Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, MO, during the 1950s, Judd Esty-Kendall remembers a childhood surrounded by animals. There were farm animals, such as pigs, chickens and guinea hens, as well as a variety of wild ones: falcons, raccoons, and even a flying squirrel named Peanuts that he kept in his room.
They belonged to his father, Henry, a salesman and World War 2 veteran who took in wild animals in his spare time.
But there was one animal that stood out the most.
At StoryCorps, Judd told his son, also named Jud, about the special bond Henry developed with a full-blooded wolf named Peter.
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Originally aired April 5, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
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