Feel-good animal stories that are tugging at people’s heartstrings

Below are some stories of heart-warming animal compassion that are being shared all over the world at the moment.

Animal stories we all need to hear

A free diver is saved by a Beluga whale

Yang Yun, a free diver, developed cramps in her legs at a depth of 20 feet below the surface of an arctic pool and was unable to return to the surface.

She thought her life was coming to an end when she started choking and sinking even deeper. Her feelings of panic turned to astonishment when she suddenly felt herself being pushed to the surface by some extraordinary force.

Her saviour was Mila, a Beluga whale, who sensed that Yang Yun was in some kind of trouble and wasted no time in quickly pushing the diver back to the surface of the pool where she was able to breathe again and lives to tell this incredible tale.

Dog comforts a crying stranger

You may be quite right in thinking that your dog actually cares about your feelings. Scientists conducted a recent animal behaviour study, to find out the reaction of a few dogs to human emotional displays.

During the study, each dog was put in a room with its owner as well as a stranger. It was natural that the dog stayed by its owner of course. The other person in the room would talk to the dog to get its attention, with the scientists making notes of the dog’s reaction. The dog ignored the stranger’s efforts to get its attention. However, when the stranger pretended to be crying, the dog quickly left its owners side and went to the stranger, licking his face and nuzzling him.

All the dogs participating in the study had the same reaction as soon as the strangers in the room with them showed signs of being upset. The scientists studied the behaviour of the dogs with different human emotions and found that they reacted the most to human sadness.

A little girl is saved by a pride of lions

In Ethiopia, a little girl of 12 was dragged into the bush and beaten mercilessly by seven men.

A pride of lions lying nearby, heard her screams and rushed to help her. The men of course, ran away as soon as the lions started attacking them, which saved the little girl from being raped and forced into an unwanted marriage.

Knowing that a pride of lions went so far as to rescue a human being is itself an incredible story, but the fact that they stayed with the little girl for around 12 hours longer, without harming her, until her family found her and were able to take her home again, is absolutely astounding.

Although animals are unable to speak, there is little doubt that they can communicate with humans in many other ways. Without uttering one word, they show us love, happiness, anger and of course, compassion when we or another animal — even one that is of another species, is showing signs of being unhappy.

Also read: ADI’s mission to rescue 17 circus animals in Guatemala and bring them to SA

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