Animals are the strangest creatures on the earth, they could bite you and put in a fatal danger or shower you with unconditional love. And their love isn't restricted to their own kids or humans, sometimes they go beyond all the borders. Well, these animals might not have a degree just like us but they do understand when they are shown affection and most of them reciprocate too rather than being defensive. But then you can not judge an animal even if they are just babies, just like the cat in the story.
There are several zoos in the world that have a large number of exotic animals those who are on the verge of getting extinct. These zoos have provided them shelter and saved them from extinction. The Smithstown Zoo in Russia is one of those zoos that provide shelter to one of the exotic animals.
The zoo had many exotic animals like bears, camels, leopards, lions, lizards, monkeys, reindeer, and turtles. But the caretakers of the zoo never had a chance to shelter a cat before. Cats were commonly found on the streets of Russia, so they knew they could protect themselves from the harsh environment. But that doesn't mean they would never give shelter to a cat.
One fine morning in winters, when roads were covered with the snow, Alice, the zookeeper was heading to have a word with another caretaker on the other side of the zoo. Due to heavy snowfall on the previous night, everything was covered in white. Alice had to cover her self in extra layers before she moved out of her office. She was hurrying to get to the office as the cold wind was unbearable and enough to freeze her from within.
She wasn't expecting any of the zoo animals to be roaming around the area in this freezing winter. But while she was rushing to the office, she saw something really strange. At first, she thought it was a small mountain of dirt from what she could predict from a distance. She was thinking who might have thrown it but when she went near it, her eyes became wide as she realized that it wasn't dirt.
Her assumption was cleared when she heard a faint meow, it was a black kitten that was looking like trash to her. The kitten was about 1 year. It looked like she was hungry and needed some attention at the earliest. It seemed like the kitten was out there in the freezing winter for so long and still, she was alive. But would she be able to survive the night?
The kitten was so small in size that it was able to fit in her palm. Due to cold weather, there were icicles at the end of her nose. Seeing her condition she was apprehensive whether the kitten would be able to survive another night. What would she do now? Leave the kitten alone or take it with her?
She hurriedly put the kitten inside her jacket and continued to walk. As soon as she reached the office, she called the vet and asked the experts to examine it. The vet came running on her call and did everything he could for the kitten. Alice even named the kitten Musya though, she was aware that such an attachment with this cat wouldn't be good. But she couldn't help it, with every moment she was feeling more close to the kitten.
The kitten wasn't frail and proved everyone wrong when she survived the first 3 nights. She needed attention and care so the zookeepers would often take turns and showered the kitten with love and care. Soon she was on her feet again, despite being weak and underweight she would often run around. However, the uncertainty of her survival still remained.
As days passed by, the kitten had grown restive. Soon, it had become a struggle for the staff to keep the kitten safe because there were many wild animals that were roaming unleashed in the zoo. It had been 1 year since the day Alice had found her and since then she had become the apple of everyone's eye. The staff would eagerly wait for their chance to spend some time with the cat. Musya was defying everyone's perceptions they had about cats.
Musya was an intelligent and smart cat and they knew that she craved to explore the world outside the cage she was bounded to. The staff would often worry about her and one or the other person's eyes were always on her. They wanted the cat to explore and hated to cage her but whatever they were doing was for her own good and safety. But she was an animal and they generally can't understand every motive of the staff. Would Musya be able to understand and restrict herself to the cage?
Then one day there fear came true when the cat slipped out of the cage. That day, Alice had as usual opened the door of the cage to feed the cat. But it seemed like Musya was not waiting for the food so when she opened the door, the cat slipped out and Alice couldn't stop her. She hurried to the office and told the staff about the incident. They were all worried about her safety as they knew that she had never been into the harsh world before and were apprehensive if she would survive on her own. What would they do now?
The staff was determined to find the cat so they along with Alice started a search operation. They were all praying for the wellbeing of the cat and wanted to find her as soon as possible. They started to search in every possible place where they could find her but all their efforts went in vain. Would they be able to find her?
Alice was aghast and would often worry about her. The very thought of the cat wandering into the wrong pen used to give her goosebumps. It had been days and the search operation was going on but they weren't able to trace her yet. Every day Alice would think she would find her but as the day would set she would be disappointed. Where did the cat go?
With each passing day, Alice was sinking in the self-guilt although it wasn't her mistake that the cat ran away still she would often blame herself. The staff was presuming that now they were never going to find the cat again and had given up. But Alice couldn't accept this fact and continued her search. She knew the cat was alive. Was her presumption true and would she be able to find the cat?
Miracles happen when we least expect them too. It was nothing less than a miracle when one fine day out of the blue, Musya found her way back to the center of the zoo. Alice was in tears when she saw her. Before she was gone, the staff and Alice were thinking of finding a home for the cat but after the incident, Alice had grown more close to the animal and it was hard to say goodbye to her again.
Everyone was happy that the cat had found her way back to the zoo. They knew now they couldn't restrict the cat from exploring the zoo so they had to give her space, what they weren't expecting was the changes that the cat was now showing. Alice left the door open one day after feeding the cat but she was amazed when the cat didn't come out of the cage. She thought the cat had explored a lot in the last few days and might want to rest a little. The cat's changed behavior intrigued everyone. Why was the cat behaving strangely?
A week passed by and the cat was growing to be lazier and restricted herself to one place. It didn't take the staff too long to understand that the cat was soon going to have kittens. And after the discovery, everything around her changed. They had changed her diet and added the nutrition that was necessary for her. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the time of her delivery.
They knew that her regular checkups were as important as her diet, so they went to the same vet they consulted when they had brought the cat for the first time. The vet examined her and assured everyone that the cat and the kittens both were healthy and they need not worry about anything. The staff was happy and made a special room for the cat so that she could have her kittens safely.
Alice was jumping out of excitement as the cat's due date came closer. She was enthusiastically preparing for the kittens to come in the world and decorated the cat's room as she would have done for her own kids. But often things don't go according to our plan. What was going to happen now?
As the cat's due date came closer, every eye was on her. She was given extra care and food. They would often let the door open so that the cat could move a little. That day after Alice had fed the cat, she made sure that the door was ajar. The whole day the staff was running around to see if the cat needed something. In the evening, when a staff member came to feed her dinner, she was startled to find that the cat was missing again. Where did the cat go?
The staff member rushed to Alice to tell her that the cat had gone out again. But this time, Alice was rather calm. She knew that if the cat could survive and come back to the zoo at that time, then she would be able to trace her way back again. She was no doubt a little anxious because the cat would be giving birth to the kittens soon but she knew she would be fine.
Though Alice had told everyone not to think about the cat, her eyes were fixed on the door as if she was waiting for the cat to turn up at any moment. But when the next day rain started to fall harder and heavier, her hidden concerns surfaced up. She along with some staff members went to the middle of the zoo with torches in the hope to find the cat. Would they be able to find her?
They searched for her in every nook and corner, they were sure of one thing the cat must be near the ground as there was plenty of food and rodents that she could eat. While they were searching for the cat in the middle of the night, they heard a faint cry which made them standstill at the same place. What was that noise? Was someone in danger?
They were passing near the lion enclosure when they heard the cry. For a second, they wanted to ignore and move on to find out the cat, as they headed forward they heard the same noise again. This time they couldn't ignore it because the noise seemed similar to the cat's cry. So they stood there for a moment as they wanted to check if it was Musya.
Though they had heard the noise and presuming it to be Musya's, they weren't sure about it. It could have been a dangerous animal who might be hiding behind the bush, so they had to be careful. Alice flashed the light so that she could get an idea who was inside it. Was it really Musya inside the bush?
As they expected it was the cat who was sitting behind the bush, Alice was happy that her efforts didn't go in vain. But what she saw next blew her mind, the cat was not alone something was crawling on her chest. She was trying to figure out what was it when she heard a faint cry again and saw a couple of kittens lying next to Musya. But what she couldn't understand was the thing that was crawling on her chest.
The staff and Alice wanted to look closely at the creature that lay on her chest, they were afraid as they were thinking that she was in some danger. Alice called her name to make her come out of the bush, but she refused to move an inch. This made the staff confused and they didn't know what to do. Then Alice took the brave step. What was she going to do now?
When the cat refused to come out, Alice crawled inside to take her out. The staff members were apprehensive of her move and tried to stop her but she didn't listen and went ahead crawling inside the bush. Musya saw her coming in and didn't move as if she had been waiting for her. When Alice reached inside the bush, the sight startled her.
Alongside her 4 kittens, there were baby hedgehogs that lay on her chest. Alice was surprised and didn't know what to do. For once she thought Musya was in danger and the hedgehogs have attacked her. So she extended her hand to put them down, Musya cried out loudly trying to be protective of them. What would she do now?
The cat was in no mood to be separated from her newborns and baby hedgehogs so Alice asked for a blanket from the team and wrap them all in one despite Musya's protest. They hurried to the vet again and luckily found him on time. She told the vet about the incident but she was surprised when the vet laughed at her until he opened the box.
The vet was amazed when he opened the box and he couldn't believe his eyes. He whispered in Alice's ear, "I’ve never seen anything like this." But somehow he examined the kittens and baby hedgehogs. And he was done and assured everyone that they were fine, he separated the hedgehogs and cats in different boxes. But when they returned to the room again they were amazed to find what they saw.
When the staff returned after a while, they saw that the mother had moved the kittens to the box where hedgehogs were and she sat in the middle of box snuggling all her kids. They were surprised to see the baby hedgehogs were not hurting Musya or her young kittens. But Alice was worried about the kittens, she had to do something. What would she do?
It was strange for all the people but Musya seemed like she had adopted all the hedgehog's babies, they too seemed to understand that she was taking care of them and never tried to prick her. She would nurse the babies just like she would feed her own kittens. It was adorable but Alice knew she had to take care of the baby hedgehogs so she tried to nurse them with a bottle. Would her plan be successful?
Though she had done this to help the kittens, it seemed to her that hedgehogs found it offensive. She tried everything from giving them a bottle of milk to using syringe but the babies simply refused to eat and were starving themselves. She was surprised as she had been in the zoo for so long and she had not seen such a connection between two different species of animals before. What would she do now?
She had no choice left but to return the baby hedgehogs to their adoptive mother. And as soon as she put them in the box where the cat was, they hurried to her side. The cat too, took them all in her arms just as a mother would do and gave then all her warmth. The kittens too didn't protest as if they had too accepted their adoptive siblings. At one point she was amazed by the bond but she wanted to know where did the cat find the baby hedgehogs?
She tried to find the truth and went to the same place where she had found the newly formed family. After investigating further, she found out about the hedgehogs’ mother. When she came to know about the truth, she was aghast and touched. The hedgehogs’ mother had died on the same zoo ground and it seemed like had been hit by a lawnmower.
But she was unclear whether she had given birth to the kitten at the time or not at the time she had found the babies of the hedgehog. But whenever she might have rescued the babies, she had done a remarkable job which any new mother would be apprehensive to do. She had shown that animals too have emotions and they can be understanding just like humans.
Musya continued to take care of the hedgehogs just like her own kittens defying everyone's preception and blowing their minds with their bond from time to time. Alice kept a close eye on kittens as well as the baby hedgehogs so that all their needs were being fulfilled. Baby hedgehogs used to prick their adoptive mother now and then while playing and she would cry out loud as any other mother would do. This whole sight was truly amazing for the staff and the visitors that used to visit the zoo.
Alice thought of posting some photos and videos so that the other people who couldn't come to the zoo could watch them. And as soon as she put the photos online, she was surprised by the overwhelming response that she got. It didn't take the videos and photos too long to circulate over the globe and everyone around the world was in the awe of their bond.
Often cats are presumed to be cold and are surely not everyone's preferred choice of a pet because people are still doubtful about their nature. But what Musya did was not only remarkable but inspiring too. This incident showed that even the animals could be as thoughtful as humans. And the baby hedgehogs are pretty smart too, rather than being defensive they understood that she was taking care of them and will never hurt them on purpose. This incident showed the world that even animals could be passionate and can show motherhood even if the kids are not theirs.