Animal 'king'dom

When someone says, ‘you are behaving like an animal’, I suggest you take it as a huge compliment.

Long back, Mark Twain said something very pertinent – “I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the ‘lower animals’ (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.”

There have been many incidents in the past to prove that and many in the recent times, too. How even the most cruel and deadliest creatures understand what mutual co-existence is and what extending help during troubled times all about is proved beyond doubt through few amazing incidents.  Seems we humans, who can boast of higher levels of everything compared to animals must learn a lesson or two from them.This incident occurred in Punjab. Two puppies fell into a well. Their mother ran near the well, started barking and attracted the attention of the owner, who looked inside and to his surprise there was a king cobra at the bottom, which didn’t pose any threat to the puppies. Moreover, the reptile, looked after the puppies, by not allowing them to cross to the other side, where they could possibly drown, when the well is filled with water.In general, they spent around 48 hours together at the bottom and in these hours, the cobra sat quietly next to them. When help finally arrived from the forest department, the cobra slithered to the other end of the well. The puppies were not injured at all and the reptile was immediately taken into the woods and was released into the wild.

It is not about animals coming to rescue and help just their own sorority; animals have rescued humans too from very dangerous situations.A 3-year-old boy, enjoying his time in a zoo in Illinois, accidentally fell over the fence right into the gorilla enclosure. The 18-foot drop left him unconscious and with a critical head injury. Since gorillas can be dangerously fussy with their territory, the police were barred from immediate action, not wanting to stir up a fight between a group of police and a herd of gorillas. So, with a child in need and no help in sight, crucial time was running out, when one gorilla stepped in and came to the boy’s rescue. She cradled him in her arms and then brought him to the enclosure door, where paramedics could get to him. The police and staff acknowledged – but for that timely help by the gorilla the situation could have been very grave.

Another king-size incident: it’s about a 12-year-old Kenyan girl who had been abducted by several men. When police found her after one week, to their astonishment, they found her surrounded by three lions which apparently chased away her captors (or maimed them) and had been guarding her since then, till the police arrived. It is still a mystery how the lions understood the situation and came to the girl’s rescue. The lions truly had king-sized hearts not to make a meal of that girl, but to protect her from danger. There is a possibility that the lions may have taken the moans and tears of the girl as the mews of their own cubs…whatever be the reason, they helped a girl in distress and saved her in more ways than one.How I wish such ‘lions’ roam the streets, ready to pounce on human predators who rape women?