One of the most common ways parents deal with kids being afraid of sleeping alone if by getting them a stuffed animal to keep the company through the night. And it works! I’m not going to lie, even as an adult, having a stuffed animal in bed with you at night is pretty comforting!
Well, as it turns out, us humans are not the only ones who need some company during the night when we feel lonely and scared. Animals need it too, and it’s as adorable as it sounds. The pony in the video below was abandoned just after birth, so he never had his mom there with him to comfort him during the first nights of his life. And although the pony was receiving the best medical care possible and all the other necessities he needed, he still wasn’t doing too great.
That’s because animals need more than food and shelter to be happy and healthy. They also need love and affection. But because the staff at the animal shelter couldn’t be there by his side 24/7, they decided to try something different and got him a massive stuffed bear that he could cuddle with anytime he felt like it.
And it turned out to be an awesome idea!
“Sadly, little Breeze has not got his mum around to keep him company,” Syra Bowden, executive director at the sanctuary said. “It’s been wonderful to see him interacting with his new teddies and cuddling up to them when he goes to sleep. They are great company for him and provide comfort during the brief periods when his carers are not present.”
The pony accepted the bear from day one and his condition even started to improve. The pony had more energy, was sleeping a lot better and even regained his appetite. Because this idea of offering lonely pets a toy friend delivered such great results, staff members are now considering doing the same for other animals at the shelter as well.
“A one-week-old foal sleeps soundly in the lap of its new surrogate mum – a jumbo TEDDY BEAR,” the sanctuary wrote on YouTube. “Breeze the bay pony was found abandoned on Dartmoor National Park just a few hours after his birth. Unable to find his mother, the tiny foundling was stumbling hopelessly around the hillside trying to suckle mares. By the time rescuers from a local equine sanctuary had arrived to help, Breeze had collapsed in a state of severe shock and dehydration.”
More about this lovely story here: