Many students are familiar with caring for typical pets such as cats and dogs, but some students at Milford High School have cared for unique animals.

There are students that have rescued an animal and help raise them and keep them as their own.

For example, Noah Poser, a junior at Milford High School, has a pet skunk named Casper.

“We rescued our skunk Casper and took out his sprayer so that he is able to stay in our house in the basement,” explained Poser.

Noah said that Casper is about 14 years old now and he lives in the basement, but doesn’t live in a cage. Noah says that Casper is soft and his diet consists of veggies and water. “He pretty much just walks around, eats and sleeps all day long. He doesn’t do much at all, but he’s pretty cool,” said Poser.

Poser is not the only student with an unusual pet.

Elexa Cary, a senior at Milford High School, owned two Indian runner ducks, who lived upstairs in her house. They eventually moved outside into a homemade pen with a duck house that was made for them.

“They had super tall necks and could run very fast, but they weren’t able to fly,” explained Cary.

Cary said one duck was named Percy and the other was Charlie. Unfortunately, there was not a happy ending for the ducks. “They died from being eaten by a bald eagle, but they were really fun pets,” said Cary.

Cary explained how she noticed that bald eagles had been taking many ducks from her lake, and one day her ducks went missing.

The relationship between pet and owner does not always end so abruptly.

Emily Lowe, a senior at Milford High school, had 12 hermit crabs at once when she was younger. “I think it’s cool when they eat their food because it’s interesting to see their claws hold their food and feed themselves,” said Lowe, who noted that it was fun to watch the crabs climb up the wire cage onto the walls. She also had fire belly toads in her room and made a terrarium. She said the most interesting part was that the toads would change color when they were scared.

Some Milford students have owned unusual reptiles.

Alex Gabli, a senior at Milford High School, has a salamander as a pet. Gabli says that the salamander’s name is Erie and is a few years old. “The salamander is friendly, and likes being held,” explained Gabli, who also says that he has made a large terrarium for him and it eats mostly crickets and different bugs. He explained how easy it is to take care of his salamander, and is very inexpensive.

Finally, some students have raised farm animals.

Miles Morris, a sophomore at Milford High School, owned 2 pigs which were household pets that lived in the house. “They got really big and giant and they almost trampled my mom once,” explained Morris. “We have a small statue of two pigs that sits in our garden to remember them,” said Morris.

Senior Audrey Petoskey is raising 26 chickens for an FFA (Future Farmers of America) project. She raises them for 6 weeks when they are just chicks. “Every day whether it was raining or snowing, I had to go outside and feed them and give them new water and clean up the fecal matter,” explained Petoskey.

While Petoskey ultimately sends the animals off to be harvested, she still enjoys the experience.
There are about 70-80 million dogs owned and 74-96 million cats owned in the United States, according to ASPCA. However, there are more people who take a less traditional route when it comes to raising animals and at MHS, students have found happiness doing this as well.