in your window. The birds know instinctively to fear the hawk shape and won't fly near it. Streamers and chimes can also be used.
If you live near a dog that barks a lot, it might just be lonely. Some people acquire dogs and then do not pay proper attention to them. Speaking politely to the person in charge, ask if you can walk the dog occasionally. Then introduce yourself to the dog and walk it and play with it as often as you can. Remember to keep your commitment once you start, as you will become a center of the dog's life. Of course, real neglect is against the law and should be reported to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
Cap your chimney so small animals do not fall in.
If you find a baby bird on the ground, do not immediately assume it has fallen out of its nest. If it has feathers it is a fledgling and this may just be a normal part of its learning to fly. If there are no cats or other predators around, one thing you can do is place nesting materials in a box, nail it securely to a tree and place the little bird in it. Watch to see if the mother bird comes for it and make certain it is not in danger. Under no circumstances should you toss it into the air to “help” it fly. Call your local Native Animal Rescue for advice if you need it. If they're not in the phone book, you can get their number from your local SPCA. Mealworms or baby food run through a blender are usually safe bets for feeding.
At the end of every circus performance at the Wirth circus in Australia, all the animals were marched around the ring for the Parade of Animals. Elephants, big cats, playful seals, and other large animals strutted around the circus floor. It was a majestic moment, most impressive to everyone—only this day something went wrong.
A little girl, drawn by the color and excitement of the procession, had wandered out of the stands and down to the ring. Her mother screamed in horror as she saw her child, who had been sitting next to her, approaching the huge animals where she would surely be trampled to death or, perhaps, eaten before her very eyes.
As the crowd held its breath, Alice, the circus' most famous elephant, stepped forward and gently picked the child up with her trunk. Gracefully, as she had held so many circus performers before, Alice delivered the child safely back to her mother's arms.
Alice was a very intelligent elephant who became legendary for her long lifetime of heroism and remarkable adventures. Born about 1850, Alice was raised in Burma where she hauled logs, until she was sold to the Wirth circus. Once, while Alice was moving circus wagons (elephants were always used to carry the really heavy equipment), she saw a team of bulls trying to pull a wagon stuck on train tracks. An express train was due in a few minutes; if the wagon were still on the tracks, a tragedy would occur. But no matter how hard the bulls pulled, their strength was not enough to dislodge