Photo: Ferg Horn via Associated Press
Two rabbits sat on the back of sheep to avoid rising flood waters on a farm near Dunedin, New Zealand, in July.
As we have all seen recently, a silver lining to hurricane devastation is that people who otherwise would never meet reach out instinctively to help each other in the rising waters.
Here is a story of animals helping other animals, albeit unwittingly. It took place in New Zealand, before either Hurricane Harvey or Irma.
As Nick Perry reported at the Boston Globe, “Three wild rabbits managed to escape rising floodwaters in New Zealand by clambering aboard sheep and surfing to safety on their backs.
“Ferg Horne, 64, says he’s been farming since he left school at age 15 and has never seen anything quite like it.
“He was trudging through pelting rain to rescue a neighbor’s 40 sheep from the floodwaters [at] their South Island farm near Dunedin when he spotted some dark shapes from a distance.
“He was puzzled because he knew his neighbor, who was away in Russia attending a nephew’s wedding, didn’t have any black-faced sheep. As he got closer, he thought it might be debris from the storm, which had drenched the area and forced Horne to evacuate his home.
“Then he saw the bedraggled rabbits hitching a ride — two on one sheep and a third on another sheep.
‘‘ ‘I couldn’t believe it for a start,’ he said.
“Nobody else would believe him either without proof, he thought, so he got out his phone to take a photo, an image he figured his grandchildren would enjoy. In fact, he inadvertently shot a short video. …
“Horne herded the sheep to a patch of dry ground on the farm about 50 meters (164 feet) away. The sheep didn’t like it.
‘‘ ‘As they jumped through the water, the rabbits had a jolly good try at staying on,’’ Horne said.
“He said the rabbits appeared to cling onto the wool with their paws. As they approached the higher ground, the rabbits fell off but managed to climb a hedge to safety.”
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Resourceful rabbits and cooperative sheep!
As the waters rise, it won’t be just people that need a little help.
What a lucky fella to have seen that! A magical moment
The article made a point of the grandpa not knowing how to use a phone camera or social media. I left that out because as an old person, I tire of the stereotype.
What a charming and interesting story! One of the things I enjoy most about being online–email and FaceBook for me–is the documented, often videotaped, reports of interspecific relationships: friendly, playful, sometimes lifesaving–that none of us would find believable if we were not seeing it with our own eyes! Two of my favorites: Mother cat and ducklings, and puppy and turtle playing ball!
Yes, those videos are definitely one of the compensations for all the unwanted clutter on FB. So endearing. Makes you want to say to your own species, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
I have to admit that, during floods and hurricanes and wildfires, I sometimes find myself worrying more about animals than people–this is the sort of story that makes me feel better!
Animals have good self-preservation instincts.