Here are several stories of animal rescue, rehabilitation and heart warming tales of the relationship between man and animals. The first is a story of Australian Cockatoos. I remember owning a cockatoo in Australia called Snowball. Snowball would chase me around the kitchen. Check back often for updates. Let me know if you have a story to share...
A Tale of Two Cockies(Australian Cockatoos) | | 
| | A Story of Love, Compassion, Friendship & Loyalty
About eight years ago a wild Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo flew into a car and broke its wing. The motorist took it to the Vet in Nerang, Queensland, who had to amputate the wing. We adopted her - for which we needed a National Parks and Wildlife permit - and kept her in a cage outside where she was often visited by wild Cockatoos. One of the things that impressed us was how she would push lettuce leaves through the bars of the cage, offering food to visitors.
Last Sunday 23 July 2006, she again had a visitor.
As usual he spent a lot of time sitting on the cage with a tamper proof latch.
There was a lot of talking and grooming. A bloke has to look presentable when courting a bird!
Things got interesting when he approached the front door. . ..
The clever fellow figured out how to undo the tamper proof latch!
He opened the door for a lot of mutual grooming and food sharing...
Oooh that's nice! Scratch a bit more on that side, dear...
He was not shy to get into the cage and would go in and out a number of times.
They mated! We are looking forward to beautiful baby cockatoos. Will keep you posted.
Later on, the whole extended family came visiting but the special mate was back every day so far.
We leave the door open during the day but if we forget, it doesn't matter - cockatoos have intelligence that rival primates. Because she has only one wing, she stays inside or just sits on top. Guess what happened next... The Babies
At first it seemed as though he was annoyed because she did not fly off with him and he would squawk a lot. He soon came to understand that she could not fly so he just stayed. However, she was no longer returning to her cage. The two of them would stay in the trees in our garden and because the yard is well fenced, they were safe from dogs but the neighbor's cat is not kept indoors at night and we often have to chase it away. Chances are the cat would come off second best in a confrontation with a Cockatoo but at night cats remain a danger because they could stalk a sleeping bird on the ground.
Cockatoos make their nests in hollow logs but we noticed the male hard at work digging a hole under a clump of Lilly Pilly trees. We put down a hollow log for them but they just ignored us. The nest he dug was a hole with a short tunnel leading off to where she laid her eggs. Once there were eggs in the nest, the male became extremely aggressive. You better not get near the nest or he will take chunks of flesh from your foot. It was difficult to take these pictures because I literally had to steal them while running away from the male.
We kept a vigil to see how things were progressing. They took turns incubating the eggs and covering the tunnel. After about three weeks, the eggs hatched. Have a careful look at this picture and try to spot the bit of yellow fluff.
Whenever Mum & Dad Cockatoo leave the nest, we try to get a look but you have to do it while running because Dad Cockatoo is chasing you!
Second lap running around the Lilly Pilly trees!
Well, I hope his mother thinks he is pretty and eventually I might think so too but at the moment, both of them just look like pink balls with a bit of yellow fluff.
They are growing fast and if the Dad allows me, I'll try to get some more pictures as they grow up and share with you.
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A Bear in Clear Lake! This photo of a bear swimming in the lake. He was headed out to the middle of the lake and some jet skiers directed him towards land. Actually, towards the island I have for sale, so I’m hoping he’s not sitting there waiting for us when I show the island to a potential buyer. 
Talking Animals! I Come In Peace
German photographer Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay. 
The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs.
Christian the Lion 
This is the story of a lion raised in London. He outgrew his circumstance and was eventually matriculated in with a wild lion pride in Africa (documented in the video and book - Christian the Lion)
Check out this video of Christian (and friend) re-meeting his original caretakers after time in the wild!
Freedom the Eagle 
This story comes from a wildlife rescue center in Washington state...Jeff : When Freedom came into the shelter she could not stand. Both wings were broken, her left wing in 4 places. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks. This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her dowel cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day. We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us. In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again. Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone. Yahooooo! So the first thing I did was take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird. On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that. I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom's. Jeff
The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in...
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