A woman has been lauded after she went to extraordinary lengths to rescue the life of a tiny creature her partner nearly accidentally killed.
Most people would inadvertently harm a snail or small creature in their garden and think nothing of it, considering it simply ‘one of those things’.
However, Darcy Warby, who shared her story in the ‘Entomemeology’ Facebook group, demonstrated her equal love for all animals through her dedication to a minuscule snail her partner had injured.
On Facebook, she revealed: “About 8 weeks ago, my partner accidentally clipped a snail with the weed strimmer and made a hole in his shell,” and she felt devastated for the creature, realising he might not survive without his protective home.
Darcy went on: “Feeling awful, I made a split-second decision to save him and super-glue a piece of a broken shell I found so he wouldn’t dry up and die.”
“I named him Harold, and I rehabilitated him in an enclosure for a good couple of weeks and let him loose.”
At this stage, she presumably thought she’d performed a charitable act and would never encounter him again – but to her astonishment, she discovered him!
And she recognised it was definitely him, because he bore the mismatched shell that she’d helped repair.
She concluded her post by declaring: “Today I found Harold munching the bird seed – absolutely owning that mismatched shell!
“Made me feel super happy seeing him thriving! People in my life think I’m bonkers, but I’m hoping you guys understand how excited I was to see him doing well!”
In the comments, people lauded her for aiding the tiny snail and offering it a second chance at life.
One person penned: “Harold is living proof that second chances stick! Mismatched shell and all… he’s thriving! Love this so much.”
Another commended: “This post restored my faith in humanity. Thank you for your kindness toward this snail. The world needs more people like you.”
A woman remarked: “It baffles me that some folks could think Harold’s little life is unworthy. Every life is worthy. We don’t have the power to fix everything, and we would be overwhelmed trying to… but Harold is worthy of your time and effort.
“You helped him and made yourself happy. In a perfect world, we would be stewards for animals and nature.”
Someone else suggested you “wouldn’t know” he’d been fixed if she hadn’t mentioned it, saying she’d done a “great job” with the repair. She then dubbed Harold a “dapper dude”.
A woman with childhood memories of raising snails praised her, writing: “I cant love this post enough. Snails are the best.
“A family member was getting rid of an old kiddie pool, full of moss and wet sand, and there were just over a dozen snails there. We ended up keeping and raising them. Years of joy to be honest.
“When we moved, we released them to the ‘fairy garden’ beside the new house. A fountain and tons of moss and rocks and ferns and the like. We leave food scraps there still. Wonderful neighbours.”