In the midst of despairing news from Gaza, Ukraine, not to mention other major trouble spots of the world not on our front pages like Haiti and Sudan, that wants to make us turn off the radio, TV, or even the internet, comes at least one story that gives us the warm fuzzies. Every once in a while we need that.
This is about an Oklahoma chiropractor named Joren Whitley who treats animals as well as people. Primarily, his animal patients are dogs but several weeks ago he was called to treat a giraffe, privately owned and raised by a woman after the mother had rejected the giraffe when several months old.
It’s not the first time he has treated a giraffe; he’s gone to South Africa where they are endangered due to poaching, a major problem for many wild animals killed as trophies. Conservationists estimate only 97,000 to 117,000 giraffes still live in the wild. Giraffes under human care behave more like dogs than wild creatures, nuzzling their caregivers.
Prayer for the Day
You have given us more species than we can count, O God,
But in so many cases, we have not cared for them;
You have made us stewards of not just the earth,
But of all life on this planet in its wonderful diversity.
Grant, O creator of Life, that we take our responsibility seriously,
Protecting all life, even that beyond our imagination.
In the name of the One who cares for us all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
To many people's surprise, the United States is part of the problem. Between 2006 and 2015, the United States imported 21,402 giraffe-bone carvings, 3,008 giraffe-skin pieces and 3,744 giraffe hunting trophies.
Center for Biological Diversity
God is only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He keeps on just inventing things.
Pablo Picasso, French artist (1881-1973)
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth o every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1: 24-25
In the midst of despairing news from Gaza, Ukraine, not to mention other major trouble spots of the world not on our front pages like Haiti and Sudan, that wants to make us turn off the radio, TV, or even the internet, comes at least one story that gives us the warm fuzzies. Every once in a while we need that.
This is about an Oklahoma chiropractor named Joren Whitley who treats animals as well as people. Primarily, his animal patients are dogs but several weeks ago he was called to treat a giraffe, privately owned and raised by a woman after the mother had rejected the giraffe when several months old.
It’s not the first time he has treated a giraffe; he’s gone to South Africa where they are endangered due to poaching, a major problem for many wild animals killed as trophies. Conservationists estimate only 97,000 to 117,000 giraffes still live in the wild. Giraffes under human care behave more like dogs than wild creatures, nuzzling their caregivers.
Prayer for the Day
You have given us more species than we can count, O God,
But in so many cases, we have not cared for them;
You have made us stewards of not just the earth,
But of all life on this planet in its wonderful diversity.
Grant, O creator of Life, that we take our responsibility seriously,
Protecting all life, even that beyond our imagination.
In the name of the One who cares for us all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
To many people's surprise, the United States is part of the problem. Between 2006 and 2015, the United States imported 21,402 giraffe-bone carvings, 3,008 giraffe-skin pieces and 3,744 giraffe hunting trophies.
Center for Biological Diversity
God is only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He keeps on just inventing things.
Pablo Picasso, French artist (1881-1973)
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth o every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1: 24-25