The story of Sha'Kyra Aughtry saving Joe, a mentally disabled man, from the snowstorm, which first surfaced on the SweetBuffalo716 blog's Facebook page, has captivated people all around Upstate New York and the world. Aughtry overheard Joe in distress and pleading for assistance. They found Joe and carried him out of the snow bank and into their home early on Saturday, Christmas Eve, with the aid of her boyfriend. 

“During the blizzard, he must have gotten disoriented and he ended up North of where he lives. He didn’t have his gloves with him and with the windchills being what they were, his skin was burning and he was in real rough shape and he was crying,” said Ray Barker, program director at North Park Theatre, where Joe works as a janitor, according to The Washington Post.

  Joe has worked as the custodian at the Hertel Avenue landmark in Western New York for almost 40 years. His sister, Yvonne White believes he went there on Thursday, was afraid, remained overnight, and then decided to return home. 

Aughtry, a mother of three, had to carefully remove Joe's frozen garments from his body, cutting his socks off and ripping the straps of a Wegman's bag from his seriously frostbitten hands. She removed his clothes, which were adhered to his flesh, using a hairdryer. 

Aughtry washed him up, fed him, and wrapped him in warm blankets after removing his icy clothes.

  She put all other holiday plans on hold and did everything she could to make him feel at ease. Aughtry phoned his sister, Joe's only surviving family. “Hi, you don’t know me but I have your brother,” Aughtry reportedly said to Joe’s sister. 

Aughtry FaceTimed Joe at her house to distract himself from the discomfort he was still feeling from the frostbite. Meanwhile, she was aware that his hands need the attention of medical specialists. It was then up to them to figure out how to get Joe assistance in the midst of a terrible blizzard that had buried most roads and snowed in inhabitants. Many emergency services were unavailable, according to Barker. 

Two days passed before Aughtry was able to arrange transportation for Joe to the Erie County Medical Center. 

Aughtry posted a frantic call on Facebook, and wonderful Samaritans arrived, plowed, and lifted Joe to their truck, where he was transported to ECMC. She was said to have ridden with Joe to the hospital. Joe is still in the burn unit at the ECMC, recuperating from fourth-degree frostbite. Barker called Joe in the hospital on December 26. “He was in good spirits and his voice was strong,” Barker said.

 

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“I think he’s very fortunate he bumped into someone who was a compassionate soul, and I think it goes to show that there are kind people of goodwill everywhere in every neighborhood and in every walk of life,” Barker said. 

“She went above and beyond what a lot of people would do. It could have been a very tragic situation. She saved his life.” 

Joe, the longest-serving North Park employee, was employed in 1980, according to Barker. He has known White for almost 30 years while working there. Joe's life, he says, centers on the movie theatre, which provides him with a regular routine. 

The North Park Theatre has set up two GoFundMe pages to aid Joe and to thank Sha'Kyra Aughtry for her generosity. Joe's Support Fund will not only assist with medical expenditures, but any cash left over will be used to improve his day-to-day care at home.
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Turbo was born with a congenital defect, two luxating patellae, which left him with very limited mobility in his back two legs. 

This caused the sweet mini horse to walk in a hunched manner forcing all of his weight on his front legs. Turbo’s owners contacted Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary (R2RAS) of North Haven, Connecticut for help. 

The non-profit organization was started by Megan Pereira who got tired of seeing so many farm animals euthanized while working as an animal vet tech. Her sanctuary gives them a place where they could live out their days. 

“I lean towards the special needs ones, the broken ones, the really medical intensive cases,” Megan told Walkin’ Pets.

  Megan had helped out a goat named Peaches who got around with a wheelchair, so she figured she could help Turbo and took him in. 

After learning about Turbo’s story, the New Hampshire-based Walkin’ Pets mobility company decided to donate a wheelchair for Turbo. 

Turbo wasn’t even strapped in before he took off running before they even had him fully strapped into his new wheelchair.

 

“Seeing Turbo ‘walk’ before any assistance and dragging his legs, to being in his cart – I almost started crying. I am not a crier, but I almost started crying. He was running, bucking – it was all very exciting,” said Megan. 

He has an entirely different spirit about him when he’s moving along in that wheelchair. It’s a definite spirit of joy. Megan hopes that Turbo’s story will encourage others to rescue animals with special needs.

 

“It’s definitely a road worth traveling – they really make a special place in your heart,” Megan said. But Turbo needed more help than he could get from a wheelchair. The mini horse, who Megan refers to as her “unicorn,” also needed surgery on his legs. 

“My sweet little unicorn is out of surgery. He had surgery yesterday on his first leg, and today he had his second leg done & is doing very well post-op. As always, with any surgery, there is a risk of post-op complications. He is nowhere out of the woods yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic!” she wrote on Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary’s Facebook page. The non-profit is hoping that people will donate to help cover the costs of his surgery. Donations can be made here and will go toward funding Turbos’s surgery and helping the other animals at Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary. 

The sanctuary, which rests on 10 acres of land, has so far rescued 70 animals since 2020. Learn more about Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary here. 

Watch Turbo take his first happy steps in his wheelchair in the video below.

 
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The ants seem to be throwing what looks like a funeral for a bumblebee. The video shows a bumble bee sitting on some gravel and surrounded by pinkish-purple flower petals. Then you see some petals inching toward the bee. 

That’s when you realize there are ants carrying the flower petals to the deceased bee. 

“This video was taken outside of my work by the garden. There was a dead bumblebee and the ants were bringing flower petals to lay around him. It looked like some sort of bee funeral,” Nicole Webinger wrote on Facebook. Webinger, who works in Stillwater, Minnesota, was shocked by the display. So, was the rest of the internet. Her video ended up going viral. 

Apparently, it’s not the first time some ants have thrown a bee a funeral.

I have put Twitter back on my phone specifically to show you these circular arrangements of petals i found around multiple dead bees. if you are a scientist who knows what the hell is going on here, please tell me! pic.twitter.com/h3D8u89WxG

— sophie klahr (@sophieklahr) August 28, 2022

Twitter user Sophia Klahr posted photos on Twitter showing circular floral arrangments around a few dead bees with yellow flower petals. 

“I have put Twitter back on my phone specifically to show you these circular arrangements of petals i found around multiple dead bees. If you are a scientist who knows what the hell is going on here, please tell me!” she wrote in her post. 

 According to IFL Science, the ants aren’t “giving the bees a dignified send-off.” “Ants live in complex colonies and use a variety of pheromones to communicate. This can be for a walking trail, to alert other ants of danger, or even just to let them know they’ve died and everyone else should probably watch out for dying, too,” IFL Science writes. “It figures, then, that they’d be sensitive to the chemical signaling of other animals.” “In the case of these dead bees, it’s not known why they died – but their corpses are likely sending the ants some kind of message, and so it’s possible their floristry is a response to this.” The ants might also see the bees as their next meal. Putting the flower petals over the bees might be an attempt to cover their meal, so other scavengers don’t get it. 

Another theory is that the bees emitted a signal that the ants should tidy up. Ants love to clean and practice necrophoresis to keep their colony areas tidy. 

“As an adaptation that lessens the spread of pathogens, necrophoresis sees the ants gather their smelly dead and carry them away to a dedicated tomb. Some colonies even have specialized undertaker ants for the job.” 

The ants could be performing the same task but with bees – covering up the corpse would prevent it from attracting attention. We still think it’s an ant funeral though. Check out the ant funeral below.

 
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Meet Lala, an adorable King penguin who was living for years with a Japanese family in Shibushi City. Lala was reportedly rescued by the family in 1996 after he was caught and injured in a fishing net. They took him in, nursed him back to health, and even gave him an air-conditioned room. At that time, the penguin had gotten too attached to the family and refused to leave, so they decided to keep him as a pet. They did everything they could to make sure he would have a comfortable life. Many journalists from around the world got in touch with the family to interview them. In 2006, when Lala was around 10 years old, Real TV made a short documentary about his life. 

In the document, he spent his days living in his own air-conditioned room and roamed around the streets of his town. After the family took him to the market for the first time, Lala kept wanting to go back (naturally). 

They noticed he liked to walk and is smart, so the family taught him to wear a tiny backpack and walk alone to the market to get her favorite meal. When Lala hit the road with his backpack on, his favorite destination was the fish store. He bought his own fish there, and brought some home to eat. 

Clearly, the image of a penguin wandering around with his tiny backpack is something you don’t see every day. Lala loved nothing more than to strap on his penguin-shaped backpack and went to the market for some sardines and mackerel every day. 

He also loved his family and his air-conditioned room. Sadly, Lala has already passed away but the memory of him is still alive today. Watch his hilarious shopping routine and his memory in the video below:

 
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We often hear stories of dogs being used to relax and destress patients in hospitals.. However, nobody has ever heard of a horse serving as a therapy buddy to help people cope with loneliness and pain in hospitals. 

Peyo, a 15-year-old stallion makes rounds at the French hospital in Calais during the day. He comforts cancer patients who are nearing the end of their lives, per My Modern Met.

 

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Peyo was initially prepared to compete in equestrian competitions, but as time went on, his handler Hassen Bouchakour started to see that his horse had a different purpose. Peyo would single out specific individuals in a gathering after performances and stick beside them. 

Later, Bouchakour understood why he kept picking people who were ill—either physically or mentally. The trainer chose to embrace Peyo's unique skill in order to assist people in need, giving up his job as a showman in the process. Currently, Bouchakour is working with the therapeutic group Les Sabots du Coeur (the clogs of the heart), which is researching Peyo's amazing skills. 

They are particularly curious about how a meeting with Peyo may drastically lessen patients' pain to the point where they no longer need heavy medications.

 

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Bouchakour told Inspire More, "I am to some extent this horse’s collateral damage, I didn’t ask for this. It took me a while to accept it. It put an end to my successful career as a sportsman, and as a showman." 

Bouchakour and Peyo started volunteering at Calais Hospital in 2016 and now visit patients in the palliative care section practically every day. Due to his refined abilities, the horse is now known as "Doctor Peyo." By standing by their door and lifting one leg, the former show horse signals to his handler which patients want attention. 

Bouchakour added, "It was very complicated to no longer be the master, and to be forced to admit that when Peyo detects someone is sick, I am no longer in control. When he decides, I cannot hold him back, it’s a need, it’s visceral, it is in him, he needs to go, and cling on to the specific person he has chosen."

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Everyone at the hospital loves Peyo, including the staff and patients, but he is especially helpful when a patient is reaching the end of their life. They enjoy their last moments with Peyo and have a more peaceful death because of him. 

Since hospitals are sterile places, Bouchakour must spend around two hours getting Peyo ready for each visit. He cleans him carefully using disinfectant wipes and he has even taught Peyo to signal when he has to use the restroom. The horse signals to Bouchakour that he needs to be taken outdoors by shifting his body from side to side. 

Hassen said, "With Peyo, we try to recreate life at the end of life, in order to fight, and create an energy to accompany families and caregivers. I accompany him but I let him do what he wants, he’s the one who decides." 

Peyo has helped more than a thousand individuals during their last hours since he started working as a therapy horse. 

Moreover, he is a true friend of his handler as Bouchakour explains, "Peyo is my other half, he is my life partner. He is everything to me."
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  The hardy gray feline, named Dymka (“mist” in Russian), is about 4 years old. A passing driver found her in December 2018 in the snow in Novokuznetsk in Siberia and brought her to a clinic in Novosibirsk, according to Russian news site Komsomolskaya Pravda. 

“You can always pick her out of Taz’s family group because of the unique pink pigmentation on her fingers,” says Zoo Atlanta. It’s the pink coloration of Anaka’s hands that also make her appear much more human than her counterparts. 

Photos of Anaka, taken at her 6th birthday celebration at the zoo, have been drawing attention from across the internet. In particular, the close-up view of her pink fingers have gone viral. According to the zoo, Anaka is a grandchild of the legendary late Willie B., Anaka, and the 22nd gorilla born in The Ford African Rain Forest. 

“She has a unique pink and white pigmentation in her fingers and a very unique personality, often barking at her mom and others to get a prime spot for food and juice,” the zoo states on its website. 

“She is often seen riding piggyback on her brother and sisters.” Gorillas already share a lot in common with humans, both having opposable thumbs, unique finger and toe prints, and nails instead of claws. 

Both humans and gorillas walk upright, and use tools to simplify complex tasks. The zoo says that Anaka’s lighter pigmentation is the result of a birthmark. It’s actually not vitiligo, as some have questioned. Moreover, Anaka is the only one in her family with this unique feature.
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Although they are not the most common pets, people who have one are typically incredibly happy having these pigs around.

 

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One example is a pig named Blueberry who was found to have such a huge personality that it’s hard to resist him. 

Blueberry was taken away from his mother at the very young age of 3 days old. When they found him, he was extremely underweight at 2 and a half pounds.

 

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He was kept crated all alone. The moment they gave him food, he didn’t hesitate. He just dove in and ate all that he could. He was incredibly hungry.

 

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Blueberry was then taken to Tiny Hooves, a farm sanctuary, where the tiny pig got a thorough examination to check his overall health. His ear was bitten off. 

It created a deformity and they fondly call it the “little Nemo fin” now. Blueberry also adjusted quickly. As early as two days, the tiny thing was wagging his tail. It was just the cutest thing.