Tricycle is a three-legged rescue golden retriever who lives at the Horse Creek Stable Rescue Sanctuary in Mineral Bluff, Georgia.
What sets Tricycle apart is that just as any human would do, he mourns his animal friends after they die.
“Like many of us, there is a sense of loss that we all need to work through,” sanctuary owner Lester Aradi said. “Animals also have that sense of loss.”
Whenever an animal friend dies at the Georgia animal sanctuary, for sure, Tricycle will be there to mourn their passing. It started four years ago after Lester and his wife Diane buried Major, a rescued St. Bernard/mastiff mix, on their property.
Tricycle was there are they buried Major. The next day, they “spotted him laying on Major’s grave.”
“It touched us so much that we posted pictures on Facebook,” Lester shares.
Recently, another animal friend crossed the Rainbow Bridge and sure enough, Tricycle was there to mourn his friend’s passing. His 21-year-old alpaca friend, Trixie, had just passed away.
In the sanctuary’s Facebook page, Diane and Lester shared a photo of the mourning dog and noted that he will mourn for “typically three days.”
“He normally spends his day laying on the gravesite until he comes in at night,” Lester adds.
Tricycle stars in his very own book but he shares the sanctuary with a host of other animals such as goats, horses, llamas, alpacas, as well as other dogs.
“We are a foster home for many larger animal rescue groups who place animals with special needs in our care,” says Lester.
Because of the wide variety and the number of animals he has met over the years, Tricycle tens to stay connected with them even after they have passed on. It’s an effort that’s shared by his owners.
“Every animal that has passed over the Rainbow Bridge has been buried on our farm so their spirits can live on where they spent the latter years of their lives,” Lester shares.
“For the smaller animals, such as our cat and dogs, we marked their grave with a circle of stones.”
The larger animals have fruit trees planted on their graves to “continue the circle of life” while allowing visiting children the chance to pick apples, cherries, and pears from those same trees.
Replaced!