As a wildlife rehabber I've "adopted" thousands of animals.
In the first grade I adopted a white pigeon I named Junior. It flew to school with me every day and sat on my shoulder in class. At recess it watched us play from the roof of the schoolhouse.
One day my teacher walked me home, knocked on the door and told my mother that "Little Johnnie" was the most special student in her 30 year career.
I kept on rehabbing, thousands of animals in rapidly developing Southern California.
Now I'm in Thailand and I adopt street dogs and raptors. My house is a zoo but these animals are my best friends.
The wildlife comes and goes as it pleases, and the dogs stay in the house and yard, and even sleep with me. At 66 I'm young at heart and nobody guesses my age. And I owe it all to the animals I have adopted over the years, something in the thousands by now.
There is no greater privilege than giving an animal a home. Life is all connected.
See you on the water, Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey') AKA John Caveman Gray
