Posted March 06, 2024in People & Pets
When offered a handful of grain, Stella, an alpaca, sticks out her long tongue to scoop the food into her mouth, leaving slobbery drops on the offering hand. Within minutes, more alpacas arrive with hopes to gobble up a special treat. The alpacas are part of the Rusty Stars Alpacas
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Posted January 31, 2024in People & Pets
A litter of kittens, along with their “street cat” mama, was found nearly six years ago under a busy highway bridge. Hope Animal Rescue of Iowa rescued the mom and kittens, then offered them up for adoption. One black kitten, which looked like it was struck by lightning, caught the
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Posted January 03, 2024in People & Pets
As a lifelong animal lover, when Patty Lenz turned 60, she pondered her 44-year career training horses. Realizing it was time for a change, she switched gears and began training dogs. To say Patty is a dog lover might be an understatement. With 15 dogs at home, they’ve got room
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Posted December 06, 2023in People & Pets
When Ellen Bell started beekeeping with two hives in her backyard, she never imagined she’d have nearly 6 million bees 10 years later. Bell is a beekeeper at Bell Farm, located in Runnels. She and her family lived in Altoona yet longed for a country home to establish a garden
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Posted November 01, 2023in People & Pets
When visualizing a miniature cow, what comes to mind? A cow the size of a dog? Or a goat? For reference, a regular cow weighs about 1,200 pounds. However, a miniature cow, such as the two cows owned by Cindy McGuire, each weigh about 300 pounds. That gives new meaning
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Posted October 04, 2023in People & Pets
When Liz Warner was growing up, she was afraid of dogs and avoided them during her elementary school years. When she went to college, a friend had a miniature dachshund, and her fear dissipated. So much so, she fell in love with the dog. It was then she realized she
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Posted September 06, 2023in People & Pets
In the middle of a Des Moines neighborhood is a bustling place for injured songbirds, sparrows, waterfowl, robins — anything with feathers. The Iowa Bird Rehabilitation is a nonprofit that takes in injured birds and was established by Jenni Boonjakuakul. Jenni rehabbed her first baby crow in 1999 in California.
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Posted August 02, 2023in People & Pets
As store owners get creative with increasing sales and retaining customers, one four-legged friend is all about making guests feel welcome. Dude, a Weimaraner, is the official greeter at Wild Birds Unlimited, alongside the store owner and Dude’s owner, Scott Knox. As a customer walks into the store, Dude happily
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Posted July 05, 2023in People & Pets
Kaitie and Greg Lagan left suburban West Des Moines to raise their family in rural Norwalk. The acreage included room for a pasture, and Kaitie thought a few goats would be ideal. Then she heard of an alpaca that was ill-kept and rescued the animal. After a pig had fallen
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Posted May 31, 2023in People & Pets
Some people might declare they are either a cat person or a dog lover. Brandi Munch likes both. Brandi had dogs as a youth and as an adult. After her dog passed away, she considered taking a break from having pets. “It lasted for two days,” she says. “I was
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