… but, we are late! Let’s hear it for all the kittens out there on National Kitten Day!
We didn’t forget …
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From the Desk of Pennwell Gray
Daily thoughts. Points to ponder. Soulful reflections. The Musings of E.M. Murphy.
Along with individual people, society collectively can also be quite cruel towards cats, especially the ‘unwanted’, if not despised, felines. As a good example, it was reported a few years ago that Surrey, B.C., had an estimated 36,000 feral cats, very many of which suffer severe malnourishment, debilitating injury and/or infection. And I was informed last autumn by Surrey Community Cat Foundation that, if anything, their “numbers would have increased, not decreased, in the last 5 years.”
Yet the municipal government, as well as aware yet uncaring residents, did little or nothing to help with the local non-profit Trap/Neuter/Release program, regardless of its (and others’) documented success in reducing the needlessly great suffering. That TNR program is the only charity to which I’ve ever donated, in no small part because of the plentiful human callousness towards the plight of those cats and the countless others elsewhere.
Additionally, 59 kittens and cats were rescued from a feces-filled Surrey home a few days ago. While the Peace Arch News, to their humane credit, rightfully deemed this worthy of frontpage space, Surrey’s Now-Leader newspaper didn’t give these afflicted animals any newsprint. Are these felines and their suffering worth so little? [Email the Now-Leader to let them know your thoughts on this atrocious neglect of feline suffering: edit@surreynowleader.com]
At age 54, I’ve long observed that higher human intelligence is typically accompanied by a seemingly proportional reprehensible potential for evil, or malice for malice’s sake. …
Dogs also get abandoned/abused but not nearly as prolifically as do cats; even cats that had been house pets before being cowardly, cruelly abandoned. … Perhaps resulting from past bulk contemptible treatment of their species, cats already innately sense that they’re somehow meant to be but a popular target of persecution as they’ve been throughout history. Also, with their reptile-like vertical-slit pupils and Hollywood-cliché fanged hiss when confronted, in a world mostly hostile toward snakes, cats may have a permanent public-relations problem, despite their social-media adorable-pet status.
I believe there’s a subconscious yet tragic human-nature propensity to perceive the value of animal life (sometimes even human life in regularly war-torn or overpopulated famine-stricken global regions) in relation to the conditions enjoyed or suffered by that life. With the mindset of feline disposability, it might be: ‘Oh, there’s a lot more whence they came’.
Only when overpopulations of unwanted cats are greatly reduced in number by responsible owners consistently spaying/neutering their felines, might these beautiful animals’ presence be truly appreciated — especially for the symbiotic-like healthy relationships they offer their loving owners — rather than taken for granted or even resented. Until then, cats may remain beautiful yet often misunderstood, prejudged and unjustly despised animals.
Thank you for reading sharing your informative, thoughtful and interesting perspective. For the love of cats and dogs, always.