When it comes to adopting an animal, most of the time we go for something like a dog that is down on its luck. Or we go for something that is suffering from help, like a wee kitten who has been left in the street. Some people go wild and go for something totally unsuited to home life, such as having a goat running around the place or a little lamb. And while that might be cute, some people go even further.
Take the story of Peyton Haag, a Minnesota native who decided to adopt a kangaroo. Peyton noticed that he was subbing something in the region of $5 per week to a subject he knew absolutely nothing about. Having never made a purchase of this kind, he did some digging to find out that he was actually paying for the safe adoption of a kangaroo.
This happened in early January, and the 22-year-old didn’t think much of it. Having signed up to most of the major subscription tools like Spotify and Netflix, he assumed it was another subscription service. However, he noticed the same payment coming out again a week later – not many subscription services are weekly, are they?
So, he got looking into this to find out what it was. As he kept reading through his e-mails, he found something that stood out – a “thank you for your donation!” message from a charity. They informed him that his donation - $5 per week – was going towards helping animals in need, including a kangaroo who was injured called Poppy.
Haag was now the ‘adopted father’ of a poor little baby kangaroo who was badly hurt during the Australian bush fire crisis in January. realizing that he had done this after one too many beers, Haag decided that instead of canceling his drunk-dialing error he would simply stick with it.
Previously, he’d spent 5 months in Adelaide, and had worked exclusively with the kangaroos there. Pawing through his iPhone in a bid to find out what made him take out the donation, though, he found a “New Year Resoluteness” drunken list of things to do in his phone's note collection. He realized that he must have done this then, as one of the things on the list said: “FLY TO POPDY!!!”
Deciding to share his story on Twitter, he got the best part of half a million likes and used his newly found social media fame to promote groups like the Kangaroo Haven Wildlife Rescue. He also recommended providing a symbolic donation for anyone who found the story funny.
So, what was a drunken mistake ended up being a noble act that might have aided in bringing many more donations to kangaroos the world over. If that isn’t a net benefit from a bit of drunken spending, we really don’t know what is!