Stories of pet companionship can be so endearing. Really nice to hear this one – thanks for sharing it.
Something about rescuing an animal that has a decent amount of intelligence… like a cat, dog, bird… it amazes me how some can show what appears to be serious appreciation. Like they know you helped them and won’t forget it. I’ve seen videos of people experiencing this with horses, deer, racoons, and even squirrels.
I mentioned earlier about my housemate’s 3 birds. They’re really amazing creatures. But rather fragile. When you’re used to dogs and cats, the instinct is to want to pet and hug them. Birds don’t mind a little stroking, but it’s really not their thing (with few exceptions). I was away for a while during the summer and when I returned the young parrot who talks was so excited. He did his happy “prepping for flight” movement then flapped his wings as I approached and blurted out “HELLO LOVE BUG!” “WHAT DID YOU DO? WHAT’S GOING ON?” It’s so cool and weird having a pet talk to you in your native tongue.
My wife used to live in the countryside of Tuscany before moving to Trieste, and every time she got out in the evening, and had to get back home in the middle of the night after some disco time, or just a dinner with friends, she slowed down the car and drove super-carefully to avoid hitting some hedgehogs — especially the mothers with their children.
[And when I went to her place for a visit, and I chaperoned her around, I got seriously scolded a couple of times, as I was told I was driving too fast at points along the road where the probability of a hit-and-run was higher. Fortunately, I never damaged anything, and maybe once I simply stopped and turned off the engine to let some wild animals cross the road.]
Hedgehogs are super-cute and graceful, and always remind me of an episode of an anime titled “The hedgehog dilemma”, which I found was one of the greatest titles ever — I think it’s a reference to Schopenhauer or Kierkegaard…
And thank you for the story of your wife and her care for the hedgehogs. This is great to hear!
Thank you also for mentioning the hedgehog’s dillema (it’s from Schopenhauer).
And while I’m writing this – it’s about half past five in the morning – we have two guests on the terrace who are nibbling on the food I’ve just put outsid (but both are very heavy and should have no problems in winter).
