EVU Youth Page - Stories
Friend or foe ?
Lina went along the road. Her tiny little paws left prints in the snow and the one hundred yards to the end of the road seemed miles away. She sniffed her way in the snow because she could hardly see. The small mouse was one week old. Suddenly, she smelled something strange. Lina stopped and sniffed with excitement. The smell came from the end of the road. All mice know instinctively that a new smell must be investigated. Without a mother, Lina was on her own to go through life's experiences. She had not had the benefit of her mother's teaching. Lina was alone in the world. Was this smell safe ? She opened her eyes with much effort and she felt terror: before her stood an enormous cat, staring at her with his amber eyes ! Lina run for her life, jumped over stones but she could hear the cat catching up behind her. Soon he was perched on the wall opposite. With walls surrounding her, Lina was trapped. "Don't eat me" cried Lina. "Eat you ? Why should I eat you ? I am a vegetarian cat, I only want to play with you" "Really", said Lina, with surprise. They played happily and became best friends.
Alexandra (11)
Matter of opinion? Thoughts?
At most it disturbs me in the world that humans kill animals. I wish myself that humans live together more closely with animals.
Mario (12)
The tale of Mascha and Libby
Once upon a time, there were two ewes, who were sisters, born only to be killed and eaten. The two animals, with a tight lead around their necks, spent day and night in a field, in the scorching sun and the pouring rain. They never had water, only grass to eat. Their owner, a farmer who also run a bed and breakfast, was keen that they grew fatter and fatter.
One Spring day, a family from Berlin with 3 children came to spend a weekend in the area which is called Oberlausitz, in the south-east of Germany, where Poland, Tchechnia and Germany meet.
The Berlin family had barely parked the car when the eldest daughter noticed the two ewes: "How cute they are "
"They will be slaughtered in the Autumn." said the farmer.
The distraut children started to cry. The weekend was already spoilt.
In order to appease the children, the father promised to save the two animals, and the whole family started to plan their rescue. The two ewes never suspected anything when they saw the family leave two days later.
The Autumn came. In the meantime, the family had found a little paradise not far from Berlin, where the two ewes were welcome. Left to be organised was transport and of course the mammoth task of convincing the farmer to let them live. Eventually, the farmer's main consideration was a good price in return for the ewes. He got what he wanted. At the end of September, the two ewes were in a van homeward bound for Berlin. A few hours' travel and many uncertainties later, the two ewes reached the end of their ordeal and reached a wonderful place with huge meadows in the middle of the forest. There the ewes wander in peace and total freedom, without a rope and without a picket.
Now you know our favourite animals. We called them Mascha and Libby.
We often go and visit them in their new sanctuary near Berlin, managed by "Pro-animale". Their friends are horses, goats, dogs, cats and lamas.
You too can adopt an animal. Visit the site www.pro-animale.de
Laura
The rescue of a mouse
We spent our summer holidays in a small village in the black forest, as we do every year. On a sunny afternoon two years ago, I stepped out on the street and wanted to play with my Playmobil toys. Suddenly, I caught sight of two cats! I hurried to reach them, aiming to drive them away from the street so that they would not get run over by a car. At that moment, I became aware of the small mouse they were playing with. I tried to scare them away but it wasn't that easy. They did not move further away than half a metre. Then, I picked up the poor mouse which had stretched out her legs and pretended to be dead, and held it delicately in the palm of my hand. What a relief when I felt it was still breathing!
I quickly ran back to our house and showed it to my parents. We put her into a box and provided her with food and water. Our dog Flora found it very interesting and sniffed in the air. After a while the little mouse recovered from the shocking experience it had made. I particularly noticed this when I wanted to pet it and the mouse tried to bite me on the finger! Finally, we took it to a cottage nearby where I had seen a pile of wood some days before. It quickly slipped in between the pieces of wood so that we did not get the chance to say goodbye! Hopefully it learned a lesson in its adventure with a cat !
Sophie
The rescue of the pigeon
On Friday evening last June, my mum went into the garden to water the flowers with the hose. As she went to turn the tap on, she saw a pigeon in front of her, walking on the ground. The curious thing was that he did not fly away. We caught him and we had a look at him. We didn't see a broken wing, or a broken leg, but we noticed a ring on his foot. My mum phoned the RSPCA and because there was a ring on his foot, they told us he was a racing pigeon. We tried to phone the Racing Pigeons Association but the office was closed for the weekend. So we put the pigeon in a box with food and water and we looked after it for the weekend. We tried to release him on the Monday morning but he was still too weak to fly, so we put him back in his box. It is only on the Tuesday morning that the pigeon flew away. According to the number on his ring, this pigeon was only a few months old and belonged to someone in Scotland and as we live near London, he still had hundreds of kilometres to go. He was already exhausted after a long trip, or perhaps he was lost and had tried to find his way. I am glad he landed in our garden and that we were able to save him, but I feel sorry for this poor pigeon which is only a toy for his owner.
Hannah