happy ending

This is not your common 'cat in a tree' rescue story, let's start with that. 

What was going to be a tense and chilling heroic story of firefighters coming to the rescue of a helpless kitten, hoping for a happy ending, turned into a documentation of the bravest kitten in the world. This little kitten had eeeeeverything under control. Just as our heroic firefighter reached out and almost managed to pick the kitten up, the fierce kitten decided "to heck with it" and jumped down on its own... then immediately climbed up another tree. 

Check out the picture by picture documentation of this fascinating tale below.

Story via: york daily record

Oh, thank goodness! This ceiling cat must have been blessed by the ceiling cat itself to have made it through this traumatic situation! For those who have cats, you can imagine that flying with them would be one of the most stressful situations imaginable. Not just for the cats, but for us as well. And as their owners, we can't help but share their stress and pain. 

When Taylor Le was preparing to move across the country, from New York to Orange County, California, she of course was going to fly with her 6-year-old cat, Muji. The flight was scheduled to fly on Christmas Eve. As Taylor Le went through the security checkpoint at La Guardia Airport, the TSA agents had her remove Muji from her carrier. Taylor Le tried to persuade the agents otherwise, knowing that if Muji was outside her carrier, she would be liking to flee. Regardless of Taylor Le's protests, Muji was removed from her carrier, panicked, and fleed. 

Le told The Post about the pending cat-astrophe, "I said, 'She's gonna run. Do I have to take her out?' We walked through the metal detector and she got spooked, bit me, freaked out, and ran off." They told her yes.

The flee led her owner, and airport staff, on a wild goose chase that ended when Muji climbed up a series of platforms to a ceiling enclosure and then vanished within them. In the following days, the airport staff tried to lure out Muji with cans of tuna, and Taylor Le changed her flight for the following day, in hopes of finding Muji in time, but she didn't and boarded the flight to Orange County, completely distraught. 

The story of Dobby the doggo is one that'll really make you feel like the year started off the right way. It showcases how every animal, no matter where and in what condition, deserves care and love and how important working as a team is. It took a lot of people to help Dobby, but it was more than worth it in the end. 

From being malnourished and sick into a forever home with an amazing NASA pilot dad who we know will do anything for her, Dobby is now a a happy pupper, and we are happy for her as well as incredibly thankful to everyone who helped her along the way.

Read her story and go through the rollercoaster that it is, and for more heartwarming dog stories, read about a dog who was mistreated for barking learning to bork again.

An injured and lost bear cub was rescued this week by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The female cub was wondering around for days in the Electra Lake area, getting into the bird feeders. The poor cub had cut injuries on her paws. And though there's no way of knowing exactly what happened to her, it is assumed that she is one of the survivors from the fires who got lost and couldn't find her way back to her family. Regardless, we are happy to hear that the cub is now in good hands, is being taken care of by capable people, and will be released back into the wild once she'll be healed. 

As reported by The Journal, Joe Lewandowski, a CPW spokesman, said in an email to The Durango Herald: "It had been getting into bird feeders in the area... It's not unusual for bears to go on walkabouts occasionally during the winter," Lewandowski added. "But they usually find a way back to their dens. This one didn't."

According to an official Facebook post, wildlife officials decided that the best course of action for the cub is to be taken into the Frisco Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center where the "staff will further evaluate and treat its injuries. The young bear will spend the rest of its' hibernation at the facility and be released back into the wild in the spring."

We are so happy to hear that the sweet cub is getting the help that she needs and that she will be released back into the wild. We wish her a quick and easy recovery and thank everyone involved in helping her! For more feel-good bear stories, read about a circus bear who lived in terrible conditions getting rescued and moved to a sanctuary right here.

Every adopted pet has a past- a story that we don't know and wish we did. Normally, we only know a little bit. And with Ezri, what we know is enough to break our hearts and then melt our hearts. 

The tumblr user fire-is-her-water shared the story of their adopted doggo. The little they know of Ezri's past is that Ezri used to be abused as well as mistreated every time she barked. Now, in the hands of fire-is-her-water, in a loving home, it was time for Ezri to relearn how to bark again. And through months of work and many, many treats, she let her voice be heard again. 

Turns out, Ezri is a pupper that doesn't actually bark much - she borks. And the video of it will make your heart absolutely burst. 

Thank you to fire-is-her-water for being a totally amazing doggo parent and for giving this amazing dog the home and love that she deserves. 

Moments from being crushed by the machinery at a recycling plant, workers at the plant spotted the kittens and rescued them. The kittens were only a few days old and still had their eyes closed and their cords attached. It is believed that a feral cat gave birth to the kittens in a garbage bin which was then collected and taken to the plant. Thankfully, the babies were rescued in the nick of time. 

As reported by BBC, "[t]he pair of males are now being cared for by the RSPCA." The RSPCA official who collected them, told BBC: "These kittens were incredibly lucky to have been spotted by the eagle-eyed workers. If it wasn't for their quick actions they could have been killed by the machinery at the plant."

"Feral cats can be extremely resourceful and thrive in the wild. But, sometimes, mother cats can choose rather unusual places to give birth," he explained. "It may be that this pair's mum chose a bin for shelter before being separated from her babies when it was emptied."

He added: "They were extremely cold and quite weak but, thankfully, don't seem seriously affected by their ordeal so hopefully they should pull through and, eventually, we'll be able to find them loving new homes." We hope these cuties will be able to find a forever home where they will be treated amazingly as quickly as possible. 

For more wholesome animals stories, check out our collection of the most positive animal news from December!

There no better way to end this month - and this year - than with some wholesome animal positivity. 

With all the difficult to hear news out there every day, all we wanna do is turn off the news, get off our phones and not look at news ever again. But this news list is one that we promise you won't want to turn away from, because it is all animals and only positivity. It is the celebration of happy-ending stories, new and exciting discoveries, heroes who save animals, and sometimes even hero animals who save humans. 

So, please, enjoy this nothing-but-animal positivity collection of our favorite news stories and start the year off with a true smile on your face and some actually good news to talk to your friends and family about. Have an amazing year, animal lovers, and may next month have as many, if not more, positive animal news stories!

"[w]e definitely have angels among us," say the people at W-Underdogs in a Facebook post whose animal shelter caught fire while they were picking up supply donations. A situation that could have ended in the worst way possible ended incredibly positively, and that is because of a heroic 53-year-old homeless man named Keith Walker who ran into the smoking building and saved each and every one of the animals inside. 

Walker has been homeless ever since he was 13 years old. He had already known the founder of the shelter, Gracie Hamlin, who had let him keep his dog, a pitbull named Bravo, at the shelter every night. On his way to pick up Bravo from the shelter, Walker saw the fire and ran in, rescuing all of the animals in the shelter - 6 dogs and 10 cats.

"I was nervous as hell, I'm not going to lie. I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals," Walker told in a statement to CNN. "If you love a dog, you can love anyone in the world. My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn't be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs."

Sadly, the W-Underdogs headquarters is now uninhabitable, but in another lucky turn, the shelter was just preparing to move to a different location. As they say in another Facebook post: "As fate would have it, today is the first day of our lease of a new facility we planned to be the new W-Underdogs Headquarters. While the new facility is not exactly 'move-in ready' we were able to move the animals safely into the new facility for the night. They are all happy, warm, safe, and comfortable in their new temporary home."

Hamlin told CNN: "He is my guardian angel. Even the firefighters didn't want to handle the dogs. They called animal control, but Keith was already in the building pulling out the cats and dogs until they were all safe." 

We are so, so thankful to Keith Walker and all the people who helped with the rescue and the moving of the animals, and we hope the cats an the dogs will have an easy time getting used to the new place. Good luck in the new year, guys! 

For more happy ending animal stories, click right here!

A true Christmas miracle! A 14-week-old kitten with no eyes was rescued by the RSPCA and reunited with his half blind brother. 

As the RSPCA reports, the blind kitten, later named Gabriel, despite having no eyes, is completely healthy. It is assumed that Gabriel had the cat flue, and so it is a miracle in and of itself that he survived. 

Krissy Raine, the RSPCA inspector who rescued Gabriel, explained: "It's amazing that Gabriel survived. I took him to a vet and they believe he had cat flu which left his eyes badly damaged and they perished. But he is very healthy, he needed no treatment from the vets at all." She continued: "Even though he was from a feral colony when I took him to the vets, they were shocked by how calm and friendly he was and instantly fell in love with him. We named him Gabriel as he is an absolute angel and everyone who meets him adores him!" 

That's not all though. A second miracle happened when Gabriel was brought into the shelter. There, he met another half-blind cat who was rescued a few weeks prior from the same area. Arthur is also believed to have had the flu which damaged one of his eyes. That eye had  to be removed through surgery, but thankfully, his other eye was saved. 

When Gabriel was brought into the shelter, "[t]he brothers instantly recognised each other."

And today, they are living together in the same foster home. "Gemma couldn't believe it when she realised she had rescued his brother a few weeks before and we knew we had to reunite them. Arthur was being looked after by a foster family and they were so excited to hear that his brother had been rescued - they welcomed him with open arms too. They are both with the same foster family now, they are such calm, caring and affectionate cats - such special little angels. Now that they are back together, Arthur can guide Gabriel through life."

The brothers will now be looking for a forever home where they will hopefully be able to live together. "It's a Christmas miracle for Gabriel and Arthur - we're just so pleased that they are together for Christmas Day, it's the perfect gift for them."

We wish this pair of angels luck in their new lives and a forever home in the new year! For more positive animal stories, take a look at our collection of the best animal news stories of 2020!

A lesson learned, never to be repeated again. An owner was walking her tiny 3-year-old dog a bit too close to the edge of More Mesa cliffs on Saturday when the dog slipped and rolled off the the cliff. 

Edhat santa barbara reports that the call to the firefighters came at 3:36 p.m., and the Santa Barbara County firefighters had to rush to to the area of Mockingbird Lane and Calle Las Brisas. There, they found that the little dog, named Louis, had rolled off the cliff during a walk. 

The firefighters heroically enacted a high-angle rope system in an attempt to rescue the dog, and luckily, they managed to carry the little pooch back to safety at the top of the cliff, where Louis was able to get back to his owner. Thankfully, there were no injuries. As the call to the firefighters was made right away, they were able to come help right away, but the lesson was definitely learned by all of us. 

Be extra careful with your little animals. Accidents can and will happen, it's impossible to avoid, but where possible, take extra caution because these little guys rely on us to take care of them forever and always. 

For more positive animal stories, check out our end of 2020 collection of the best animal stories!

An off-duty rescue worker in Thailand, a few days ago, was faced with one of his most challenging situations yet. Having been called in while off duty on a road trip late on Sunday evening, Mana Srivate had to perform CPR on a baby elephant that was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the road. The elephant can be seen lain on its side while Mana gives it two-handed compressions as Mana's collogues take care of the dazed and injured motorcycle rider.

As CNN reports, "[b]oth the rider and elephant were recovering and neither had serious injuries". Mana, recalling the incident, told Reuters by phone: "It's my instinct to save lives, but I was worried the whole time because I can hear the mother and other elephants calling for the baby."

"I assumed where an elephant heart would be located based on human theory and a video clip I saw online," he added. "When the baby elephant starting to move, I almost cried."

It took almost 10 minutes for the baby elephant to get back up again, but it did. It was quickly taken to another location to be treated, and as soon as possible, it was returned to the scene of the accident in hopes of reuniting it with its family. And in a true Christmas miracle way, the baby elephant was later spotted with a fully grown elephant that is presumed to indeed be its mother. 

A happy ending to what could have ended as an absolutely heart wrenching story, and we can only thank Mana for his incredible work saving the baby elephant. For more amazing animal stories, check out our recap of the most positive animal stories of 2020!

Let's be frank, 2020 has been a difficult year to say the least. From rumors of a world war in January to a pandemic to a news cycle that just makes you want to turn off your TV. But... things weren't all bad. All the lockdowns had quite a good result to some portions of the population - namely, animals. 

Suddenly, we were seeing videos and news stories about animals walking around on the empty streets, swimming in empty oceans and clearer skies. Animals absolutely THRIVED this year, and we think that's something worth commemorating and celebrating. So, for the end of this year, as a special treat, we have collected 40 of our favorite most positive, wholesome, happy news stories of 2020 that are all about animals. 

This is one news collection that you won't want to turn away from, we promise.

Jambolina the circus bear is getting a second chance in life after being forced to perform in a Ukrainian circus for over a decade. Only a few weeks old, and Jambolina's circus training had already started, and since then, she had been kept locked in a tiny cage most of her life. That is until last week, when Four Paws an international animal welfare organization took the the bear, transporting her 1,500 miles to her new home - the Arosa Bear Sanctuary in Switzerland. 

Read more about Jambolina below!

There at the right place at the right time, a Hartland family of a husband, wife, and three children was on the way to go sledding when an owl swooped down onto a car in front of them. The owl laid in the middle of the road after being hit while the car that hit it drove away as if nothing happened. Luckily, the Haley family was there to help. 

Canceling their plans, the family got out of their car and went to help the little owl. "(I) just walked over to him, talking like I do to a dog or cat, just reassuring him he was going to be okay and just talking to keep him calm," the husband, Jordan Haley, explained. "He let me pick him up, and he tucked his head back -- almost like he was saying 'thank you.'"

Haley said that the family contacted local wardens to come pick up the owl, but they refused because the owl wasn't severely injured. And though not visibly very injured, the owl wasn't flying away either. He was "awake and very friendly." They had to wait a little longer for Avian Haven to arrive to take care of the owl, and as they were waiting, they wrapped the bird in a blanket, and Haley held the owl on his lap, keeping it warm and safe. Now, the owl is in the safe hands of professionals. 

"It was an amazing experience my family will not forget!" Haley said. "We needed this to reassure us that the world will be okay!"

We're thankful to the Haley family for taking the time and putting an injured animal's needs before their own. People who help animals are truly something to be grateful for, and the Halwy's story is one that proves that it doesn't take much to save an animal's life. All it takes is a little love and a little time. 

Story via NEWS CENTER Maine.

Rufus's story is one of incredibly kind people, a strong dog never willing to give up, and just a little hint of luck. 

What started with Lauren Conley losing her dear dog last Memorial Day ended with her saving the life of another dog - one who was very much in need of love. Rufus, a poorly senior dog was brought to a shelter by his previous owners to be euthanized, but thankfully, he was sent to a foster home instead. He was given six months to live. Luckily, he found his way into Lauren's arms, and opening her heart and home to this boy, she gave him all her love and helped him in every way that she could. And now, Rufus is finally getting better!

As she tells Cheezburger: "[W]e are dedicated to making every day he has left his birthday, Christmas, and Thanksgiving rolled into one!"

Read more about his story below!

Reunited, and it's never felt better! After 3 long years, Debra Mejeur has been reunited with her dog, and for the dog, it took no more than a single whiff of her old blanket to jump right back into her owner's arms. 

According to Yahoo!entertainment, Lola, the dog, is an especially trained seizure alert dog, and she went missing in October, having escaped from a fenced area during a family trip to Chicago. Having escaped during such an unfortunate time meant that Debra wasn't able to be there every day in case Lola came back. Despite that, for a month, Debra and her husband made regular trips to Illinois, hoping to find Lola. They "put up "lost" signs, called on the locals for assistance, and even hired a professional pet searcher," but couldn't find her. 

The chances of finding Lola were obviously incredibly low, but, in an incredible turn of events, last week, Debra got a phone call from an Illinois animal shelter and found out that her gorgeous little Labrador has been found. "I still had an ounce of hope, I guess, but the majority of me was thinking she had already crossed the rainbow bridge," Debra said. "I was just completely stunned ... I feel like I'm in a dream right now." 

Apparently, a couple had spotted Lola in the woods and gave her food and water before taking her to the animal shelter, and the reason Debra was known to be Lola's owner was because Lola was - thankfully - microchipped. Lola had lost a little weight, but overall, she is in good health. No one is sure how she survived all these years, but everyone is happy that she did. 

"I wish she could talk because I would probably give her a little lecture, too," Mejeur said. "'You're not suppose to run away. Don't do it again.'" The plan from here on out is to not use Lola as a service dog anymore. Why? Because they "plan to spoil her from here on out." And you know what, we support that. Spoil her as much as you possibly can.

Read another heartwarming dog reunion story right here.