1. Another vote for service animals. I had an aunt that was blind. I was always in awe of her seeing eye dog. It also taught me at a young age to let the service animal do its job and ask the owner for permission to pet the dog when they were safely seated. On top of that, it allowed me to see how a true service animal should behave. In this vein, therapy animals are also great.
2. Flo's poll today reminded me of how much I love aquarium fish. I love that most of our doctors see how calming a nice community tank can be for people waiting to see the doctor. The pediatrician is part of a much larger hospital group and they have aquariums everywhere. My kids are older, but they still benefit from the peace of watching fish. It was like that with DD15 before she went in for surgery on her thumb a few years ago. She was 13 at the time, dealt with a horrible break during a game, and from the ER visit to pre-Op stuff a couple of days later, the fish were calming. My cancer hospital also has aquariums all over. I always take a seat right next to the one in my doctor's area to try and calm my nerves.
3. Beasts of burden played a critical role in humanity for ages. Think of all of the animals that used to do the jobs of things like cars and tractors.
I used to work in a team of corporate/business writers. We went through a phase where one of the guys would put out daily haiku challenges just to have some fun and remind us of our creative sides. It's not a masterpiece, but I couldn't resist...
There's too much to do
Why can't there be five of me
One day I'll miss it
dear Leebee.
two mice who help bring joy to so many including each of us.
all kinds of animals 
- I've always been fascinated by them instead of finding them scary.
