Orphan piglet and calf choose each other

She had likely been separated from her mom. She was dehydrated and scared, with a few bumps and bruises. The sanctuary had no room, so she came into the house, and there she finally stopped shaking.

The hard part was getting her to drink. She slept a lot and wouldn't take a thing, until someone tried a sports drink. She drank. She was also, in the words of one rescuer, "still pretty depressed," a line plenty of people say they relate to a little too well.

Her name is Marley, and she has standards. For a while she would drink fruit punch and nothing else. When it was time to switch to milk replacer, she suddenly hated the red. Blue was a no, and melon earned her a new title: "You are high maintenance, ma'am."

The milk had to be warm, too, or she dumped it. When she finally took it, her tail wagged and she got the hiccups. She was so young that a full belly meant a nap.

The sanctuary was already full, with 100 animals, cows and even a fish. Joseph, who's still on active duty, saved that one. Marley played with the goats until she decided she was a goat, too, and she got bold enough to bite at least one nose.

A sanctuary in Florida with about 700 acres agreed to take her. A friend was already driving a baby cow named Eli down there, and he would pick Marley up on the way. A dairy farmer had given Eli up, since boy calves don't make milk, and Eli had been separated from his mother. "They're both orphans," someone says, "so I think they're going to find comfort in each other."

Eli started the trip scared and too anxious to eat. He licked the car, trying to suckle for comfort. Somewhere near South Carolina they let the two meet, and the babies cuddled up for the rest of the ride. Eli's ear perked up for bagpipes, though he was not a fan of salsa.

Save

Eli had never seen palm trees before, or a pig. They stopped to see the ocean, and Marley ate the sand and seemed to like it. At the end of the road, a whole greeting crew was waiting. Marley got her own room in the house, and when the princess wanted more banana, she got more banana.

They felt grass for the first time and did the little happy dance they all do. Marley loves dirt and Eli loves hay, and neither one quite gets the other's habit, but they accept it. She's fearless now, and he is somehow getting even sweeter. "When they first arrived, they were orphans and they chose one another."