Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach daily before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

In the distance, the old man noticed a small boy.  As the boy walked, he paused every so often and the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The boy came closer and the man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “I’m throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves.  When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

(Adapted from ‘The Star Thrower’ by Loren Eiseley)

Our work here is like the boy’s in the starfish story.  We believe that even though we may not be able to help every single dog who has been stranded on life’s beach, to the ones we do help, it makes all the difference in the world – and we will never stop trying. 

For beautifully hand-crafted pieces inspired by the starfish story please follow the link.  Every piece purchased makes all the difference to our dogs, present and future, so that they, and you, become a part of the starfish story too.