Pet Spotlight:
The Pets of
Jess Osterling

Not everyone has traditional pets like a cat or a dog. Some people prefer things like hedgehogs, turtles, or frogs; but Jess Osterling, sophomore at Menasha High School, used to have a pet even more uncommon.

Swim Shady, her pet eel, certainly wasn't your regular furry friend. Though she enjoyed caring for him just as much.

“He was really fun to feed and watch eat,” Osterling said. “He was a really fast swimmer, and had weird behaviors, just like swimming aggressively.”

While he may look small, she mentions that he is an Albino Senegalus Bichir eel, and they can grow up to two feet long.

Swim Shady isn't the only pet Osterling had, though. She has a black Labrador Retriever named Indie, and works for a pet store in Neenah where she comes across plenty of other animals as well.

“I run with her [Indie] every morning when I get up, play with her tons, and just give her all the attention because she's a lap dog.”

Indie is both a very beloved but also very loving pup, as Osterling isn’t the only caretaker that she is attached to.

“She loves my mom more than anything, lays on her, follows her everywhere.” Osterling said.

While labrador retrievers are known for being lap dogs that just can't get enough of human interaction, Indie even takes it a step further.

“We put her in the backyard with the gate closed,” Osterling mentions. “She ran around the house, and busted the back door gate to get to us, this went on for twenty minutes.”

She also says that she enjoys working with Pet Supplies Plus, even though a lot of her job is cleaning.

 “I always close (and take care of the) animals,” Osterling said. “That includes feeding most of them, not snakes; the snakes get fed on Saturdays. I feed the hamsters, guinea pigs, birds, and reptiles and ferrets.”