Come back as a peacock, not a donkey!

 Disaster prep for pets

A few posts ago, I raised the need for pet parents to protect their pets when disaster strikes, especially now when such events just keep happening.  I proposed that we all prepare a pet disaster kit by the end of this month.  Well, here we are and here I am, to request an extension on timing.

I’ve started putting together a big bag of needed stuff – but I’m not finished yet. Further, I’ve decided to hope that when the emergency comes, we’ll be told to “shelter in place,” something Mercer County officials have said is most likely.  It’s also easier to plan for: fewer things needed, taking up much less space and staying at home, even if in the basement.   

For Billy and Jersey, my two cats, here’s what I’ve collected so far: canned cat food for 3 days; can opener; 4 one-gallon jugs of water for multi purposes besides adding to food, drinking and rinsing hands; food and water bowls; small flashlights and a lantern good for 50 hours.

Also included: 2 giant paper towel rolls; a couple towels; liquid soap; a notebook and pens/pencils; emergency radio that will play all the time; cutlery, including spoons for dishing out; first-aid kit; handiwipes; plastic trash bags; toothbrush and paste (for me).

Any corrections or suggestions, readers?  For instance, I’m unsure how to handle kitty litter pans.  

The eggs & us

So we humans are in an uproar over the price and scarcity of eggs!  Pity chickens, 50.5 million of whom died from the avian flu in 2022 (the worst animal health disaster in American history) -- and 40 million of the birds (chickens, turkeys and others) who died were egg-laying hens. 

That’s an “OMG! fact,” for sure, easily explaining the current egg supply and price problems, along with the rising costs connected with farming.  We have inflation, while chickens and other birds have death because farmers are federally required to kill even their healthy chickens to stop the spread.  

A donkey’s so-called life

My inner animal advocate took me to the movies last week to see EO, the story of a donkey (whose name suggests a donkey’s sound).  While very sad, it’s also probably a true life story for a typical donkey:  “Life is hard.  And then you die.”

The movie itself is beautifully, dramatically filmed, with numerous close-ups of the donkey, aerial views of scenery he travels through and, unfortunately, the people he encounters along the way: mostly horrible human beings.  As with so many other situations pairing animals and humans, the animals are the most noble.

In fact, since I didn’t need my sensitivity to animal suffering increased, EO mostly served to increase my shame at people’s behavior and grow my misanthropy.    https://tinyurl.com/57jyx7ah

Even peacocks can retire

Harry, Jim and Phil, three aging peacocks, earned their recent retirement after years beautifying the 13-acre grounds of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, in NYC.  They were the last of a peacock series that started with gift chicks from the Bronx Zoo.

The birds had the “run” of the spread, free to strut, preen and roam in their parklike setting.  Then they could rest up in a hutch designed to be consistent with the cathedral’s Gothic architecture -- not too shabby.  

A soft life, maybe, but age and occasional injuries -- and the presence of red-tail hawks -- prompted reconsideration of replacing the retirees with small, vulnerable peachicks.  In any case, Harry, Jim and Phil will take life easier at Animal Nation, a nonprofit rescue center and sanctuary in South Salem, NY.  There, they may even continue to enjoy their favorite foods: almonds and kale. 

Pandemic pet population

More than 23 million American households – nearly 1 in 5 nationwide – acquired a dog or cat during the pandemic, reports the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).  The question, of course, is how many of those adoptees are still homed and happy.  Here’s hoping!  

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