Since we're already thinking animals...
What's the most memorable experience you've ever had with a pet? What's the most memorable experience you've ever had with a wild (or non-domesticated but captive) animal?
I've had so many great experiences with the dogs and cats I've owned in my lifetime that it's difficult for me to pinpoint one, although choosing my cat Jimmy, with whom I had an amazingly strong connection from the first moment we made eye contact to the moment his eyes closed for the last time, is up there. This weekend, I visited the shelter where I adopted him, and just the smell of the place (not an unpleasant one, by the way) so strongly evoked the day I walked in and saw the goofiest little kitten of all time sitting in his food dish that I nearly blubbed right in their entryway.
I've also had a few really cool experiences with captive/wild animals—seeing a herd of wild mustang, riding an elephant, stroking the long neck of a gentle giraffe, making friends with a possum who learned to hang out on my back porch at dinnertime for a tasty treat—but the best thing I've ever seen in my life has got to be the buffalo who was holding up traffic by taking a nap in the middle of the road at Yellowstone, until some impatient asshole in an RV decided to nudge him with his front bumper. The buffalo got up, turned toward him, and ran head-on into the dude's grill, completely destroying it. Then he snorted and sauntered away.
It was awesome. And everyone in the line of cars on either side applauded wildly for the buffalo.
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