Many of the properties were basically junkyards. Unfixed cats were everywhere, and the few responsible residents of the area were in a constant state of shock, at the irresponsible actions of other tenants and residents of the area, that caused so much horrible suffering, for dogs, cats and even children.
The man who cared for many of the neighborhood caste offs, couldn't even say how many cats he'd buried. I asked "30?" He said, "More than that. Way more than that."
The cats came to eat from all over the two streets, even barely owned cats, cats whose owners were still living on the streets, but didn't provide even the most basic of care.
Dangerous dogs often ran loose and killed many wonderful cats, including Chachi, tossed out by a tenant on the cross street at the end, and his sister Goldie. I can barely stand to think of all the sorrow and death and misery I encountered there and the horrible apathy of many residents, like they were already dead, had no beating hearts. I hope things are better in that area now, for the people and the animals.
The old man who cared for the cats was one of only a few people on the street at that time whom I could clearly identify as being truely human. It was that bad. And a lot of innocent dogs and cats were caught in this horror. Many died horrible deaths.
I saw Mickey first as a flash, as he darted out of the body of the old car the man set up for the cats to sleep in comfortably, shielded from the onslaught of dangerous dogs and the weather. I saw blood streaked into the white fur on his side. I asked the old man about him. The old man said the cat was very ill.
The next time I saw him I understood why. His eye, long infected by the herpes virus, had swollen with bacterial infection and ruptured. Mickey was skin and bones. I couldn't stand it.
I stalked the car the next morning, with my homemade fishing net. I came up on his blind side, walking soft like a cat. When in position, I let him see me. When he darted. startled, for the front exit, I was waiting, with my net.
I took him immediately to the vet. Donations came in, to help cover his eye removal surgery. Mike and Linda in Portland, a couple I've never met, covered most of it. The Cat Blogospherees also chipped in.
Mickey, a long lanky adult male, weighed in at only 5 pounds. He was desperately ill but he survived. He buddied up with a second cat I brought back here from the colony--a young male named Brambles with a severely inflamed eye, also from herpes. The vet said if I didn't treat him, he would lose his eye, too. So, Mickey and the younger Brambles shared the same holding cage here, while I treated both. Brambles brother was killed two weeks later when a Long haired yellow dog, came through and killed almost 20 cats. Brambles and Mickey would have been killed, too. Brambles is still here, awaiting a home of his own he'll likely never get. So here he will likely stay and that's fine.
I guess the dog was left behind when someone moved by accident and they retrieved him. That killer dog should not have gone back to anyone. Wherever those people moved to, with that killer dog, that dog will kill again. And again and again. Why do people shrug as if it is nothing, when a cat is shaken to death or torn apart by a free roaming dog? I want to know why. If a dog killed my cat, that would be a dead dog. It's always on the news when someone's dog is attacked by another dog, but if a cat is attacked and killed by a dog, it's like its nothing.
It's almost like the difference between men and women, the relative values assigned their abuse or deaths, that is.
I got an inquiry about Mickey from a Canadian no less. The new laws had just gone into effect, that U.S. citizens had to have a passport to pass into Canada. I didn't how I'd get Mickey to his new home. I knew this was the home for him. I knew this was a once in a lifetime home for Mickey and I wanted him to have this chance.
Fortunately, I"d met a cat loving woman in Corvallis, who briefly (one time) fostered for me. She thought it was nothing, to drive me up to Bellingham with Mickey. We went one Saturday and met Marianne at a predetermined spot. I was immediately impressed with this extremely cheerful fun loving woman, who once worked as a clown and now works with disabled kids. I am so glad Mickey went to Marianne. She sends me new photos and updates all the time. I hope to one day get my passport so I can visit her and Mickey in Surrey. Until then, I love the photos she sends.
Mickey was a cat without hope or future, on deaths' door and look where Mickey is now!
Mickey in the old car, before I netted him.
Mickey at ten pounds, after being with Marianne awhile.
Mickey now. Marianne, his Surrey, B.C. adoptor, just sent me this updated photo today.
I remember seeing a video you made of Mickey, not long after his surgery (?) he was purring away like a smooth engine, relishing the love from you. This is so good to see him now he's recovered. He's a swell fella now, landed happily on all four paws.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed in recent UK TV dramas the frequency that cruelty to cats is featured as a spoken "joke". Often a shorthand to show a mean character threatening a female, often an older female too. I think you are right about animal abuse reporting reflecting the importance assigned to female or male human death or abuse. Look at how we treat animals, and you see how we treat each other - old saying, still stands in my book.
Yes, that was Micky. Marianne has used that video in her classes even, to teach her students. She is an amazing and optimistic person. Midori too is so funny you wouldn't believe it, if you met her, hysterical with a perfect sense of comedic timing. She and her husband are also amazing in that they participate in historical reenactments, create clothing to match the era, participate in educational enactments at museums, forts, just really interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs for animal abuse, it is true, the way we treat animals and learn to, when young, transfers up into how we treat many living things, including one another. I didn't do a good job of communicating that belief of mine in the video Save the Kittens. Save the World. But that's what I meant.
I saw the Palin turkey video. I saw her nudging the man she stood next to, when pardoning the one turkey. In her pardon statement saying "I, Sarah Palin, friend to creatures great and small..." then the wink and elbow nudge, indicating she was lying about that statement, and thought it a good joke, I thought it was crass. Yet it was realistic, in the way we all treat the animals and the gift of life our planet represents.
There is one religious group calling for a worldwide change to a vegetarian diet, as a means to save the lives of so many people in the world. They allege the change would allow more people to be fed and vastly reduce carbon emissions to save more lives as a result of global warming. The religion I grew up in espouses a vegetarian lifestyle because it's healthier. When I know the diseases and parasites common just to the housecat and how many are zoonic, it can freak you out, if you think about eating meat. Toxoplasmosis is one parasite whose transmission to humans is almost always linked to the cat. In reality, the most common way that humans contract toxoplasmosis, is from handling raw meat or eating undercooked meat, or, from hanging out around bird farms, like that turkey farm, or with livestock. Anyhow...
Think about all the diseases humans get. Animals and birds get these too, only they are not diagnosed before slaughter and meat eaters ingest all that. I remember one phrase, taken from my own original religious upbringing, that stuck in my young brain, describing what you eat when you eat meat "scrophulous tumors". That stuck in my brain to this day.
What a great story. Fits right into the Christmas spirit you describe, as in giving a living thing what it most needs :).
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the Palin video, it sounds in a similar vein to a newsclip from 1990 when the UK was at the height of the BSE abomination - John Selwyn Gummer the then Minister for Agriculture tried to force feed his four year old daughter a beef burger for the cameras, to encourage the public to buy and eat British beef. One whole clip made of nothing but cynicism, careerism and cruelty.
ReplyDeleteMickey sure looks comfy on that bed.