friends

An incredible friendship between a man from Turkey and the swan he rescued has lasted for decades. 37 years ago, a now retired postman, Recep Mirzan, found a female swan who he later named Garip in Turkey's western Edirne province, and they have been friends ever since. 

As NEWS CHANNEL 3 reports, "Mirzan and a group of friends were taking a shortcut in their car when they noticed the swan, with a broken wing, in an empty field. Mirzan immediately took the swan in to protect her from predators and kept her in the car until that afternoon, when he was able to take the swan to his home." Ever since then, Garip has been living on Mirzan's farm in the Karaagac region near Greece. Whenever Garip is out of her pen, she accompanies Mirzan during his chores and evening walks. 

Read more about their heartwarming story and check out their even more heartwarming pictures below.

There is nothing more wholesome than animal showing love. There's never any agenda behind it, never any goal, nothing. Animals loving humans or animals loving each other is the purest thing in the world. 

Their love is earned in ways different than those of humans, and when you manage to get it, it is the best feeling in the world. And it is just as beautiful when animals accept each other: when your cat totally falls in love with the new kitten you bring home, when two lions give each other some cuddles, or when two different animals of entirely different species decide that being friends is much more fun than fighting.

Love is in the air, and it is all around us, so we're sharing some of it with you, 

Jody Fraser, whose love for animals is so big that she ended up having a mini farm right inside of her home, and two of the animals have - unexpectedly - become best friends. Her pig and her kitten are absolutely inseparable. 

Fraser lives just east of Calgary, after having moved to the countryside last year with her two cats, dog and turtle, as CBC reports, and since she had some more space, she decided to get some chickens as well. "So that was the beginning of my fascination with all of the animals," she told the Calgary Eyeopener. Around three months ago, Fraser added a pig to the collective. "He's just the nicest little crazy pig ever and very, very low maintenance," she said. "I've always just loved the pigs. So it's kind of funny how now I have my own." 

The animals living together under the same roof has inevitably brought them all closer, but two of them have become especially good buds." Wilbur the pot-bellied pig, who is now five-months-old, has become best buds with a new 12-week kitten named Billy," and they are too cute together.

"The two, just right from the beginning, became the best buddies ever. They just love each other. I'm not sure where it came from," Foster said. They sleep together and help clean each other. "The pig will clean the kitten, actually, and every once in a while you see the kitten actually cleaning the pig's ears. So it's kind of funny."

Their friendship has made Fraser rethink moving the pig out of the house. "I was only going to keep him in the house because he's still really little… but I was to put him outside in the spring," she said. "I'm hoping that I do decide to still do that, but he's become part of the family now, so I don't see him going outside." 

This little animal family keeps growing, and Foster is always interested in carefully expanding it even more. Follow Wilbur and Billy and their friendship on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok to see more of it. And for more wholesome animal friendships, read about this fox whose brother was run over befriending his human foster mom and two of her dogs. 

Pets. How different our lives are when we have a loving animal with us. You may not even realize it, but little things in your life are altered thanks to your adorable companion. One artist decided to explore what life would be like without a dog, and the exact same scenario with a dog. To take in the pup or say, "no, thank you," that is the question and will lead this character down two different timelines. The result? It's as clear as night and day.

The talented artist behind these powerful illustrations is Ademar Vieira. Ademar Vieira is a journalist, screenwriter, and illustrator. He works in an animation studio in Brazil and since 2018, he produces comic books in partnership with other illustrators and alone. In 2020, his comic strips, which talk about social, environmental, and personal issues, went viral in Latin America and other parts of the world.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these illustrations convey those thousand words. 

Follow Ademar Vieira on Instagram for more incredible and thought-provoking art! 

The dog is here to stay for now, and Earnie doesn't understand why and doesn't like it. He does still like the cuddles with the dog though. He just misses alone time with his humans.

Meowmoirs: The dog drank water from the toilet, and Earnie doesn't know how to handle it. 

Read about Earnie trying to get used to his new house companions who keep getting all the attention and leaving none of it for him. 

Read the previous entry of Earnie Meeting the dog here!

You can hop back to the first entry about the day of adoption right here as well. 

Not all BFFs look the same, nor do they need to, but for these three BFFs, looking the same is the main thing they have in common. That, and their love for each other. 

An Appaloosa stallion, a Shetland pony and a Dalmatian dog are all different sizes, different species, and have different habits, but they are best buds and love hanging out together, as reported by Metro. Their mom and horse trainer, Greetje Arends-Hakvoort, "regularly catches them running, training, and having fun." Her daughter, Jolie Lune Arends, also loves the gorgeous-looking animals, and together, all five of them make the most amazing family. The mom rides the horse, the daughter is on the pony, and the dog is accompanying them everywhere. 

"Appaloosa horse Nevada, 10, Napoleon, six, and Dalmatian Jack Sparrow, two, regularly stun strangers with their unique matching spots," and we are totally not surprised. If we had seen these three hanging out together, we would probably do a double take too. 

"Napoleon was actually born at the same time as Jolie so they grew up together and now they are the best of friends," says Greetje. "People always smile when they see the three together; often people refer to the 101 Dalmatians film and it brings up nice childhood memories for them... When Jack was younger, he saw himself as one of the horses and he fits in perfectly."

She adds: "Trust is the key word here; horses thrive when trust exists and they need to feel comfortable and self assured and Jack does exactly that. 'There's a lot of horse and dog love there between them."

Check out more amazing pictures of their amazing friendship below! For more heartwarming interspecies friendships, read about a fox who's brother was run over getting adopted and befriending two dogs.