Happy Fuzzzzzzy Friday!! This week was packed full of stories of our fuzzy and not so fuzzy friends in the news. Although the options were plentiful when deciding on this weeks Fuzzy Friday Feature, two individuals really stood out in my mind, one for being the last of his kind in the world, the other for being the ugliest. So without further ado I present to you Lonesome George and Mugly, one sadly is a story of loss while the other a tail of victory.
It is a sad day when we have to say goodbye to one of our, in this case, not
so furry friends. It’s even sadder when his passing represents the extinction of his subspecies. Meet Lonesome George, a giant tortoise who for the last one hundred years was a resident of the Galapagos Islands and who passed away on June 24th, 2012 of old age. Lonesome George was the very last of the Pinta Island giant tortoise subspecies, a subspecies that was wiped out due to hunting by the end of the 19th century. It was assumed that the hunting of the subspecies had extinguished it completely and it wasn’t until 1971 when scientists discovered Lonesome George that there was a renewed hope to revitalize the Pinta Island Tortises. However, although countless efforts were made to mate the male with other tortoise subspecies, there was no success in producing viable offspring. Lonesome George will be forever remembered for his gentle demeanor and fierce fight to the finish trying to save his subspecies from extinction.
Our second Fuzzy Friday Feature this week comes to us all the way from 
Petaluma, California and who just won the title of ‘Worlds Ugliest Dog’. Mugly is an 8 year old Chinese Crested who is a rescue dog and although he is basking in the limelight today, it hasn’t always been such an easy road for this fierce, fuzzless, freckled friend. I thought perhaps to lighten the mood a bit after reflecting on the loss of Lonesome George a great way to end this post would be with a tribute to Mugly’s recent victory with a little poem i wrote using some info I read about him online 
There once was a dog named Mugly,
who didn’t have very much hair
Although people said he was fugly,
he seemed not to mind it or care
His face was a little bit wrinkled,
his whiskers looked more like hair plugs
And although his temper’s quite mild,
he once was accosted by thugs.
Yet Mugly pushed through all the hard times,
was rescued and now works with kids
And today he is famous for no other dog
has a face quite as ugly as his.
Congrats to Mugly! I hope you have a great weekend everyone. I am on the road next week, taking a west coast road trip so I hope everyone has a very happy and safe 4th of July and I cant wait to share all my upcoming adventures with you when I am back!
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