Last month a truck filled with over 100 watermelons and cantaloupes, on its way to the Louisiana Watermelon Festival in Farmerville LA, got into an accident that caused all of the fruit to fly off the truck and smash onto the ground. Luckily, the fruit wasn't wasted nor thrown away, but rather it was donated to a local wildlife rehab, much to the delight of the 42 animals living there. On her Facebook page, wildlife rehab specialist Leslie Green shared the news, stating, "It's the Watermelon Festival in Farmerville, unfortunately this truck had a little mishap. Lucky for us YAK's Produce donated these Watermelons & Cantaloupes to the Wildlife Rehab!!! THANK YOU YAK's!!" People magazine provides more details:
It appeared that the melons crushed in the accident — which caused no injuries — would go waste until licensed wildlife rehab specialist Leslie Greene came upon the scene.
Once discovering everyone was okay, "I asked the owner of Yak's Produce, 'Well, hey, if y'all are not going to use all this watermelon that's already open, can I have it for the wildlife rehab?'" Greene recalls.
"And the owner is like, 'If it can go to another cause instead of being discarded, that would be wonderful,'" Greene tells PEOPLE.
Yak's delivered the fruits to Greene's 4-acre property, the home of River Bandit Rescue — which currently houses 42 animals, including beavers, raccoons, skunks, opossums, goats, and more. Greene passed the melons onto her furry residents.
Over on her TikTok, Greene has posted about the incident and also shared videos of the delightful creatures at the rehab cronching and monching on the watermelon, snortling and chortling as they snarfle the delicious fruit. It's a delight to watch! This one, featuring an adorable beaver smacking away while protecting its watermelon from the raccoon hovering nearby, is particularly satisfying.