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Rescue Pup Becomes Best Friends With Rescue Pigeon

Rescue Pup Becomes Best Friends With Rescue Pigeon

The two-month-old Chihuahua puppy has mobility problems and has befriended the rescue's oldest member - Herman the pigeon

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

A pigeon that can't fly and a puppy that can't walk have formed an adorable relationship at the rescue where they met:

Two-month-old Chihuahua puppy Lundy arrived at the New York-based animal rescue The Mia Foundation in January 2020, from a North Carolina breeder who had noticed the small dog had issues walking.

Lundy, who has mobility problems likely linked to spinal cord damage, quickly became friends with one of the rescue's oldest residents, a pigeon called Herman.

The two animals are now inseparable and are often caught by The Mia Foundation's founder, Sue Rogers, cuddling together at the rescue's facilities.

Lundy and Herman melting our ice cold hearts.
Caters

Sue said: "I set Herman on a dog bed and started caring for Lundy, and I decided to carefully put Lundy in the same dog bed next to him. They started interacting immediately in a very cute way."

While Herman is a permanent resident at The Mia Foundation, Sue's goal is to fix Lundy's mobility issue with the help of a wheelchair and find an adoptive family for him.

Oh you guys.
Caters

Sue said: "Lundy weighs only one pound now, so we will have to wait for the chair."

This is a typical case for Sue, who has dedicated her time to helping pets born with birth defects, many of whom would have been euthanised without her intervention.

Sue said: "Our main goal is to take in animals born with birth defects. But people also bring us injured birds and squirrels sometimes."

This cheetah is being given emotional support from a dog.
Turtle Back Zoo/Facebook

Two animals that share similarities with Lundy and Herman are shy cheetah Nandi and emotional support dog Bowie, who helps to ease Nandi's anxiety when her environment is getting a little too hectic.

They've since become best friends and are now a big attraction at Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey, with Charlotte Trapman-O'Brien telling CBS: "Bowie has a very important job here, which is to be, kind of, her confidence builder.

"So cheetahs are naturally skittish by nature, so one of the things that allows us to bring her out and do educational presentations like this is having Bowie by her side."

Bowie and Nandi.
CBS

Bowie has been given the same training as a therapy dog, meaning he is best placed to look out for any signs of distress. His training might have been adapted slightly from a human to suit a cheetah.

Trainer Samantha Wegman also told CBS: "We do need him to be calm. That's his whole job with the cheetah. So no matter what else is going on, if something startles her, she needs to look to him, and he needs to be calm.

"So he's been exposed to a lot of different environments. Part of the reason he comes home with us at night is to get him exposed to all different scenarios: Car rides, honking cars."

Right, enough now - this is too much for a Monday.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Community, Animals