Once a popular racing purebred, Waco Hanover now spends his free time hanging out with his best human friend Donnie. By day Donnie manages a state information center in Vermont where he deals with a lot of people but can’t wait to get off work to spend time with Waco – he even lives in an apartment above the stables so the two could be considered roommates. 

 For the past eight years Donnie’s downtime has been utterly devoted to Waco.

  The companions have got each other through tough times with Donnie crediting Waco for helping him recover from a heart attack. 

  “I couldn’t carry a five-gallon bucket of water, because it was too physically stressful,” but Waco helped him recover and now a five-pound pail is no problem. 

 When Donnie first met Waco in 2008 he didn’t have much of an appetite. “I wanted to dig a hole, because I didn’t think he’d make it through the winter,” he said, as per CBS News. But it turned out this tough old horse wasn’t sick, he was just lonely. 

  “I just talked to him one day for about a half an hour and got him to accept the fact that I ain’t goin’ anywhere, I’m your buddy. It’s been going on now for eight years.” 

 Now the two love to hang out and eat animal crackers. Donnie is even credited for the horse’s longevity – Waco celebrated his 40th birthday in 2017 – that’s 120 in human years. “There were times in the wintertime when I’d walk into the barn, walk down there, just lean on the stall front. He would put his head on my shoulder and just chew, just chew, and just calm me down,” Donnie told CBS News. 

 Sadly this loyal horse passed away in 2019 aged 42 years old. Donnie wrote a tribute to his companion announcing the sad news: 

“My best friend, therapist, sounding board and within the last few years a camera slut Waco has passed away. “I never thought a damn horse would become such a good companion. He was and more.” Animals have such a wonderful ability to change our lives, they give more than most of us can imagine. Such an incredible horse. Rest in peace Waco. 

 Donnie and Waco were so lucky to have found each other and spend the many years they did together.
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 Most pets are buried with a simple grave marker with their name. But a dog named Rex, buried at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery over 100 years ago, has a plot that really catches the eye: He has his own bronze statue!

  That’s quite an honor, and it’s clear Rex was very much loved in his time and meant a lot to his family. He is believed to have belonged to a fruit merchant named John E. Stow, who died in 1884. But while Rex, and all those who knew him, are long gone now, this dog’s gravesite still gets plenty of love from visitors. 

  “When it comes to Rex, he obviously stands out,” Stacy Locke, the communications manager for Green-Wood Cemetery, told The Dodo. 

  “People see him from the road — it’s sort of a prominent spot, right off of the intersection of two roads here.” And now, a heartwarming tradition has formed at Rex’s statue: people leave sticks in front of him!

In Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn there is a gravestone for a dog named Rex. People bring him sticks and place them at his feet because he is still a good boy. cc: @dog_rates pic.twitter.com/0GhxcZwjSz

— Kevin T. Morales (@KevinTMorales) August 2, 2020

For local dog lovers, Rex’s statue has become something of a shrine representing dogs everywhere, where people go to memorialize their own deceased pets. 

"People will drop a stick across his little paws,” Stacy said. “Someone also left a picture of a dog there once, maybe their little pet who passed away, as to say, ‘Rex, look after my little one.’”

She tells The Dodo that there is another dog statue in the cemetery where its custom for people to leave dog toys.
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In fact his sculptures looks so realistic, people often mistakes them for real animals. Everybody, meet Andoni Bastarrika – one of the most talented sand sculptures in the whole world! Though his job had nothing to do with sculpture, neither his studies, Bastarrika discovered this passion for sand carving, by accident, roughly a decade ago, while visiting one of the beaches in his homeland in the Basque region of Spain. 

He was at the beach with his two daughters, when he decided to model a tiny mermaid in sand. He realized straight away, he was gifted with some divine talent. My both hands were looking like they knew what they were doing,” Bastarrika shared with the Bored Panda. “I devoted myself to developing this gift and have spent the last 10 years doing just that.” From that moment, Bastarrika never give up to his passion. 

In fact he started t dedicate much of his time visiting the sandy beaches in the northwestern Spain, to create very unique sculptures. All masterpieces! “The sand fascinates me because no matter how you look at it, it will always teach you things if you are willing to learn,” the gifted artist wrote on Facebook. 

“In order to create a sculpture, an unthinkable number of sand particles participate, hugging each other tightly through humidity, so that someone could model their union. And once the artist steps back, its piece will remain at the mercy of nature, meaning that sooner or later the wind will dry them up and release each particle, slowly consuming all the individuality and authenticity.” 

 Most of Bastarrika’s work is inspired by the animal world. He’s actually so talented, his three-dimensional sculptures look unbelievably realistic. His real-sized masterpieces seems they’re just taking a nap on the sand, that’s how good he is. “There are a lot of reasons why I like to make animal sculptures as well, but one is the fact that animals are free spirits,” the artist explained. “And I embrace their freedom, power, and wisdom through beauty.” 

 Depending on the model, Bastarrika works from from a few hours, to even a couple of days. 

“The time it takes to create one piece largely depends on its size,” he said. “The elephant, for example, took me 2 days, while the horse and the bison took 12 hours each. The dogs, which were smaller, needed about 6 to 8 hours.” Take a look at his work of art! h.t: facebook|instagram Source

 When Michael Austin, his wife Emmily and their newborn baby decided to pay a visit to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, they never thought they will experience one of the most touching encounters a human being and a wild creature could ever have. 

“When I walked into the zoo that day, I never could’ve imagined that we’d have this experience,” Emmily said. When they got close to Kiki’s enclosure – an endangered Western Lowland gorilla – they had quite an experience. The young family spotted the gorilla in her 7-month-old son’s company, so they stopped for a moment. 

It did not took too long until Kiki and her baby Pablo approached their visitor, but what happened next goes beyond any imagination. 

  “My wife held up our son to show to Kiki,” Michael shared with THE DODO. “Then she [the gorilla] grabbed Pablo and put him on her leg to carry him over to us.” The two mothers then had this magical interaction that lasted a few minutes. And all this time, they seem to speak the same language. It was a really special and intense bond. Michael also caught on his cellphone the moment and the footage went viral. 

  “It was one of the most amazing experiences,” Michael recalls. “Kiki was talking to us with her hands. Pablo even pushed his face up to the glass at one point and they watched him, noses touching, together. My wife and I both had tears in our eyes.” 

 Watch the beautiful moment here:

 
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