Yahoo! news, via People magazine, reports a happy ending (the only kind I like for animals). You can see the story by clicking below, and I also found a video.
An excerpt:
A young lion got a sweet reunion with his family after being separated.
Kiros, the young male African lion, was illegally sold as a pet when he was a cub, according to a news release from The Wildcat Sanctuary.
Staff from the sanctuary in Minnesota had discovered Kiros was missing during a rescue mission to save lions from squalid roadside zoo in Quebec, Canada. Kiros’ parents, Kim and Carl, among nine lions rescued.
“From the moment we heard about the missing cub, we hoped we might one day find him,” said Tammy Thies, founder and executive director of The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone.
She continued, “To discover that Kiros not only survived but could come to the sanctuary where his parents now live is incredibly powerful. Stories like this remind us why rescue work matters.”
The sanctuary then got a surprising call a few months later. There was a young lion, related to Kim and Carl, who was looking for home.
Staff checked photos and records to confirm it was Kiros.
Authorities had taken the lion cub and gave him to an accredited zoo, which cared for him for 18 months while a legal proceeding involving the roadside zoo in Quebec was resolved.
Staff at the accredited zoo lovingly named him Kiros, which means “lord.”
The Wildcat Sanctuary then traveled 2,280-miles roundtrip to bring Kiros back to his family in a crate, after obtaining the proper international permits. Kiros’ parents watched curiously as their son arrived at the sanctuary for their reunion.
Kiros now lives in a natural habitat with his parents at The Wildcat Sanctuary, which is hopeful that he will form a pride with the other lions, including another rescued cub named Mango, who was also saved from the roadside zoo.
Here’s a video of the rescued “cub”, who is now quite big:
All’s well that ends well. I wonder if he will recognize his parents, or vice versa.
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Here’s another heartwarmer, even though it involves a d*g. The headline tells the tale, which you can read by clicking below, but I’ll give an excerpt, and also a video. Click the headline to read:
The story:
They cuddled while they recovered. Soon, they chased each other on three legs, shared toys and rarely left each other’s side.
Last Chance Animal Rescue, the rescue organization in Waldorf where Blueberry and Meadow stayed, shared the duo’s story on social media last month. The post said the pairwould need homes after Blueberry finished rehabilitation.
“Would we love to see them adopted together? Absolutely,” the rescue group wrote. “But most importantly, we want loving homes where they will continue to thrive.”
Many peoplewanted the best friends to thrive together. Last Chance Animal Rescue said it received thousands of adoption inquiries from across North America.
A couple from Fort Washington, Maryland, who own another three-legged cat, adopted Blueberry and Meadow last week. Blueberry, 1, and Meadow, about 9 months old, have continued to adjust to their three-legged lives at their new home, sunbathing together and sharing new toys.
“Fate brought them together, right?” Rachel Clarke, their new owner, told The Washington Post. “We don’t want to take them apart.”
Clarke and her partner, Kevin Tsang, said they have a weakness for three-legged animals.
More than 2,000 people shared the Facebook post, so Clarke and Tsang weren’t optimistic. But Jamie Bazell, spokeswoman for Last Chance Animal Rescue, said Clarke and Tsang were a good fit because they understood how to raise a three-legged cat and could continue taking Blueberry and Meadow to the same veterinary clinic.
Last week, Clarke and Tsang left work early to meet Blueberry and Meadow, who were calm and welcomed pets. They chased each other around the room. Clarke and Tsang agreed to adopt them.
Now they’re in their forever homes together.
A video showing the two tripods who were adopted.
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Finally, you probably know that musician Taylor Swift has three cats on whom she dotes. A brief description:
Taylor Swift is a proud cat lady with her three felines, Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button.
The Lover singer featured Benjamin on her TIME Person of the Year cover in 2023 and later used one of the photo shoot images to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
In her Instagram caption, Swift applauded some of Harris’ proposed policies and signed her message “Childless Cat Lady” in a nod to Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance who first used the phrase, saying the United States was run by “childless cat ladies who “force their misery on the rest of the country.”
Swift has never been shy about making her cats part of her personality, and fans love her all the more for it. All three cats have made multiple appearances on her social media pages and even in some of her music videos. In 2020, the superstar’s pets were also featured in her holiday card, wearing cute winter gear against a black-and-white background reminiscent of her 2020 album folklore.
The Grammy winner has also said that her beloved cats have had some influence over her career. In 2019, she told TIME, “I have cats. I’m obsessed with them. I love my cats so much that when a role came up in a movie called Cats, I just thought, like, I gotta do this.” In fact, Swift even attended a “cat school” on set to prepare for her role.
I could say more, but this 13-ininute video does the job. Swift really is a cat fanatic.
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Lagniappe. The Number Ten Cat celebrates David Attenborough’s centenary:
Happy 100th Birthday to Sir David Attenborough
Thank you for being a friend to all animals and for helping the world to cherish us x pic.twitter.com/dkhHOB3wHv
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) May 8, 2026
h/t Michael, Debra
Awwwww. Three and a half (the lagniappe being the half) heartwarming stories that illustrate how other animals can bring out the best in humans!
Happy Caturday!
Love these Caturday upbeat stories! 🐈🐕
Thanks for such a heartwarming trifecta (and lagniappe).
Re: Taylor Swift, I’m not a fan of her music, but I like her for other things, such as her love of cats (that’s a no-brainer!) and her engagement to a decent, testosterone-laden male, which I hope will help to rehabilitate the status of people with Y chromosomes among younger females. And that’s a great picture of Benjamin Button and his chief of staff on the cover of Time.
As for the lion, it’s great that the now-grown cub will be able to live in a sanctuary, but I’m not sure that reuniting him with his parents will make either the son or the parents especially happy. As I understand it, female lions only maintain lifelong relationships with their female offspring, while male lions force their male offspring out of their prides before they reach puberty in order to eliminate them as sources of competition for the females. My guess is that they will be indifferent to one another, but I’d like to see a follow-up.
Anyway, thanks for another interesting issue of Cats In the News!
That’s a beautiful sentiment (about T. Swift) that shows great generosity of spirit.
Happy Mother’s Day, Brooke.
Outside the US (where we have our “own” population and gene pool) most of the catnapped big cats end up in the Persian Gulf countries where keeping them, while illegal, is tolerated and a status symbol.
D.A.
NYC 🗽
Happy Caturday!
Sir David looks too young in that photo to be the father of those two children! I checked, and in fact he was 36 years old.
Love these happy ending stories.
Of course animals missing limbs know the difference. They’re not stupid. What the speaker meant was that they can live normal and happy lives without all their limbs.
Happy Caturday!
Cats should have at least one day dedicated to them, and this is it. Thank you!
I wonder why the tripod cat/dog shelter decided to put them together in the first place, I’m guessing necessity and lack of space, and I bet that both were grateful for being rescued from such dire circumstances.
Maybe the Old Dutch Clock called the authorities just in time to save the lives of the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.
Your ending is so much better!