Mario’s dying wish was to visit his giraffes one last time. The 54-year-old zookeeper, terminally ill with cancer, was wheeled into the giraffe enclosure of the?Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo in Rotterdam, Holland, and received much more than he or anyone else expected. In a touching moment that conveyed the emotional complexity of our fellow animals, one of the giraffes approached Mario’s portable hospital bed and planted what appeared to be a kiss upon the face of the mentally-disabled man who had spent his entire adult life caring for the gentle, long-necked creatures.
Many readers might dismiss the giraffe’s farewell gesture as meaningless and anthropomorphic. But it’s been well-documented that animals, especially “higher” animals such as mammals, share and exhibit the same level of emotional complexity that humans do. I encourage anyone who doubts this to check out the book?When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by?Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and?Susan McCarthy.
This news comes at a time when a photo of a smug exotic hunter sitting atop a slain giraffe made the rounds on Facebook. Often it seems as if humans have less compassion for life than the animals we consider our inferiors.
Mario’s request was realized by the efforts of the?Ambulance Wish Foundation,?a charity group that grants terminally ill people their dying wishes.
Edited/Published by: SB
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Joseph Guyer?lives in Texas. An ad man by trade, he firmly agrees?with Bill Clinton that there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be cured by what is right with America. You can read more of his work at?Liberals Unite,?DemoNews, and SenaReider. You can also follow him on Twitter?@joerobguy.