Animal Stories

The Life and Times of Mr. Woody –October 13th 2008 One clear thing about the genial Mr. Woody right from the very start, was that his life before BrightHaven was filled with love. This gentle giant loved everyone he met, and was delighted to lick every single human nose that came his way. Before BrightHaven, … Read more

Her story from 1999-2002 The “Lucky” black cat came to live at BrightHaven with her friends “Squeaky” and “Fuzzy” in October of 1999. Then 16 years old, she was the baby of the group and treated accordingly by her elderly brothers. The group had lived for many years as part of a large family in … Read more

Joey arrived in June of 2004 and BrightHaven days were changed for ever! When only in his second year of life, Joey had been hit by a car, subsequently suffering back injuries which rendered him incontinent, with his back legs useless. His owner tried hard to care for him but confined him to one room … Read more

Date of death: 4th May 2007 Jackie arrived at BrightHaven in August of 2001 and proceeded to touch the hearts, souls and lives of people too numerous to know, or count. A close friend was heard to comment that “BrightHaven is incredibly fortunate to have a yogi dwelling in its living room.”…and I guess that … Read more

The inspirational story of a dog named “Hope” Hope came to BrightHaven to die, and lived! This remarkable dog was born with a major heart defect as well as no eyes. Rejected by her Mother and given for euthanasia, baby Hope was cared for by shelter staff who just could not resist her charm…After many … Read more

Date of death: 18th May 2010 My baby is gone. How does one deal with that? I don’t know. All I do know is that Furbs has been my baby for sooo long, and our lives have been filled with the care of his sweet self for so many years, that I am not sure … Read more

Part 1—penned in January 2004 The woman was becoming more and more demanding and Gail was tired of answering her calls. It had all started the previous week when this lady had left a message to say that she was homeless and living in her car with her family of rescued cats… An all too … Read more

Date of death: 11th July 2012 Libby, one of BrightHaven’s long-time volunteers came to visit one day, telling us she had promised to rescue a sweet pig who was on his way to becoming “a bunch of Christmas hams” and now she did not know what on earth to do with him, as her own … Read more

This is the story of Duke, a tiny Betta fish with the heart of a lion. It was April 2010. I had lived in my current apartment in Somerville, MA, for a little over six months and I was a happy cookie since my pesky, slightly weird and smoking (literally, not figuratively) downstairs neighbor had … Read more

–27th March 2010 Where to begin I wonder, to talk about this somewhat shy black panther who came to BrightHaven back in 1993, along with his twin sister, Olivia. The differences between the two were immediately obvious…one large and black; the other a minute tortoiseshell with attitude! Olivia, or Livvy stepped into BrightHaven society that … Read more