We’ve all heard of the Easter Bunny, but have you heard this true tale of the Easter Skunk?

It was in the Spring, around Easter time, when a stray female cat and her one tiny surviving kitten were brought to an animal shelter by someone who found them starving on the street.

Very sadly, this particular 'kill' shelter had far more homeless cats then they could possibly adopt out, and both this mother feline and her tiny kitten were soon scheduled to be euthanized.

But miraculously, they received a second chance at life – an Easter Renewal of Life if you will, - from a most unusual benefactor.

Fortunately for this newborn kitten and its mother, a 3-week old orphaned baby skunk was also dropped off at the same animal shelter, just before the two felines were to be put to sleep.

Instead of bottle-feeding the orphaned skunk, shelter workers soon decided to put the infant skunk in the cage with the nursing mother cat to see what would happen.

And amazingly, the mother cat quickly took to nurturing this baby skunk, as if it were her own offspring.

I can’t help but wonder if this wise old cat somehow knew that she too had received a great Easter gift. The baby skunk and the infant kitten quickly bonded, and nursed, and played together, and they soon became like brother and sister.

Because the animal shelter does not keep wild animals, a wild animal rescue and rehabilitation group compassionately took in not only the baby skunk, but the mother cat and her kitten, as well.

After the orphaned skunk was weaned, it was released back into the wild, and a loving home was eventually found for both the mother cat and her precious baby. Their lives had been miraculously ‘resurrected.’

Second chances in life often come about when you least expect them, and from some very unusual sources. And for these three animals, their miracle came at Easter.

©Easter 2016, Mr. Ed