At my older son, Andrew’s, home in Minnesota where I live part of each year, one household pet is a gorgeous Siberian husky named Willow. She recently went to the groomers and emerged a well-trimmed stunning blonde, as all animals in the local dog park agreed. His family also enjoys an aquarium of tropical fish in neon green and vivid pink colors that glow in the dark.
I should have known from childhood that Andrew was someone who would always be surrounded by interesting creatures. At age five, he tried to save an abandoned baby robin by giving it (a little too much) water with an eye dropper, but he provided love and care. He was always rescuing and raising something but didn’t choose ordinary pets. My children’s book, Whoosh, tells the true story of him praying for an owl to keep as a pet, and one actually coming that we received permission from Fish and Wildlife to keep it until Andrew knew it was time to let it go.
Maybe that’s why I was not startled to enter our home one day and see a handsome full-grown woodchuck sitting on our couch. That’s right, a woodchuck! On our couch. Andrew had come across it as the local garden crew found it eating their plants. It’s life was threatened, so Andrew intervened. He planned to keep it as a pet, but I was afraid it might eat the furniture. I did not know until writing this that a woodchuck and groundhog are the same thing. That’s right. On February 2nd, we could just as easily say, “Happy Woodchuck Day,” (and I may). They are rodents in the large ground squirrel group also known as marmots. That information may confuse us further when seeing marmots sit at the edge of their underground holes and whistle!
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck? I didn’t want to find out. My son and I drove our handsome woodchuck/groundhog/marmot to a very large attractive field with clover and other good green munchies far enough away from our local garden that he would be safe. We let him loose and wished him well. Our furniture stayed safe but our conversations less exciting. That son’s profession today? He’s a medical doctor committed to the well-being of many living things. In fact, both sons are.
Ah, the excitement of raising curious children AND their unique pets!
What’s the most unusual and exciting “pet” you’ve voluntarily or involuntarily kept?
What escapades did you and your animal experience?
What would you choose if you could have any pet in the world and why?
Leave a Reply