A heart warming and inspiring real story shared by one of GentleWays solid supporters!
This is the story of how I helped one living creature live more freely.
In January 2025, I moved my 95-year-old mother to a seniors’ home in Hull, Gatineau. Like many such places, it struggled with staff shortages and stretched resources. Each visit was bittersweet—seeing my mother’s health decline was hard enough—but what weighed on me most was not in her room. It was waiting by the elevators: a small rabbit in a 4-by-4-foot cage, under bright lights, day and night.
The rabbit was meant to be a “comfort animal,” but there was nothing comforting about its life. It sat alone on paper flooring, surrounded by noise and footsteps, with no darkness, grass, or softness—none of what a rabbit needs. I learned it was let out only occasionally, maybe an hour or two a week. I could not get the image out of my mind.
I contacted the SPCA, and to their credit, they inspected the situation. Soon, I saw small changes—a feeding schedule, proper food, a water dispenser—but the cage remained. When the rabbit was moved to my mother’s floor, I saw how withdrawn it had become, facing a corner, silent. For several long months, I kept writing, calling, and appealing—to the SPCA, to animal welfare organizations, to anyone who would listen.
Then, one day, I received an email: the rabbit has been adopted into a loving home.
I could hardly believe it. I asked for confirmation—and when I received it, I finally slept soundly for the first time in months. One life, freed.
Now my goal is broader: to end this practice of caging animals in care homes. Many organizations already bring comfort animals—dogs or cats—on a volunteer basis. We don’t need to confine gentle creatures in cages to bring joy to seniors. Compassion should never come at the cost of another being’s freedom.
— Mehrdad (Mike) Farbod