“They’re just as important as people, as far as I’m
concerned.” -- Shawn Smith, volunteer firefighter turned animal rescue
team member, saving cats and dogs stranded by flood waters
in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma (late May, ’19)
 |
| Charlie NYT pic |
It’s hard for me
to imagine people leaving pet(s) behind when they have to evacuate quickly. But it happens. Just think of the recent wildfire and flood
stories, including happy tales of animals saved afterwards. The latest stories came from Oklahoma, where raging
floods overtook whole towns, with people barely ahead of the waters.
Animal-rescue efforts that
followed focused on “Charlie,” described as a “dog-about-town,” and pets
who had been left behind. Charlie eluded
rescue teams for a while, but finally there was a happy ending for him and
numerous pets.
Shelter cats
need YOU!
Speaking of saving, June is
adopt a shelter cat month. Let’s
go! Shelters are the worst places for
cats to be for their lives’ sake, given the horrible percentage of cats who die
in shelters. It probably starts with
feral, or community, cats, who are routinely euthanized in some shelters. (As
always, that word “shelter” is such a cruel misnomer!)
Then, life in a cage -- often one that’s far too small, lacking the
space for a cat to stand up or turn around -- can be hideous, with the Five Freedoms
totally ignored.
As a former shelter-cat volunteer, I saw these things, and worse. For instance, cats were never allowed out
of their cages. They couldn’t walk around, look around, socialize. Their food
was whatever was available (only sometimes within “best by . . .” dates), and their
interactions with people depended mostly on volunteers.
So are you ready to adopt a shelter cat, or two, yet?
At the very least, I suggest you visit your area shelter. Ask to see and meet the cats there. As that happens, ask questions and notice what
you can. Who knows: maybe you’ll leave a donation, or volunteer to help out once
a week, or drop off quality cat food and/or towels (never enough of those in
animal shelters).
Even if you don’t adopt right now, there’s plenty you can do to make life
better for shelter cats, starting with visiting them.
Will the governor sign?
New York may
become the first state in the US to ban declawing cats, putting that state on a
par with several US cities, most Canadian provinces and Britain, Germany,
Austria, Sweden and other countries where declawing is outlawed.
After breezing through the NY legislature, the bill now awaits
the governor’s signature. If it becomes
law, veterinarians performing the procedure for non-medical purposes would be
fined $1,000. Declawed cats of all sizes
often suffer for the rest of their lives from this “cruel, unnecessary
amputation,” as one legislator described it -- a procedure likened to chopping
off a human finger at the first knuckle.
(The Paw Project (https://pawproject.org/)
offers compelling arguments and a powerful video against declawing.)
Declawing became
the (convenient, couch-saving) thing to do back in the 1950s, when a vet’s
letter to the editor of the Journal of
the American Veterinary Medical Assn. advocated it as a “practical measure.”
The AVMA still
has not come out unequivocally
against declawing cats, and you have to wonder why not. However, the American Assn. of Feline
Practitioners has done so -- to its
great credit. https://catvets.com/guidelines/position-statements/declawing
“They need
rescue, they need help, and they don’t have the ability to help themselves,
like we do. “This is our home. This is our community. These are our friends and
our family. I volunteered 11 years ago to take care of that. Our animals are our family as well.” -- Shawn Smith
#
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