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Grandpa defies wife to secretly raise stray kittens

<p>Stray cats appearing at 85-year-old Jimmy’s tool-shed weren’t uncommon. A sweet, kindly man, he felt for the disadvantaged felines and would often feed them. One cat in particular formed quite a strong bond with Jimmy – she also happened to be pregnant.</p> <p>Knowing his wife wouldn’t approve of him allowing the cat to give birth in the shed, the ever-rebellious grandpa let it happen anyway, secretly adding a bunch of new furry family members to their Puerto Rico home.</p> <p>“My grandpa let a stray cat have her kittens in his tool shed and now he’s raising a bunch of cats behind my grandma’s back because she said no,” his granddaughter Syl wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/lillsyl/status/839877091327889408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedodo.com%2Fgrandpa-secret-cats-2333809949.html" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Twitter</span></strong></a>, where the story became an instant hit.</p> <p>“My grandpa is really kind and has always loved animals,” Syl told <a href="https://www.thedodo.com/grandpa-secret-cats-2333809949.html" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Dodo</span></strong></a>. “So it’s not really that surprising.”</p> <p>Surprisingly, Jimmy’s clandestine kitten nursery lasted three whole weeks before being discovered by his wife. Thankfully, they’ve grown on her, too, and she’s willing to keep them until they are old enough to be adopted.</p> <p>To see Jimmy lovingly caring for his new kitten friends, take a look through the gallery above. We think the photos will make your day! </p>

Family & Pets

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Stray dog gets new lease on life after adoption by monks

<p>It’s estimated that there are around 300,000 stray dogs in Bolivia, but thankfully there’s now one less. Friar Bigotón (Friar Moustache) has become the newest member of the St Francis Monastery in Cochabamba, Bolivia, after he was taken in by the order’s monks in the name of St Francis, the patron saint of animals. The fluffy friar even has very own pint-sized habit.</p> <p>“His life is all about playing and running,” Friar Jorge Fernandez told <a href="https://www.thedodo.com/monastery-adopts-friar-dog-2303203254.html" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Dodo</span></strong></a>. “Here, all of the brothers love him very much. He is a creature of God.”</p> <p>Aside from being an incredibly cute mascot for the monastery, Friar Bigotón has some very important duties. From “preaching to the fish” to encouraging parishioners to take in a rescue pet of their own, the miniature monk is brightening the lives of many.</p> <p>See the four-legged friar in action in the gallery above. It’ll be the sweetest thing you see all day!</p> <p><em>Images: Kasper Maiusz Kaprón/Facebook.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2017/03/newborn-otter-pups/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Newborn otter pups are here to brighten your day</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2017/03/police-saves-newborn-squirrel-from-street/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Police saves newborn squirrel from street</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2017/03/feeding-tasmanian-devils/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>What you didn’t know about feeding Tasmanian devils</strong></em></span></a></p>

News

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Flight attendant adopts stray dog who waited for her for 6 months

<p>A German flight attendant has adopted a stray dog after it waited outside her hotel room for six months.</p> <p>Olivia Sievers first met Rubio in Buenos Aires during one of her frequent trips to Argentina. The good samaritan gave the lonely, homeless pup some attention and food, and left to check in to her hotel. </p> <p>For Rubio, it was love at first sight. Every time that Sievers was in Buenos Aires, Rubio would somehow know and turn up to the doors of her hotel lobby.</p> <p>“I tried to change my way as I didn’t want him to follow me to the hotel but it was not possible, he always followed me so I tried [to wait] one hour but he always watched me and followed me,” Sievers told <em>Noticiero Trece.</em></p> <p>Feeling guilty, the flight attendant even found a home for the stray pup, but he escaped it and returned to the hotel to wait for her. </p> <p>By this time, Rubio had worn Olivia down and she knew she had to take him home with her.</p> <p>Rubio is no stray anymore, and is enjoying his new life in Germany with two other dogs and his human soul mate.</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery above to see the heart-warming images.</p> <p>Do you have any incredible stories about a stray animal you adopted? Let us know the comments below.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/travel-tips/2016/08/is-it-safe-to-travel-to-france/"><em>Is it safe to travel to France?</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/travel-tips/2016/08/5-sounds-you-hear-on-the-plane-explained/"><em>5 strange sounds you hear during a flight explained</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/travel-tips/2016/08/secret-way-to-raise-the-armrest-on-your-aisle-seat/"><em>There is a secret way to raise the armrest on your aisle seat</em></a></strong></span></p>

Travel Tips

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Australian Ultramarathon runner adopts stray dog after 125km trek

<p>Plenty of people have been followed home by a stray dog - but the tale of Australian ultramarathon runner Dion Leonard and Gobi and a 125-kilometre journey across China is quite something else.</p> <p>Edinburgh-based Leonard first met his new best friend early in the Gobi March, a 250-kilometre run across mountain and desert areas around the region of Kashgar. The race forms part of the gruelling international 4 Deserts series.</p> <p>At first Leonard didn't think much of his small fluffy sidekick. But the story that unfolded is incredible and has now gone global.</p> <p>"I noticed this dog was at my feet and looking up at me and I'm thinking 'I saw that dog yesterday walking around the campsite, that's a bit odd'," Leonard told BBC Radio.</p> <p>"I started to speed off and this little dog is looking up at me and I'm thinking 'this dog won't last the whole day' but 25 miles I think we ran that day and she was still with me at the end.</p> <p>"Day three was exactly the same. We started the race together and during that stage I actually had to take her across lots of rivers. She slept with me on day two, she came into the camp with me. From then on she didn't leave my side."</p> <p>Leonard said the dog - since christened Gobi - had shown incredible stamina to cover half the distance of the March with him and that she would have been up for more, had the race not gone into desert regions where temperatures reached an inhospitable 52 degrees.</p> <p>Race organisers stepped in to keep them together.</p> <p>"She'd sit there and wait for me [at the finish line] so I could see her as a I was running in. It was amazing to see her stand up and start running towards me," Leonard said.</p> <p>"It was then that I realised this was something else other than a little dog following me."</p> <p>The next leg of the 4 Deserts Series is the Atacama Crossing in Chile in October but Leonard has taken on a more sentimental challenge in the meantime - a bid to be reunited with Gobi in Edinburgh.</p> <p><img width="499" height="610" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/25501/insert_499x610.jpg" alt="Insert"/></p> <p>Using the hashtag #bringgobihome, he has started fundraising for her "immigration fees" and has <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BringGobiHome/?fref=ts"><strong>Facebook</strong></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BringGobiHome/?fref=ts"> </a></span>and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/bringgobihome/">Instagram</a></strong></span> pages set up for the cause.</p> <p>Leonard has pledged that any extra funds raised will be donated to a still-to-be-determined dog charity.</p> <p><em>Written by Simon White. First appeared on <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.<br /></strong></span></em><strong><br />Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/do-our-pets-dream/"><em>Do our pets dream?</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/05/dr-chris-brown-secrets-to-dealing-with-allergies-to-pets/"><em>The secret to dealing with pet allergies</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/05/reasons-your-dogs-health-is-as-important-as-your-own/"><em>6 reasons your dog’s health is just as important as your own</em></a></strong></span></p>

Travel Tips

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The Land of the Strays where 900 dogs roam free

<p>There’s nothing quite as heartbreaking as a walk through an animal shelter, past abandoned, sometimes frightened dogs with the appearance of prisoners in cells. </p> <p>But as you see in the gallery above, not all strays are consigned to this fate.</p> <p>Home to over 900 rescued pooches, Territorio de Zaguates (Land of the Strays) is a volunteer-run animal shelter located in the rolling hills of Cosa Rica.</p> <p>The Land of the Strays lets neutered canines roam free around the spectacular property and play with visitors, heading back home to comfortable beds at bedtime.</p> <p>Each dog is given a name and unique breed, with no preference given regarding mixes and purebreds. If you’re looking to adopt you can schedule a walking hike on the property and even any of the dogs take a shining to you you’re welcome to adopt them.</p> <p>Doesn’t it look like an incredible place for dogs (and dog lovers)!</p> <p>For more information you can check out their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Territorio-de-Zaguates-Oficial-1459982774272974/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Facebook page here</span></strong></a>.</p> <p>Have you ever taken in a rescue dog? What’s your favourite breed of dog, and why? Please share your story in the comments section.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Facebook / Territorio de Zaguates Oficial</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/06/puppy-born-without-back-paws-gets-second-chance-at-life/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Puppy born without back paws gets second chance at life</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/how-to-cope-with-a-jealous-pet-when-grandkids-come-along/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>How to cope with a jealous pet when grandkids come along</em></strong></span></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/06/queen-elizabeth-and-her-corgis-help-ptsd-sufferer/"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Queen Elizabeth and her corgis help PTSD sufferer</strong></span></em></a></p>

International Travel

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Very inspiring quotes to live by in 2016

<p>Struggling to set or stick to your goals for the year? Award winning American author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed has a few words of wisdom to help you reach your New Year’s resolutions, whatever they may be.</p> <p><strong>Approaching the New Year</strong></p> <p>“It is impossible for you to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.”</p> <p><strong>Finding beauty</strong></p> <p>“What if you allowed your God to exist in the simple words of compassion others offer you? What if the greatest beauty of the day is the shaft of sunlight through our window? What if the worst thing happened and you rose anyway?”</p> <p><strong>Despair</strong></p> <p>“You go on by doing the best you can. You go on by being generous. You go on by being true. You go on by offering comfort to others who can't go on. You go on by allowing the unbearable days to pass and allowing the pleasure in other days. You go on by finding a channel for your love and another for your rage.”</p> <p><strong>Relationships</strong></p> <p>“The story of human intimacy is one of constantly allowing ourselves to see those we love most deeply in a new, more fractured light. Look hard. Risk that.”</p> <p><strong>Fear</strong></p> <p>“Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves. And so I choose to tell myself a different story.”</p> <p><strong>Self-acceptance</strong></p> <p>“Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.”</p> <p><strong>Love</strong></p> <p>“Practice saying the word ‘love’ to the people you love so when it matters the most to say it, you will.”</p> <p><strong>Letting go of the past</strong></p> <p>“I’ll never know and neither will you the life you don’t choose. We’ll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn’t carry us There’s nothing to do but salute it from the shore.</p> <p><strong>Grief</strong></p> <p>“My grief taught me things. ... It required me to suffer. It compelled me to reach.” </p> <p><strong>Wisdom</strong></p> <p>“You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.”</p> <p><strong> Related links:</strong></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/books/2015/12/childrens-books-to-read/">10 children’s books to reread as an adult</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/books/2015/11/short-classic-novels/">10 short classic books for the weekend</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/books/2015/11/banned-childrens-books/">8 children’s books that caused controversy</a></strong></span></em></p>

Books

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80-year-old man builds custom train for stray dogs

<p>Meet Eugene Bostick, an 80-year-old retiree from Fort Worth, Texas, who must have the best retirement ever. He spends his day operating a dog train – one he custom-built himself – which takes rescued stray dogs out for rides around the neighbourhood.</p> <p>Eugene and brother Corky live on a street where unfortunately, many locals abandoned their unwanted dogs. When Eugene noticed the dogs starving, he began adopting them and now has nine dogs under his care.</p> <p>“We started feeding them, letting them in, taking them to the vet to get them spayed and neutered. We made a place for them to live,” Eugene told Dodo.</p> <p>He then got the ingenious idea to give his rescued dogs a little bit of fun in their lives.</p> <p>“I seen this guy with a tractor who attached these carts to pull rocks. I thought, ‘Dang, that would do for a dog train.’ I’m a pretty good welder, so I took these plastic barrels with holes cut in them, and put wheels under them and tied them together,” Eugene said. “Whenever they hear me hooking the tractor up to it, man, they get so excited.”</p> <p><img width="518" height="325" src="http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/rescued-dog-train-tractor-stray-eugene-bostick-6.jpg" alt="rescued-dog-train-tractor-stray-eugene-bostick-6" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-290954"/></p> <p><img width="518" height="204" src="http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/rescued-dog-train-tractor-stray-eugene-bostick-1.jpg" alt="rescued-dog-train-tractor-stray-eugene-bostick-1" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-290949"/></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p>

News