History Main / PetBabyWildAnimal

* ''FlyAwayHome'' is about a girl who rescues a nest of goslings to adulthood, and then must teach them how to fly and then migrate for the winter. Here, the girl enjoys a compromise, the birds are returned to the wild, but her farm is their regular migration destination in the spring. This was VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: They were experimenting with geese (which are in no way endangered) as a way for finding ways to [[http://www.operationmigration.org/index.html reintroduce Whooping cranes]], raised in captivity, to the wild.
* ''BornFree:'' BasedOnATrueStory about the difficulty of reintroducing a lion raised in captivity to the wild.
* ''TwoBrothers'' has each of the two tiger cub brothers being raised as pets. One of them is kept as the pet of a child, however after it kills the family dog, it is sold to prince that trains it to be a fighting tiger. The other is kept by a hunter, but is confiscated when he is arrested and sold to a circus. When both tigers escape, the hunter explains to the child that tigers raised in captivity tend to become man eaters if they escape to the wild, because they never learn how to hunt.
* The movie ''Cheetah'' is about two American teenagers who find an orphaned cheetah cub while vacationing in Kenya. When they have to return to the U.S., they plan to release her back into the wild. Unlike most examples, they do acknowledge the difficulties involved and get advice from a game warden on how to teach their cheetah how to hunt for herself and survive in the wild.

* This is Botan's origin story in ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'': Kyou found the baby boar on its own in a field and took it in. Botan seems to have adapted perfectly to domestic life (though he has a habit of following Kyou to school), and even as an adult boar five years later is extremely well-behaved.

* In book three of ''[[TortallUniverse Protector of the Small]]'', Kel kills a centaur who had been keeping a kidnapped baby griffin. [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Griffin parents kill people who handle their young]], so she's stuck caring for him until they can be found and the situation explained. And he is far from cute, putting scars on every finger and breaking a few, gouging her head and back, refusing to be confined, attacking her pets... Caring for him is a ''duty'', and that's how she treats it. She doesn't name him and tries not to get attached, understanding that he's a little monster and knowing how this will end, but is still sad for a bit when his parents come to reclaim him. The baby griffin doesn't look back, and before long Kel's sadness is simple relief.

* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki befriends [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kerai/1118421418938.jpg Yamamaya]], a stray Iriomote wildcat. In contrast to her abysmal luck with domesticated cats, the wildcat takes a liking to her and even fends off her feline antagonist Kamineko. Sakaki initially leaves him in the wild, as she knows that this species is endangered and should not be kept as a pet. However Yamamaya later found its way from Okinawa to Japan to find her after its mother was hit by a car, and is staying with Chiyo-chan until Sakaki gets her own apartment.

* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki befriends [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kerai/1118421418938.jpg Yamamaya]], a stray Iriomote wildcat. In contrast to her abysmal luck with domesticated cats, the wildcat takes a liking to her and even fends off her feline antagonist Kamineko. Although this species is endangered and could not be kept as a pet, Yamamaya later found its way from Okinawa to Japan to find her after its mother was hit by a car, and is staying with Chiyo-chan until Sakaki gets her own apartment.

* Done in the 9th ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movie, of all places, with May and Manaphy. Also occured a couple of times in the series, in which a character nurses an injured wild Pokemon back to health and then sets them free.

* ''FlyAwayHome'' is about a girl who rescues a nest of goslings to adulthood, and then must teach them how to fly and then migrate for the winter. Here, the girl enjoys a compromise, the birds are returned to the wild, but her farm is their regular migration destination in the spring.
** VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: They were experimenting with geese (which are in no way endangered) as a way for finding ways to [[http://www.operationmigration.org/index.html reintroduce Whooping cranes]], raised in captivity, to the wild.

* In ''[[SwordOfTruth Stone of Tears]]'', Richard adopts Gratch, a baby gar (winged man-eating monster) after Richard kills its parents (who, of course, were trying to eat him), and eventually sends it out into the wild before he can be discovered and killed. Gratch returns in the later books to help out at various times.
** Goodkind later retconned this and changed it so that gars were not actually wild animals: they were built from scratch to imprint on wizards with the right kind of magic and become extremely loyal to them.
* In Jean Auel's second EarthsChildren book, ''The Valley of Horses,'' her main character Ayla does this twice. In the first instance she raises a foal (whose mother she killed and crafted materials from) and later released it to be with other horses. Said horse later returned to her and gave birth to a foal. The second instance is when she adopted an injured cave lion cub which she incidentally named "Baby". After it left her to be with other lions, it proceeded to maul a man who would later be her husband. Oh yes, Ayla's a cavewoman and she's supposed to be the first person to domesticate wild animals.

* Rex in ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' (also doubling as the best excuse for [[FanService a former S-Clubber in her knickers]] ever).

* In ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 3 adopted a wild baby skunk in "Operation: C.A.M.P." Later, he was introduced into KND as Numbuh 6.
** Who then got the WeCanRebuildHim treatment.

** [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship Is Magic]] takes the trope a little further by giving [[FunPersonified Pinkie Pie]] a pet alligator - Gummy.
*** Fluttershy has a wildly disparate horde of animals living on her property, although it's not clear whether they're pets or squatters; she loves them all nonetheless. All told her little animal habitat appears to be an aversion, as ponies in this incarnation of the franchise are sort of [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows stewards of nature]], with the care of wildlife falling under the domain of earth ponies[[note]]"vanilla horses" without unicorn horns or pegasus wings, but an innate connection to the planet[[/note]]. Fluttershy is a bit of an oddball, as a pegasus specializing in animal care instead of weather manipulation; Fanon generally has it that she's actually a trained professional running a proper wildlife sanctuary on behalf of the local park service, averting the usual UnfortunateImplications.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "The Jiggler" revolves around this. Of course, since this is [[WorldGoneMad the Land of Ooo]], the baby wild animal in this case (the eponymous Jiggler) is an UglyCute little monster that [[OurMonstersAreWeird looks like two black-and-white balls stuck together, can stick its four noodly limbs out of about ten different orifices, and eats drawings right off the paper]].

* Wolves tend to subvert this. While a wolf is willing to (grudgingly) submit to a human, he will attempt to take charge and force his 'master' to submit, at the first given opportunity. Although cases where the wolf remained on good terms with the person who raised it, are not unheard of.
** Of note, wolves are fairly manageable for those who know what they're doing and have the proper means (and licensing) to own one. On the other hand, wolf-dogs, due to the mixing of wild and domestic ancestry, are often so extremely unpredictable that they simply cannot be kept as pets even by very experienced people.

* Cubbi adopted an orphaned wolf cub whom he named Loopy in the ''GummiBears'' episode, "Loopy, Go Home". In the end of the episode, after Loopy is all grown up, Cubbi releases Loopy back in the wild [[BigBadassWolf after he saves Cubbi and Gruffi from a poacher]].

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' had a story arc in which Calvin found and brought home a baby raccoon; he had it for a day or so before it died of illness. Besides showing the rarer compassionate side of Calvin, the story also explained that death was sometimes inevitable, and the best you could do was make the victim comfortable.
** What do you mean, "sometimes" inevitable?
*** To a ''six year old'' it is.

* the ''{{Discworld}}'' fiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6697660/13/The-Discworld-Tarot The Discworld Tarot]]'' illustrates Strength with the tale of how an Assassins' Guild School teacher adopts an orphaned lion cub and it becomes, well, a house-cat for ''Assassins''. Until Lord Downey puts his foot down and insists it be returned to the Zoo where it belongs.

* In the comic book series {{Bone}}, a couple of the Bones adopt an orphaned rat creature and head out to return him to the other rat creatures. This gets pretty weird because the rat creatures are serving the BigBad. There's also a weird scene where two older rat creatures are conversing with the Bones and the Bones are acting all 'accepting of the foreign culture' and completely ignoring that the rat creatures actually don't like the way they are living, because the BigBad is a nasty dictator with magical powers.
* CalvinAndHobbes had a story arc in which Calvin found and brought home a baby raccoon; he had it for a day or so before it died of illness. Besides showing the rarer compassionate side of Calvin, the story also explained that death was sometimes inevitable, and the best you could do was make the victim comfortable.
** What do you mean, "sometimes" inevitable?
*** To a ''six year old'' it is.

* Rex in {{Primeval}} (also doubling as the best excuse for [[FanService a former S-Clubber in her knickers]] ever).

* Done in the short-lived American sci-fi show ''Surface'' - a teenage boy keeps a violent baby green lizard named Nim, and after Nim knocks a policeman unconscious somehow, the boy racks up charges for assault, grand theft auto and driving under the age limit in an attempt to save Nim from the police - he eventually ends up freeing Nim into the sea, but still has to do community service.
* Some TruthInTelevision examples have appeared on various AnimalPlanet shows, often accompanied by cautionary messages that [[DontTryThisAtHome wildlife rehabilitation should be left to professionals]]. In one noteworthy case involving a raccoon, the warning was probably unnecessary, as the hand-reared raccoon had trashed most of its rescuer's house and refused to stay away even after being relocated to the nearby woods.

* Parodied on CloneHigh. Ghandi and Gengis Khan kidnap rival school GESH (Genetically Engineered Superhuman High)'s mascot as a sports prank, only to discover it's not a kid in a costume, but a genetically engineered creature with a zipper. After playing with Geshy in a "best friends" montage, Ghandi realizes he should release Geshy into the wild. Geshy's sad to leave, but goes, only to prove an exceptionally brutal -- and hungry -- predator. Cue Ghandi's NotSoInnocentWhistle as he leaves.
* Cubbi adopted an orphaned wolf cub whom he named Loopy in the GummiBears episode, "Loopy, Go Home". In the end of the episode, after Loopy is all grown up, Cubbi releases Loopy back in the wild [[BigBadassWolf after he saves Cubbi and Gruffi from a poacher]].

** Spike gets a pet [[spoiler: phoenix hatchling]] after the events of "Dragon Quest", though in "Just For Sidekicks" it's revealed in a PhotoMontage he returned the little guy to his parents.

*** Fluttershy has a wildly disparate horde of animals living on her property, although it's not clear whether they're pets or squatters; she loves them all nonetheless. All told her little animal habitat appears to be an aversion, as ponies in this incarnation of the franchise are sort of [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows stewards of nature]], with the care of wildlife falling under the domain of earth ponies[[hottip:*:"vanilla horses" without unicorn horns or pegasus wings, but an innate connection to the planet]]. Fluttershy is a bit of an oddball, as a pegasus specializing in animal care instead of weather manipulation; Fanon generally has it that she's actually a trained professional running a proper wildlife sanctuary on behalf of the local park service, averting the usual UnfortunateImplications.

* In the beginning of ''Chii's Sweet Home'', the title character is a stray cat separated from her mother and siblings. Not quite the same thing, but it took a while to get used to the people who eventually found her (who don't know her story).

*** Fluttershy has a wildly disparate horde of animals living on her property, although it's not clear whether they're pets or squatters; she loves them all nonetheless. The trope application is kind of unclear; ponies in this incarnation of the franchise are sort of [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows stewards of nature]], with the care of wildlife falling under the domain of "earth ponies"[[note]]"vanilla horses" to us rational folk[[/note]] (Fluttershy is a bit of an oddball, specializing in animal care even though she's a pegasus, which typically are in charge of the weather). Fanon generally has it that she's actually a trained professional running a proper wildlife sanctuary on behalf of the local park service, averting the usual UnfortunateImplications.

*** Fluttershy has a wildly disparate horde of animals living on her property, although it's not clear whether they're pets or squatters; she loves them all nonetheless. The trope application is kind of unclear; ponies in this incarnation of the franchise are sort of [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows stewards of nature]], with the care of wildlife falling under the domain of "earth ponies"[[hottip:*:"vanilla horses" to us rational folk]] (Fluttershy is a bit of an oddball, specializing in animal care even though she's a pegasus, which typically are in charge of the weather). Fanon generally has it that she's actually a trained professional running a proper wildlife sanctuary on behalf of the local park service, averting the usual UnfortunateImplications.

* In OnePiece: the heroes meet a whale named Laboon who was adopted as a baby by a pirate crew, when the crew was about to enter the Grand Line a area where the young whale couldn't follow them (and would be to dangerous even if it could) the crew left Laboon behind at the cape near the entrance promising to return. After 50 years of waiting Laboon's caretaker informed the whale that the crew was seen trying to flee the Grand Line and had abandoned him devastating the creature.
** [[spoiler:It turns out the crew never intended to leave Laboon for so long but ended up having really bad luck. A large portion of crew became ill and separated to prevent more from becoming sick (which was what was reported as them fleeing) and the rest were sucked into a Bermuda Triangle like place and killed. All expect Brook who's powers allowed him to come back to life and who is currently traveling with the Straw Hat crew and plans to reunite with the whale and give it the dead crew's final message. [[{{Tearjerker}} A recording of Laboon's favorite song played by the last members as they died.]]]]
* Done in the 9th Anime/{{Pokemon}} movie, of all places, with May and Manaphy. Also occured a couple of times in the series, in which a character nurses an injured wild Pokemon back to health and then sets them free.

* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki befriends [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kerai/1118421418938.jpg Yamamaya]], a stray Iriomote wildcat. In contrast to her abysmal luck with domesticated cats, the wildcat takes a liking to her and even fends off her feline antagonist Kamineko. Although this species is endangered and could not be kept as a pet, Yamamaya later found its way from Okinawa to Japan to find her after its mother was hit by a car, and is staying with Chiyo-Chan until Sakaki gets her own apartment.

** In another episode one of the many Nurse Joys (and the only one with a unique appearance thanks to her deep tan) rescued a baby Magikarp that was stranded on the beach when she was a little girl. Years later the same Magikarp, which had become a rather huge specimen, rescued her when she fell overboard a ship. In the present they remain good friends. When Team Rocket attacks, the Magikarp's desire to protect Nurse Joy prompts his evolution into [[MagikarpPower Gyarados]]. After a tense moment, Gyarados shows that it's just as affectionate as ever.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "The Jiggler" revolves around this. Of course, since this is [[WorldGoneMad the Land of Ooo]], the wild animal in this case (the titular Jiggler) is an UglyCute little monster that [[OurMonstersAreWeird looks like two black-and-white balls stuck together, can stick its four noodly limbs out of about ten different orifices, and eats drawings right off the paper]].

* In the {{backstory}} of ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', Yuuichi secretly kept an injured fox, which Akiko found out about but never mentioned. When he had to go back home, he was forced to abandon the fox. [[spoiler:Seven years later, during the actual show, the town's miracles have caused the fox to return as the animal-like human Makoto, who wants revenge or at least answers as to why she was abandoned. However, the price of the wish, among other things, was EasyAmnesia, so she has no idea who she is or why she's so angry at him.]]

However, when the animal reaches maturity, the character is advised and/or pressured by the adult characters to drive it away so it can live in the wild on its own. With heartbroken reluctance, the young one complies and is profoundly upset as the animal leaves. If it happens early enough in an episode or arc, this may later result in an AndroclesLion. The fact that a creature raised in captivity will lack the necessary skills to survive in the wild will very rarely be addressed. Nature is loving and nourishing, right?

*** Fluttershy has a wildly disparate horde of animals living on her property, although it's not clear whether they're pets or squatters; she loves them all nonetheless. The trope application is kind of unclear; ponies in this incarnation of the franchise are sort of [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows stewards of nature]], with the care of wildlife falling under the domain of "earth ponies"[[hottip:*:"vanilla horses" to us rational folk]] (Fluttershy is a bit of an oddball, specializing in animal care even though she's a pegasus, which typically are in charge of the weather).