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| Name: |
Honey Bee
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Age: |
One and a half years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Calico
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| Home: |
Seattle, Washington, USA |
We
met Honey Bee at the beginning of a vacation last winter at Animals Fiji,
a little shelter and clinic. She started life as
a Fijian stray cat, and is now an extraordinary spayed lady. She was so
darling and affectionate that we decided to import her to the US.
It's actually quite easy to import dogs and cats into the US. All they need
at the border is a rabies vaccine and certificate of good health from a vet.
It was actually my second time importing animals into the US, as I'd brought
five kittens out of Egypt from this shelter. Because we
already have rabies in the US, as a country we're not ultra-careful about
animal imports from abroad. Countries like the UK and Australia, and the US
state of Hawaii have very strict requirements about blood testing and quarantines.
Honey Bee had to ride in cargo from Fiji to LA, since Air Fiji didn't allow
in-cabin pets. (They treated us like we were total nutjobs - I don't know if
they'd had people ship an animal before. It took a lot of long phone calls
and confusion to explain what we wanted.) In LA, we switched her to a soft
little airplane carrier and she was in the cabin.
She got her name because she's so sweet, and she has honey bee sort of
coloring, too. I wanted her to have a cute girlie-girl name. Honey Bee was
born with two deformed eyes that didn't work, and they've been surgically
removed. She never lets blindness slow her down, and loves going on walks
outside always on her harness and leash. When hiking, she will ride on her
human's shoulders and backpack when she gets tired. Watching her navigate her
world, people don't even notice that she's blind right away, and are simple
impressed that she goes on walks like a little dog. Honey Bee has an awesome
life, and loves showing people that special needs pets are just as wonderful
and worthwhile as other pets. We're currently working on developing plush
toys based on Honey Bee and two other great disabled rescue animals.
You can see many more pictures on
her Facebook page,
and here is her most popular video.
See more images of Honey Bee!
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