Written by: Safal Gautam - 22016, Grade XII
Posted on: 24 December, 2021
Friendship, a simple word, yet it carries a very deep meaning when you connect it with someone you are especially close with. Friendship is such a bond that you can have it with anything. May it be a Human, Animal or even in some cases some inanimate objects. As much as it is obvious from the title, here I am gonna talk about the special bond, a friendship that Humans tend to share with animals.
Wikipedia says, “Interspecies friendships often form between humans and domesticated animals through mutualism in which the human gains something beneficial from their pet and the pet gains something beneficial from the human.” I would like to disagree with what wikipedia has described about the special bond. You don’t deem friendship with benefits, that is just a mutual deal and well, a sort of business relationship. Friendship is that bond which makes you spiritually connect with that being who you feel safe with and trust the most.
Getting back on topic, most of all may or used to have pets. I suppose all the people who have raised a pet from its birth or just 1-2 months of birth may have noticed how, if you make it feel safe or at home, the pet starts to warm up to you very fast. This is a type of instinct which makes even wild animals feel you are their close one even if you are genetically different.Time to time we get to hear or see news regarding the “loyalty” of pets, especially dogs, towards their owners. Instead of “Loyalty”, it should be deemed as friendship because loyal are those who treat you like their superior not equals.
Anyway, we hear how a dog chases after an ambulance after it takes away its owner due to some medical emergency. Some news also have amazing scenarios like how the dog was let in the ambulance to stay beside the owner, or how the dog waited outside the hospital the whole time. It is sad enough even to make a grown man cry…
Recently I learned of a gorilla named Kwibi, who seemed to be actually a famous animal celebrity of his time, and his caretaker, Damian Aspinall. The story starts with how Damian raised Kwibi from when the gorilla was just a little being. But Damian knew that one day he had to release Kwibi in the wild. Five years later, Damian wanted to go and see how Kwibi was doing in the wild, though he was warned not to approach the gorilla as now he had become a wild animal and there were reports of Kwibi attacking two humans. Still, Damian knew that he wanted to see Kwibi one last time.
As you may have already guessed, Damian got to meet Kwibi after five long years, after he spent hours in the river alongside the jungle Kwibi was calling out for the gorilla. At first, Kwibi was kind of vigilant but after spending some time with Damian, Kwibi refused to let go of Damian and introduced his Wife to his caretaker.“I cannot describe the love and affection that was sipping out of his eyes when he finally knew it was me”, Damian said. The most amazing thing is not this, when the time came to part ways with Kwibi once and for all, Kwibi and his whole tribe followed the boat on which Damian was sailing and spent the night alongside Damian in his camp refusing to let Damian leave his sight.
Again, it's sad enough to make a grown man cry. Such friendships and bonds are rare, but they are not too much to be surprised about. It can happen between a tiger and a human, a lion and a human, Not all animals but fairly most animals.
