Soothing touch of animals

It's not just dogs who are man's best friend. World Animal Week starts today. Its purpose is to celebrate the relationship between animals and humans and acknowledge the way they can enrich people's lives.

Dianne and Kevin Stacey opened their Leeston petting farm, Mini World, at the beginning of the year after finding they had so many animals they didn't know what else to do with them.
The petting farm is home to animals such as miniature horses, kune kune pigs, sebastopol geese, donkeys and goats.

Some had been rescued from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), while many of the Staceys' chickens and sheep arrived via the auction website Trade Me. The concept of their petting zoo was to allow older people and children to enjoy the soothing comfort of animals. MORE>>