OT: And now for a cat tale…
Mar 21 2010
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One of my good friends, who I have to note is one of the best horse moms I know, has a boyfriend who is in Afghanistan right now with the U.S. Army. It will probably surprise none of you to learn that animals do not have it too good in Afghanistan. In fact, I’m told it is illegal in Afghanistan to feed or pet or befriend the feral cats (and there are LOTS of them – of course, no spaying or neutering either) because most of them are “rabid.”Â
After Oscar had been living in their office for about a month or so (they let him in and out so he could come and go as he pleased) he disappeared. The guys found out that the local version of “animal control” went around every so often and rounded up all of the cats to have them all euthanized to try to keep the “rabies” problem under control. When the commanding officer got back from a mission, he went into the office and asked where Oscar was. When they told him they thought he had been rounded up, the CO and my friend’s boyfriend immediately stormed down to the local animal control office and demanded to know “where the !$%&” Oscar was. Animal Control Afghanistan, or whatever it’s called, explained that it’s illegal to keep cats because they have rabies. The CO (who I figure deserves a medal for this!) yelled at them some more, called them morons, told them that that cat obviously wasn’t rabid, and what the hell kind of animal control system was this anyway, and demanded that they go get the cat NOW.
Very fortunately for Oscar, he hadn’t yet been sent to kitty heaven and he was quickly returned! He is now living a spoiled and protected life at our American Embassy, where he has been guaranteed a home for life.
This is a great story because:
1. The kitty is adorable.
2. The CO and I are on the same page: Sometimes you gotta just tell the morons that they’re morons!
3. I’m glad to hear one of the values we’re spreading around the world is our concern and caring for animals. Super cool.
4. Oh, and it’s a happy ending!
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Have you lived in another part of the world where animal care is at a lower level than it currently is in your home country, and did you try to make a difference and educate others? Did you have any luck with it or did you at least manage to extricate an animal from their bad situation? Tell us your stories!
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124 comments to “OT: And now for a cat tale…”
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My grandparents used to have an orange cat named Oscar, who died a couple of years ago. Apparently he crossed the rainbow bridge just in time to be reincarnated on the other side of the planet!
Where’s the “Like” button!
That was my reaction too
Brilliant story!
Here is a rescue that I found online that is working on helping get dogs out of Afghanistan. Some very scary tales there – apparently dog fighting is a big problem there.
http://www.nowzaddogs.co.uk/index.htm
Dog fighting is a big problem in much of the middle east. My husband lived in the UAE for several years and while there had a English bulldog named Anna. Everyday, while out on their walks he would get offers to buy her for incredible amounts of money. He was pretty disgusted by it the low level of respect for animals in general (with the exception of their Arabian horses of course), and this is a fairly liberal middle eastern country in terms of regard for western ideals. Anna now lives here in Canada with our family BTW.
Yay for Anna!
They may have better respect for their horses than other living creatures (including women). That does not stop them from starving, neglecting and horrifically abusing yes their ARABIAN horses (and women, and children….)
Oh yeah. Have you seen all those pictures of the horses at the EAO from the 50s and 60s? I don’t know if it’s better now, but they all were in what would be actionable condition in America. The ones who got exported to America, the land of plenty of hay, must have thought they died and went to Heaven!
What a great story!
Do you think we could send these idiots over there for a bit? Maybe they’d catch a clue!
http://moncton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-other-looking-to-breed-my-8-month-old-guy-dog-with-girl-dog-W0QQAdIdZ192895821
http://moncton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-other-Pitbull-looking-for-a-mate-W0QQAdIdZ192266945
THE BROOKE! The Brooke, the Brooke, the Brooke!
This is a British-based international charity started in the 1930s by Dorothea Brooke in Egypt. Her husband was an army officer stationed in Egypt, and Dorothea noticed that the beaten up, starving horses pulling carts round Cairo were, in fact, British horses. They were old hunters and riding horses, taken from the UK by the British Army to the war in Palestine, and dumped there when the fighting was over.
She set about rescuing them, often only to give them a safe place to die (she put a lot out of their misery). Here’s an extract from her diary in that period:
“As their ill-shod misshapen hooves felt the deep tibbin bed beneath them, there would be another doubting disbelieving halt. Then gradually they would lower their heads and sniff as though they could not believe their own eyes or noses. Memories, long forgotten, would then return when some stepped eagerly forward towards the mangers piled high with berseem, while others, with creaking joints, lowered themselves slowly on to the bed and lay, necks and legs outstretched. There they remained, flat out, until hand fed by the syces [grooms].â€
I believe copies of her diaries are available from The Brooke, you can also read a brilliant novel by Rosalind Belbin called Our Horses in Egypt, which is based on Dorothea’s story.
Nowadays the Brooke works in many many countries, and their focus is on educating people on the care of horses, mules and donkeys. They call themselves the animal charity which works with people. They had a great report out in 2008 which laid out their case: entire extended families in the developing world rely economically and socially (income to get kids to school, transporting water, getting goods to market, agriculture, transport) on donkeys and horses. Training from the Brooke’s vets and healthcare that they can provide not only transforms the lives of the equines, but also the people. I was trying to pitch an article on this report, hence my enthusiasm
Seriously – they are well worth supporting.
http://www.thebrooke.org/
This is a great video summing up their work: http://www.thebrooke.org/video.asp?id=1588&videoid=2207
Cats rule. Part of the reason I love going to the barn is to give the barn cats a good scritch. My horse loves to nuzzle them, too.
I have a stray that showed up with a NASTY infection on his paw. He is recuperating in my bathroom (QT from my own cats) right now. He is the BIGGEST mooch/love bug.
Think about how much comfort a cat (or dog, or Combat Infantry Bunny) can bring a soldier! Thanks for the great story with a happy ending. There is a great book written by a Vietnam soldier called the Cat from Huey (sp? said “whey”). It is really about the war/veteran experience as a whole, but the cat is a talisman throughout.
I was just telling someone the other day- I LOVE cats and I LOVE horses, but in such different ways, I don’t even think of them as being in the same category (because neither fall into some “not people” category)
Awww, what a cutie! He looks like my cat, Costello:
He chooses to sleep in an old ramen box, but I SWEAR TO HERA he does have a comfy bed. That he NEVER sleeps in. *le sigh*
(and yes, Costello had a littermate, Abbott, but he had to be euthanized a few years ago ;_; )
Oh, yay! Another good one for me. I’m a 45 year old American who moved to Istanbul, Turkey 2 years ago to get married. In the U.S., I was a “national championship level” dog sports competitor, and also aided Border Collie rescue and worked at the local HS one day a week.
Turkey, unbeknownst to most Americans, is a huge and relatively modern country. The cost of living in Istanbul (population 16 million) is higher than in Paris. Most stuff here is more automated than in the U.S.–for instance, most restaurant bathrooms have automatic water, automatic lights, automatic toilet seat covers, automatic paper towel dispensers, etc. If Turkey were accepted to the EU around 2015, it would by then be the most populated country in the EU.
The animal situation, however, is TERRIBLE. If you want to read about the situation and see many photos, visit http://beykozkillers.wordpress.com. Unless you visit, you’ll probably think I’m making everything else up.
In Istanbul, there are over 50,000 street dogs and 1 million street cats. The street dogs here are universally friendly, calm, polite, non-barking, and tolerate anything without ever showing aggression.
Turkey has a wonderful law requiring all municipalities to spay/neuter all street dogs and return them to the same street. Our municipality (modern, liberal part of Istanbul) actually does do this for all the dogs they can catch. However, most municipalities’ mayors say they get complaints if they release the neutered dogs. So they do one of three things. 1) blatantly violate the law and send teams out at night to shoot and/or poison as many dogs as they can find, 2) catch the dogs, spay/neuter them, then release them hours later into a far away forest with no food or water… and when they come out looking for food, they are shot by angry local villagers, or 3) keep them in “shelters” for months, until they die of disease and starvation.
Now for the “shelters”… Each section of Istanbul has a shelter, and each has about 40-60 kennel runs and some indoor stacked cages. In America, these would hold about 80 animals. In Istanbul, they hold 400-1200 animals. Males, females, huge adults and tiny newborn puppies are all put into a single kennel run, often fighting to the death without any intervention from staff. They are fed only on stale, moldy bread an occasional restaurant slop. Dogs with fatal diseases like leishmaniasis are housed together, but are not medicated or euthanized, because “killing animals is wrong.” (However, the mayor’s ordering of dogs to be poisoned in the streets apparently isn’t…)
There is NO adoption program, NADA, ZERO. In a year, most of these shelters see about 3000 animals, including many litters of puppies, and at most, 3-4 of them are adopted.
In America, we have a tendency to think that everybody loves animals, especially kids. And that it is a “good” thing to adopt animals from shelters or rescues. However, this is FAR from universal.
In relatively modern Istanbul, 95% of people are TERRIFIED of dogs and parents smile and praise children who act terrified. Even teen boys hide behind their mothers and scream pathetically if a cute little fluffy puppy approaches on leash from 20 yards away. Parents themselves grab their children and run out in front of moving cars rather than share the wide sidewalk with my Border Collie, who walks in precision heel position and looks only at me.
Basically the reception I get walking around with a 40 lb. fluffy show champion, precision-heeling Border Collie is similar to how Americans might view somebody with a brace of snarling adult tigers on leash, lunging at children.
The other 5% of Turks “like” dogs… but ONLY (terrible quality puppy-mill) purebred Goldens or Huskies bought for $2000 or more from a local pet shop. They consider all other dogs–especially mixed breed dogs–to be filthy, diseased, disgusting “beasts.” I’m sorry that I happen to have a purebred show champion here, because that seems to confirm to Turks I meet that foreigners also only want purebreds.
Even this 5% has no knowledge of dogs at all. I’ve met dozens of educated Turks here that have bought puppies from pet shops, and ALL of them–ALL–have given them to “a friend in the country” within a few weeks. Since nobody here has historically kept indoor pets, they have no idea about crate training, obedience training, leash training, house training, etc.
Typically, most owned dogs here pee and poop at will anywhere in the house… or (more commonly) are simply kept in a closet or balcony for their entire lives. Turks don’t even have a concept that dogs can be housetrained.
When we came to rent our new apartment in December, we told the rental manager and owner that we had a competition obedience/show dog that NEVER barked, and had lived indoors his entire life. They walked us over to a tiny, windowless hall closet, and said “no problem, he can live here!”
And forget walking on leash. Dogs here drag their owners down the street like crazy. Everybody has a prong collar, but they put them on upside down, with the spikes UP–that’s because there’s a traditional collar for Anatolian Shepherds that has spikes facing out to protect them from wolves. I started an online pet supply business (www.PozitifEnik.com), but have had only a dozen customers in a year, because people here don’t even know enough to look for products to stop pulling and barking…
About education… I yell and scream at people a lot.
For instance, a local florist keeps a dog on a 3′ chain inside a “house” made of cardboard… and the dog has been on the 3′ chain for YEARS. I told the florist he needed a longer leash, and that the dog would be better on the streets than living with him. He screamed back and me and threatened to untie the (very aggressive) dog to attack me. People also regularly show off their new pet shop Golden puppies by walking them off-leash next to busy city streets. I yell at them, too, but I’ve already seen three get hit by cars in two years.
When people ask about Savvy, I always say he’s a street dog, and encourage them to adopt a street dog too. They act like I’m nuts. “But street dogs are filthy and aggressive and rabid!” I say that on the contrary, street dogs are nicer than most pet shop dogs. But they basically say that anybody who would adopt an ugly street dog would be the biggest loser on earth, a pathetic excuse for a human. Dogs here are 100% disposable status symbols that say: “look, I had $2000 to spend on something I’m going to keep around for a few weeks, maximum.”
If anybody is interested in helping the plight of street dogs here, I HIGHLY recommend the SKHD animal shelter outside Istanbul (www.shkd.org). It’s run by a Brit, has wonderful life-long care for disabled street dogs, and after spaying/neutering/vaccinating, has an open-door area where the resident dogs can play in a few hundred acres of woods, then come back at night for food and shelter. By far the best shelter around, though still no adopters anywhere..
Thanks – that was very interesting. I really don’t think a lot of Americans (myself among them) understand what it’s like in some of these countries and how hard it is to effect any positive change!
WOW. That’s very very interesting!! I had NO idea things were that messed-up in a supposedly sort-of Westernized country.
Here’s a photo of the typical Turkish reaction to seeing an animal in need:
Notice the blood on this kitten–likely attacked by a tom.
People do put out food for cats, though they have no idea what kind. They mainly put out stale bread (because the Kuran says to never throw out bread… no matter how old), but a great many also put out cat kibble… featuring a whole 4% meat. We raw feed our own pets, and I raw feed street kittens, then move to half raw, half crap kibble when they grow up.
We have taken in 12 street cats and 1 street dog, all either orphaned very young, with broken legs, body scores of 1, bite wounds, etc. We found homes for 9 of them… adopted one cat ourselves, 1 was returned to the street and vanished, and I still walk half a mile each day to our former apartment to feed the remaining 2, whom I also built an insulated house for. We have paid to spay all the females and have neutered one of the males.
Spay/neuter is a great solution in America, and also for street dogs here (few of them in our part of Istanbul–maybe one every 5 blocks). But if you consider that we have wall-to-wall apartment buildings for over 75 square miles… and each building has 5-15 resident cats in the parking lot… spaying a few females out of pocket doesn’t help one bit. I spayed all the females at our old building except for 1 that I couldn’t catch. In just two years, this female has had three litters, and there are now another dozen unspayed and uncatchable female kittens. Even if I could get those, there are buldings literally a few yards away that have their own populations of well-fed, unspayed females who have litters twice a year.
All it would take is for every family to catch and spay one female cat, and the entire population would become a non-breeding one. I just found out last month that the municipality has a vet clinic that spays street cats for free. But nobody will do that, as 90% of Turks are even afraid to touch a cat or a kitten! All the doctors here tell people to get rid of cats before they have children, as cats suck the breath from babies, and cat hair causes SIDS.
In our old building–36 apartments, and about 150 residents–I tried to collect the equivalent of $1/month/apartment to pay for food and spaying for the resident cats. Nobody would pay except for the other two people who also fed the cats. All three of us cat-feeders have since moved out, so now nobody in the building feeds the cats. So now I have to walk there everyday in all kinds of weather to leave food.
I’m not sure what the answer is in such a situation… Much different than most American cities that just have localized populations of 20 or so ferals…
By the way, before moving here, I disliked cats and wanted nothing to do with them. Now that we have a kitten and have fostered more, I dislike them even more (as pets), but still respect their right to a clean, healthy, non-reproducing life… And I say “dislike”, but our stupid jerk of a kitten still gets hundreds of kisses a day, is clicker trained, goes on daily leash walks, and eats a very nice raw diet…
You know the no touching local animals rule is actually a U.S. Army rule. They must have contracted animal “control” to the locals. This is an ongoing problem with the Army, as instead of vaccinating and using other public health control means to prevent the spread of disease (rabies is just a small part of it) in this particular war front, they have decided to control zoonotics with the no touching rule (yeah right) and by exterminating. Unless you happen to have a higher up who also likes the animal and can help protect it. (There have been several stories on feral dogs and cats in the news, especially the two CNN dogs in Iraq who kept biting people (according to the Army) and attacked a bomb detect dog one day and got shot.)
My brother’s unit also adopted a stray kitty while in Iraq (and Afghanistan for that matter) and he still worries about them. During other long term war fronts, units were allowed mascots, but not this one.
I live in a remote farming village in Switzerland . I am delighted to see that the milking cows , pigs and sheep are treated very well, even slaughtered humainly. However , and animal is an animal here . Dogs are for working , they usually sleep outside chained up to the front porch. I had to accept this fact ,as much as I hate it , and just do what I could for the dogs. I have a neighbor who leaves “Tinka” out all the time chained with a 8 foot bike chain , in the winter I bring horse blankets down for her , and in the summer I bring buckets of water , milk bones all year round. In the winter I do leave my hay barn open so the cats in the village can sleep in there , but I hate that they poop on my hay.I do have a donky that was once living in a pig stall with pigs when I got here 3 years ago. Fortunatly (i guess) he did belong to my new husband. I was able to teach my husband the “law” of being responsible for your pets till the day they die, and its NOT OK to dump them with a farmer down the road when you no longer have the time for them. My husband is now realizing that Donkys and horses , chihuahuas and cats are all part of one big family OURS . The donkey came home about 1 week after I moved here, 4 shetlands were purchased to keep him company, a stall was made and blankets purchased. (Hubbys head is still spinning) I think in the 3 years I have shown him , and a few of the local farmers that its OK to love and care for your pets. Willy is 30 , retired , and living a great life, the life he deserves, He sticks to my side like glue, and has become my best friend here. I know the farmers think I am crazy with the pony blankets , the dentists for the horses, the warm mash on the cold mornings, but it does make them smile.
That’s curious as there was a rash of news stories in the UK about animal rights law in Switzerland, with a fish getting a defence lawyer funded by the state. It’s an interesting mix of philosophies.
I’m at vet school on one of the islands in the Caribbean. Dog fighting continues to be a huge problem, as are the feral cats. The students do their best to find the abandoned animals, pick them up, rehab, spay/neuter, and then adopt them out (usually to other students.) Even that part is hard though, because an animal that looks abandoned usually isn’t and there’s the potential to have someone yelling at us for picking up their skin and bones dog and treating it. Even with our limited ability to rescue, I don’t think many students escape our island without at least one new addition to the family. I myself have one Coconut Retriever that was born in my bedroom last year.
The changes that we see are gradual, and I can’t imagine how much better it seems today to someone that left the island 10 years ago. Having people come to the school with their animals to learn about proper care. Training courses where young boys learn to work with their dogs instead of abusing them. It’s very encouraging to see the positives.
What’s a Coconut Retriever?
PICS!
This is my boy
Coconut Retriever is the “designer mutt” breed. It’s what we call all the strays/mutts on the island, along with sand mutt and a few others.
I adopted a shelter dog that is Australian Shepherd/Catahoula mix. Whenever anyone asks me what she is I tell them she’s an “Ausahoula!”
Sorry i don’t have a out of country rescue story, but I do have a sorry state story. I have been to Cuba several times and the horses there that are used for buggy rides or trial rides for tourists are usually in horrible condition, really most would get a big spot on this blog. My first time was many years ago, i signed up for a trail ride, I couldn’t believe it when they brought the poor horses around, they were so skinny, obviously no feed, they are just left to fend for themselves when their day is over. I cringe when I think that I actually go on, as if it was now-a-day, I would have refused to ride. It was a bad drought at the time, the ‘grass’ was almost non existant and all brown what little there was. The gear was atrocious, strings for girths, a tea towel for a saddle blanket. I was told they would get better condition in the rainy season, I hope so. I have been back many times and never saw any as bad as that, but they are certainly never fat, and the gear is almost always really bad, horrible bits, chains for nose bands, not nice. As needless to say i would never sign up for a ride In Cuba again (or a dolphin experience-anywhere) but when I do go to Cuba I always bring some old tack, or girths, halters, nice fat snaffle bits, etc. The people really appreciate it but I am sure it ends up for their own use horses, or sold, not for the poor working ones. I do have to add that I was on a trail ride in St Lucia and the horses there were in good shape, but there it would be a private business The horses weren’t especially well trained and the guide had yellow eyes (he was so stoned I’m not sure he knew we were there!) but there weren’t underfed or mistreated.
I have been to the Caribbean once – when I was 10. I was HORRIFIED. I went around at dinner on the cruise ship and asked everybody for their carrot sticks from the veggie trays to take to the emaciated carriage horses in Nassau.
I will probably never go anywhere like that again, because I can’t handle seeing it and not being able to DO anything.
By the way, now that I think about it, it’s interesting how at age 10, I could identify horses that were way too thin but we constantly encounter 50 year olds who deny being able to “see” it. It’s weird, I mean really…is it denial or something akin to color blindness?
I have always wanted an orange cat… so far I’ve gotten every other colour cat adopted me….if Oscar ever makes his way to Canada, he’s got a home!
Wow. The look on Oscar’s face in that picture is just SCREAMING rabies. I can totally see where the animal control got confused….
But, I have to commend them for actually returning the cat. They could have easily been assholes and said they had no idea which orange cat these guys were talking about. I wonder if they risked getting themselves into legal trouble by giving him back?
I assume they had at least a little healthy respect for the angry CO standing in their office!
I’ve never lived anywhere else but the US. I moved from southern California to middle Georgia almost 18 years ago…that was like moving to foreign country
Re: Afghanistan – In a country where women have no rights it is not surprising that animals haven’t got any either but the sheer ignorance is astounding. Ignorant morons don’t even attempt to educate themselves either…they just assume that all cats are rabid therefore they all must die. Just like all women are whores at heart so must cover themselves completely so other men don’t get overcome with passion and rape them. I’m so so glad that I am fortunate enough to be born in a western society. Afghanistan has got to be the most backward country on the planet. Old Oscar reminds me of my orange kitty, Juliette, who crossed the rainbow bridge last year:
When I was in the fourth grade I lived in French Morocco. My girlfriend and I found a great hugh jenny that had sores all over and a hugh tear in its mouth from an extra large bit, and it was very thin. We took it home and provided food and water for a few days until the Arab found out we had it and came storming to get it. That was my first experience with equine rescue. My father had purchased a mountain burro for my sister and I for $7.50 at the local military base fall festival. We had that donkey the entire two years we were there. It was our means of going and we had a ball. We donated it to the base riding stable when we were transferred back to the United States.
I went to the nowzaddogs web site. I didn’t understand if they were trying to bring the dogs here or just helping them over there. Right now we have a dog problem in the United States. Mobile Animal Control (Alabama) was just on the news with over 7,600 dog picked up and about 80% euthanized due to lack of homes. We have enough dogs. And we have stupid people who will not spay or neuter. I am not picking on Mobile, they just happened to have been the news station I watch. Most animals in the world do not have preferred pet status, but then most people in the world do not have the living conditions which we are so fortunate to enjoy. Even our worst situations are a lot better than a lot of places in the world. I have lived in Morocco and in Panama and have seen a lot of the worst situations imaginable.
Even getting people convinced to geld their stalliions is an uphill battle. We are doing it for $50. (or free if they can not afford the $50, but if you can’t afford $50 why do you have a horse at all) and have to beat the bushes to find takers.
Hey, good for you for trying. Who knows how much suffering you are preventing with every horse that you geld?
My two great loves- horses and cats. Also wanted to chime in here that Operation Baghdad Pup gets pets (including cats) out of Iraq and Afghanistan. My brother served in Afghanistan and can tell you first hand about losing one of their cherished camp dogs to Afghani Animal Control, so I wholeheartedly endorse any efforts to get these guys out of there and into a better life. They can always use a boost in donations, so if anyone feels so inclined go to https://www.spcai.org/baghdad-pups.html it is SPCA international.
““where the !$%&†is Oscar”
ROTFL That is AWESOME.
Yay for Oscar!
♥
Anyone that rescues anything from those hellholes has a free pass to Heaven in my book–but don’t use it soon,k??
That’s exactly how I feel!
And PLEASE if you’re that kind of person, have a lot of kids! We need more like you!
“Sniff” :’-) I love happy endings!
We have several cats that as kittens they were literally thrown out on the road. They get fed 2x a day and have a cozy barn full of hay to sleep safely in. They are all great barn cats and have a 4ever home here
Good for you! Every cat in our barn was a stray too. All are welcome and any wild cat that wanders in is live trapped to be spayed or neutered. We all chip in for their yearly shots and the BO even springs for canned cat food and treats, no wonder they never leave!
I was deployed to Afghanistan last year and we had to deal with the same issues. Our sergeant of the guard was authorized to shoot stray animals if he saw them, that’s how my unit ended up caring for 3 little kittens when that asshole shot their mother. Don’t have any pictures right now, if I can find them I’ll post them, but those guys became our mascots for the deployment.
You rock. And I know you can’t tell me the asshole’s name but I figure karma will get him.
I was scrolling down the gallery at the Safe Haven for Donkey’s website. and found this
“Picture of Donkey Named Salaam Salaam
Salaam was named after the man who rescued him from the village of Qalansuwa where he had a fractured front leg after being hit by a vehicle. Sadly, the leg had to be amputated but Salaam manages extremely well with only three legs”
He has only three legs, his other front was amputated up near the top
WOWOOWWO
Third from the bottom, page 11 at the web site
http://www.safehaven4donkeys.org/gallery/index.php?row=10
So it makes me wonder if people amputated higher on a horse or pony if they would survive as well…
I’m not sure if donkeys have the same issues as horses about needing to spend most of their time upright. Any vets/techs know? With horses, the main issue about amputations is that, as we all know, without enough movement, they tend to colic. This is why we lose so many horses on stall rest to colic. Donkeys may not have the same issues but I honestly don’t know.
And another amputee
“Teddy
Dear, dear little Teddy, so called because apart from his horrendous injuries he looks so like a teddy bear type of donkey! He was savagely attacked by a rottweiler dog and had two of his main nerves torn away and as a result had to have his lower leg amputated. Teddy is a real little fighter!”
7th down page 12
http://www.safehaven4donkeys.org/gallery/index.php?row=11
I lived in Israel for awhile and in the south at tourist-y places they had these tiny little donkeys that full grown adults would get on and ride around for tours of the desert. People would get on them by swinging a leg and jumping (gives you an idea of how small these donkeys were, vaulters these tourists were not) and you would see the little donkeys stagger and their backs would sag as the person landed on them. On the positive side, there was an animal shelter that did discounted spays and neuters in the town where I lived, and I was told that they did them for free on the (many, many) stray cats and dogs.
I used to live in Bolivia, infamous in the last couple of years because of how the army would target practice on dogs. I was an exchange student in 2005-2006 and me and my host family were traveling into the country, they weren’t huge animal people, but wanted to show me this cool place where wild horses roamed. So we were going down this road in a very impoverished place where we saw a couple who were ‘training’ a horse. This horse was young, but not super duper tiny. It was refusing to move and the couple were just absolutely going at it with sticks, absolutely wailing on it. My parents stopped the car and just started yelling at the woman calling her a ‘bruta’ and other words at the time that I didn’t really understand lol
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I know the latin american countries get a lot of flack, they have serious problems but there are some really great people who really care. I used to help a vet there b/c I knew I wanted to help out animals when I went to college, he showed me pictures of abuse he had seen, one was awful, a person shoved small metal rods through the dogs face, like he had gotten at the bad end of a porcupine. This person had taken time and effort as some went through the zygomatic arch, it was absolutely disturbing. But this vet found the poor pup and helped him out. But there is no place where injured animals for the most part would go. I would frequently see dogs and horses (but never cats.. idk why) limping around, obviously with a limb broken, just flopping like made out of rubber. But at the same time there would be a guy down in the street who would take in pigeons, he was the pigeon man… he might have eaten one or two lol but he combed the streets for injured birds, he was a pretty poor guy too but he always had a flock perched around his house
It was a very strange place, but it is modernizing. There was a shelter put in recently to help out exotic animals (like pumas jaguars etc.) that travelling road shows would take as cubs, they would purchase the animals when they got a chance. Compared to an american zoo the sanctuary was pretty small and a bit cramped. But they were in the middle of the city, these cats could do things they never could before like run on grass and climb. Plus there was a big effort to educate people what conditions these animals were kept in. But on the other hand the zoo exhibits had things like barbed wire… but I give them major credit for at least trying to educate people.
Well, what do you expect from a country where over 50% of the HUMAN population has zero rights!?!?!?!
The famous Ghandi quote: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.â€
So many countries are overrun by institutionalized cruelty: selling children for heroin, “honor killings” of women, genital mutilation, forced prostitution of children, and I just watched a heartbreaking segment on 60 Minutes last night about how many preschool-aged children in Haiti are sold every year to be household slaves. And it’s LEGAL.
Is it any wonder that societies that don’t even treat their own families – their own KIDS – with minimal love or respect casually accept cockfighting, dogfighting, bear baiting, animal mutilation, work-em-till-they-drop, etc., as standard operating procedure?
Historically, violence is a favored way of proving manhood in societies and cultures that place high value on masculinity. These range from the most war-torn Taliban-run areas all the way down to Amish farmers and American gangsta pockets. Lack of education seems to go hand-in-hand with lack of empathy. I don’t know how this can be solved worldwide, but I’m glad that I was born into mainstream American society, to educated parents who taught us to think of others’ suffering.
Here is a rescue I am very fond of: http://www.thebrooke.org
They are around 100yrs old, and operate in several third world countries. They have both local and mobile vet clinics providing treatment for the working horses, donkeys and mules in those countries. They also educate the owners about nutrition, farrier care, wound care, and proper fitting equipment. They provide water troughs and locally made humane harnesses that are sold to the owners at cost. Lastly, when an animal has reached the end of the road, either due to injury or age, the clinics will give it a few nice days of food and TLC, then humanely euthanize it, thus preventing them from being left to die in the street. Great organization.
I posted a big ol’ comment on them but it hasn’t been approved yet. They are great people, making a genuine, longlasting difference.
There are several horse welfare groups worldwide. Like Fugs said at least here in the USA we have laws. Many 3rd world countries do not and the horses, mules and donkeys are treated horribly. Sometimes it is because they have never seen beasts of burden as beings with emotions and feelings. That is a cultural thing. Sometimes they want to do something but are so very poor they cannot. On many countries these animals are their only means of transport. They are a tractor and car in one. People are just struggling to put food on the table daily and cannot spare a penny for the animal. It is a complicated issue and there are organizations out there trying to educate and give free or low cost care to these poor animals.
Here are a few links :
http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/ (Formerly the ILPH)
http://www.spana.org/ (This one is particularly heartbreaking for me)
http://www.spanagifts.org/default.aspx
http://www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk/
http://www.beva.org.uk/home
I think when you’re referring to poor third world nations, that is a struggle . . . food for the family takes precedence. Thats what I witnessed during my 4 months stay in Kenya with my closest friends being locals there. What I witnessed wasn’t aggressively mean but I just saw the surface. They thought we were nuts for babying our dogs and cats though. :0) Nutty, I am. :0)
ps, though nations that have wealth and access to education should know better really.
I apologize for the complete vagueness of this post but this story reminds me of a book published within the last few years about a guy stationed in Afganistan or Iraq (or some other horrible assignment) that befriended and SHIPPED HOME a dog that he fell in love with. These soldiers are so incredible. Not only are they putting their lives on the line for US back here all nice and snug in our comfy houses, their hearts are open for cats and dogs. I am sure someone out there knows of this book, I actually just read the short version in Readers Digest. I remember thinking that there was no way I could get through an entire book about something so gut wrenchingly herioc without bawling the whole way through. Thanks for posting this fugly.
I LOVE orange kitties! I am very partial to them and have two orange rescues myself, Gimli and Ranger. (My 4 year old named Ranger. He wanted to call him The Orange Power Ranger so we compromised with Ranger.)
As the wife of a soldier it is so very nice to hear some good stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. I know my husband, who just returned from Iraq about 9 mos ago appreciates it. Like the media everywhere so often you only here the horror stories until you start to think it must be all bad but in reality there is a lot of good, too and a lot of good people who are soldiers over there that really do care about what they are doing and about the people and animals they run into. Thanks for the happy story! I’m sure my husband will be over there in a year or two. I’ll have to tell him to keep an eye out for needy cats.
Both my cats are rescues and I love them to death.
But I found this story about a year ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214960/Remember-cute-little-cat-patted-holiday-Rhodes-Its-got-weeks-live.html
Wicked sad… Don’t ever go to Greece. I sent this article to a friend who was considering vacationing there and it discouraged her… Doesn’t help the problem, but still. People suck.
I remember when they were having the Olympics and they did not want foreigners to be upset by the stray animal problem…so they simply rounded them all up and killed them.
A couple of years ago I stumbled across this horrible video of a Greek guy torturing a dog – he filmed himself frying up some bacon, giggling all the while, and then went to the window and called a skinny stray dog over, tossing the bacon to the dog to lure it closer – and then he poured the sizzling hot bacon grease all over it. The poor thing screamed, tried to bite at its scalded back, and then ran for the trees, screaming while the guy cackled. Apparently he was narrating the whole thing in Greek and saying stuff like “watch this, I’m going to get that mutt good!” but I don’t speak it, so I’m not sure.
I’d find the video for you, but I really, really don’t want to see it again.
Anyway, the moronic asshat showed his little home video to his friends, one of which was human enough to be horrified and put it on YouTube. The Internet went crazy. The combined forces of outraged interneteers managed to hunt down the guy’s name, discover that he was vacationing in England at the time, alert the authorities, and (best of all) call his mother.
When the guy came back to Greece, the police were waiting for him.
So hey! We can do something!
Not that the poor dog got anything out of it – I think people tried to find it, but if it survived I’m sure it was justifiably wary of humans after that.
As awful as that story is, the outcome is AWESOME. Behold the power of the Internet!
Fugly – on the dog topic (I couldn’t wait any longer for the dog topic to load, after 12 minutes on my high-speed internet connection it still was ticking away) I think you maybe need to take on some of the crap put out in TV by the so-called “Dog Whisperer.” I am not a fan of his and I think you would find that there are a lot of us out there who are not fans of his. Some of his fans are groupie-hysterical which seems to me to often indicate a sort of cult mentality.
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Some of the international efforts to rescue donkeys are succeeding – gradually, but succeeding nonetheless – because they have started to focus on the fact that a healthy well-cared-for donkey is often the only thing standing between a third-world family and starvation. Focusing on getting animal helpers healthy to help families in extreme third-world poverty leads to gains for all of the players.
——-
While much media attention has been paid to dogs (and cats) befriended and rescued, and everything from zoo animals to working animals befriended and sometimes actually helped and evacuated from war zones, there is a dark underbelly to the war zone situations, such as an account that appeared in an Oregon literary journal in 2008 about soldiers executing a donkey by extended target practice rather than helping free the donkey from the fence it was partly trapped in and either get the donkey back to its family or at least some kind of help. I’m sure most people do not understand the official policy against animals but equally well do they understand cruelty for cruelty’s sake, even if it is seldom reported. Love those happy endings but they are extremely rare.
One could say that the stories of cruelty by American troops are equally uncommon. Yes, there are assholes in every crowd, the guy who threw the puppy off a cliff and shot it, these guys who killed the donkey (have not heard of this incident). However, the stories about American troops doing good things are often not publicized, since feel-good stories don’t make ratings, people like to hear about horrible things. I know a TON of Marines (i live by a base, and if you meet one you suddenly meet all his friends- they travel in packs), and all of them have deployed 2-3 times for the most part, and ALL of them “adopt” dogs while they are over there. Every single one of them has numerous pictures of them with their puppy or cat, and they all make sure to “give” the dog to another Marine when they leave. Most of them tear up when they talk about their dogs and cats in Iraq or Afghanistan, because they brought them comfort and a feeling of “home” when they were over there.
Most of them wish they could bring them home, but it costs a ton of money (and our military isn’t terribly well paid) and they don’t allow dogs in the barracks.
Just a quick illustration- these are from a google search
that’s just plain evil…
and again, the horror
I do believe the “incident” with the military man throwing a puppy over the cliff was proven to be a hoax video.
I’m sure there are some buttmunches, but I bet the majority of the American troops love having the semblance of normalcy that a pet of any kind gives them in that high stress enviroment.
He definitely threw the puppy, the argument was whether it was already dead or not, I can’t bring myself to watch it so I don’t know, I’ve heard both sides. Regardless he got in a TON of trouble for it, pretty sure he served time, so the military responded admirably regardless, IMHO.
No, the video was not a hoax and yes the puppy was alive when it was thrown over the cliff, you could hear it yelping as it was thrown over and as it fell, it also had the disgusting comments both guys were saying before, during and after the puppy was thrown over. An animal cruelty group I was in brought it up when it happened, the 2 men were charged if I recall. These 2 guys were the rarity not the norm.
Every time my husband has been to Iraq or Afghanistan his company has adopted several animals as a mascot. They have had dogs, cats, and even a turtle. They leave instructions for the incoming unit on what th animals like and dislike, and how to take care of them. Whether or not that actually happens i another story.
I know the military now takes care of their police and scent dogs. What really burns my ass is when all those dogs were left behind in Vietnam. None of those dogs should have been lft behind in my no so humble opinion. They took care of our soldiers, why couldnt they be taken care of too?
OK, I shall put a word in here for The Brooke, which works with equines in Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East. (USA included, btw)
They have been doing this since, 1930.
They were founded to buy back and take care of the old warhorses that the Allies had abandoned to their fate after WW1, and now focus on the thousands of horses, donkeys and mules that are still working as the primary source of income, in these countries.
The put money into education, teaching the locals how to care for their animals and giving prizes to help encourage them to do so.
They also provide resources to train and fund Farriers and Vets form the regions, so the people who care for the animals will be indigenous to the country.
The work they do cannot be betterd……well, it can, but only by them doing a better job!!
It helps if you do actually try to see the problem from the point of view of the country involved, BTW, and shouting that someone is a moron is really not going to earn you any brownie points, or help the locals understand why the crazy people who are invading their land like animals that they see as a nuisance!
Far better for them to start up spay and neuter clinics, to trap and humanely destroy the greater number of the animals, until they are, once more, a needed and appreciated resource, instead of a plague.
You know how many kittens a feral colony can produce, these animals have exploded, along with dogs, and the numbers are uncontrollable.
This is where the interlopers could actually do some good, instead of standing around moralising.
Oh, and sorry, but complaining about a cat in a country that will still happily stone a woman to death if she is suspected of adultery?
Not going to cut any ice.
Not with them, not with me, either.
And I am a lifelong cat lover!
The Brooke are superb.
This will forever me my favorite foreign rescue site.
http://www.savethedogs.eu/
Now, ignoring the fact that the group’s acronym is STD–the site is called ‘Save The Dogs’, but they really do amazing things for all species, even horses. There are photographs on that website that will fry your brain, but the after results of survivors are incredible.
My husband would always email me pictures of the stray dogs he was feeding. He would go between Kuwait and Iraq and both countries were the same as far the way they treated animals. The horses and donkeys were treated just as poorly, from what he saw only the camels got fairly decent treatment because they were worth so much.
I don’t think it is the laws in our country that make us treat our animals well, I believe it is how we have been raised through out the generations. I know a lot of people bash Christianity here but it is in the Bible that a good person cares for their animals, and were commanded to rest their animals on the Sabbath just as we were to. I enjoy reading journals of pioneers and maybe of them often wrote of how they stopped on the Sabbath to not only rest and worship themselves but to give their cattle, oxen and horses a rest that the Lord commanded they did.
I would only say that you do not need to be religious, at all, to have good values about caring for animals. Generally what I think bothers people is the common assumption that you are kind because you are Christian. That may be, but you may also be kind because you were raised to be kind by a kind-to-animals atheist or member of another religion.
Spot on! I haven’t been to church since my early teens. Just because I’m not practicing religion doesn’t mean I’m not practicing basic human decency.
And it goes both ways, Christianity does not make you kind. How many rescues busted for cruelty had “And God Bless You” on their website? I know Christianity is a fine religion and Christians as a whole are good, decent people but I have met a few that could pass for Satanists.
“but I have met a few that could pass for Satanists.”
Actual Satanists believe that kids and animals are a vital part of life that should never be harmed. Perhaps you meant “evil lunatics”?
I agree. I am a Christian and more then that my husband and I are in leadership within the church. Honestly you want to see the true side of Christians? Get into leadership. It becomes VERY ugly.
There is a common saying with my friends and I. “I am a Christian DESPITE the church”
I may not agree with you 100% on everything. But I do agree animals deserve good care and good homes. And if it comes down to where you cant afford to give them a good home (by that I mean it is coming to the point that you cant afford to buy them ANY food) and YOU find them a good home through doing a home visit and checking references BEFORE they get emaciated. Or by seeing if a relative can watch over your dog (a relative or friend YOU KNOW takes good care of their pets and will do the same to yours).
I have met many a person that is not of my faith that were VERY good people, and frankly more honest then a lot of Christians I have met. I try my hardest to do my best towards people and towards my pets. I do believe that God helps me. But alls I can do is try to live my best and live my faith through my actions.
Love, love, love this story! And I love the look on Oscar’s face in the pic. That little rabies infested fuzzball is just asking for a neck scratch.
What a sweet story! And what a lucky cat! I’m sure the animal control workers are having a good laugh with their friends about “those crazy Americans” that threw a fit to get the toothless old stray tabby. So sad the way animals are treated in some countries. I will never understand how entire societies can have such a lack of basic compassion for other beings.
They don’t, not usually.
They just have a desire to feed their own children, who often die in early childhood due to diseases and malnutrition that are unknown to us, before they feed unneeded animals.!
It is not for us to point the finger, not until we have been there, anyway!
These countries would look in utter disbelief at the amount of waste that is produced by our countries.
I could feed a third world family on what I give to one horse.
When you have just buried your baby that died of a disease it costs pennies to inoculate against, or an infection it costs pocket money to destroy with antibiotics, it is fairly easy to ignore an unneutered cat giving birth to yet another litter of kittens that will not even be drowned.
Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes, or live a week in their houses.
Compassion is free, but education costs money.
We should be educating them, not condemning them, that is just arrogant.
Again.
But a lot easier than actually doing anything about it.
Shouting at someone and calling them morons is not doing something about it, it is making the problem, for everyone except one, spoiled, cat, even worse!
Educating them takes a lot more effort, actually involves involving yourself with the problem, but, in the end, helps a lot more than one cat.
Thank you for posting this Kirri, and your comment above. While I’m glad this kitty found a home, and I think the adoption of animals for our troops overseas has been a great thing for both the soldiers and the animals, the way this one happened I find disturbing.
Could the soldier not have rec’d the cat back if they simply asked nicely? Did they even try that? How does “telling the morons they are morons” do anything more than save one cats life? When not only are there SO MANY cats lives at stake, but also the lives and the relationship of an occupying force of soldiers and a nation that isn’t always so happy about it?
Happy for the cat, but sad for the bad feelings I can’t help but think this scenario left. Handled differently, this situation could have been a way to bridge positive relations between cultures, versus one that I can think only reinforces the negative, on both of our parts.
Kirri – totally agree with you.
Education, hunger eradication, rebuilding and peacemaking are four things that have to happen before you can start talking about animal welfare.
Efforts like The Brooke, Heifer Project and Mercy Corps help at a very basic and meaningful level.
Efforts that make men see that women and children are actually PEOPLE are priceless.
I’m sorry, where did I call anyone a moron? And I do realize a certian level of what we consider neglect is going to take place in countries where poverty is the norm and animals are considered beasts of burden. What I was refering to is how it is acceptable to abuse animals for fun or sport in many third-world countries and even here in the good ole U.S. of A., in the form of bull-baiting, dog fighting, horse fighting, cock fighting, horse tripping, etc. At least here in the U.S. there is a social stigma attached to it (for the most part) and it is illegal. Many places it is not only legal but a perfectly acceptable form of entertainment in their society. You can put words in my mouth and misconstrue a general statement that I made all you like, it will not change my opinion. And to get so pissy about one little comment I made that was pretty much in the same vein as many others on here just shows you are a tad emotional, especially when you use it as a reason to start preaching about dead babies and such. Overly-sensitive much? Offended about the fact that I spend my money on vaccines for my horses instead of dying babies in Africa? That is the sentiment I got from your reply.
I can’t speak for Kirri, but I did read understand her comment and as well as my reference to the “morons” comment as a reference to what Cathy wrote in the original blog entry, not anything you wrote.
Oops. Nix the “read.” Makes more sense.
You might not have used the word “moron” but Cathy’s original post, to which I was generally alluding, does. No-one is putting words in your mouth, why would we bother?
We were merely addressing the posts made condemning the countries that are being invaded, and their attitudes to animals.
You cannot judge these people by your own standards, you do not have that right.
If you disagree with the way they see animals, and the way that they treat them, educate them, teach them that there are other ways, as the Brooke does.
Do not merely point the finger and condemn.
That helps no-one.
Much as I support animal welfare societies and I feel for the animals living (and dying) in awful conditions, you have to have some perspective, here.
Women have NO rights in this country.
NONE.
You can drown your wife in the bath and no-one will make a sound against you, so long as you maintain that she looked at a man.
Or walked outside the house without an escort.
How do you think they are going respond to an invading nation that, apparently, considers animals more important than human life??
I have to disagree here.
Yes, it’s very sad when young children are dying due to poverty and I can see WHY they don’t care about the stray animals over there, from reading your post.
But here is a grand idea – if you can’t afford to protect your children from disease and poverty, don’t have any. Yeah, condoms may be expensive, but the way I look at it is this – if you can’t afford to provide proper care for your animals OR children, you don’t have any. That’s all there is to it.
If you can’t afford children OR condoms, then you don’t have sex. I would SO much rather die a virgin than have sex, bring a child that I can’t properly care for into this world and then have it die, because of MY negligence. Poverty is horrible, but the people in third world countries are doing NOTHING to help themselves. I feel for the children – I have VERY little sympathy for the parents who produced a child KNOWING that they wouldn’t be able to give it a good quality of life.
In addition – I would like to point out that anyone in a third world country that can READ this website and hear Cathy calling them a moron, can educate themselves – if they have internet access then we don’t need to educate them. Also, if they have internet access and are not looking after their animals or are allowing their animals to breed uncontrollably, then I condemn them even more.
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
It is true that animals in third world countries have a miserable and hard life. But so do many of the people. And really, a lot of the animals DO have rabies. A lot die from distemper and tetnus. Vaccinations are non existent. When my sister was bitten by a feral cat, trying to pet him, she had to do the (then) painful series of rabies shots in the abdomen. Because we all know that with rabies there is no second chance.
I am glad the yellow cat’s story turned out so well for him and for the people who befriended him.
There is a serious problem with the treatment of dogs in all arab countries, and it is a problem that I doubt will ever be solved. According to the teachings of Mohammad and the Muslim tradition all dogs (with the sole exception of purebred Salukis who are given treatment and respect to the same level as these people treat their Arabian horses) are UNCLEAN and disgusting creatures. Which means you do not interact with them, you do not treat them kindness and respect, and certainly do not own them and bring them into your house. These people do not feel like what they are doing to these animals because dogs are not holy. Thousands of years of religious teachings make is very, very hard to charge a persons opinions; just saying.
Now, that being said Islams have a very different view on cats and what is going on in Iraq is against their religious teachings. Also dog fighting and tying up or caging dogs is strictly against their teachings – as is general mistreatment towards animals (your just supposed to ignore those stray unclean dogs, not shoot them); this is one of the worst things you can do. So really, while their fear of dogs is pious the treatments they are rendering to other animals is FAR from it.
Actually, you are allowed to own a dog, and you are encouraged to respect it and treat it well.
The only thing not allowed is actually bringing the dog into the house where people live and eat.
If you own a dog you are told you have a responsibility to it and it should be treated well.
BUT you are not allowed to neuter animals in Muslim countries, it is against the Q’ran, and you are not allowed to euthanise, either, if you cannot get the animal to a religious slaughterhouse there is no way to dispatch it, it has to be ritually slaughtered, by law.
This is why I shall never export a horse to any of these countries, or Japan, although Japan is catching up with the West, it still has no facilities for euthanasia, and, again, unless something can go for meat it is often left to stand and die slowly.
I have been really chewed out by people on other Forums for speaking out like this, but I say here what I said there.
It is not the people that you sell to in the first place that are the problem.
I had an enquiry form the Royal Jordanian Stables and I very politely turned them down.
What happens when these very very rich people get tired of the pony and give it to the gardener??
That is my reason for not exporting, that and the lack of euthanasia.
http://www.galgorescue.org/
Galgo Rescue International Network (GRIN) has done a lot of good work rescuing Spanish Greyhounds or galgos.
They’re used for hunting instead of racing, and they live miserable lives followed by horrible deaths. They’re often owned by gypsies or very poor people, and because it is believed that a hungry hound is a better hunter, they are kept half starved and when they do get food, it’s usually stale bread. When they’re not hunting, they’re chained up or kept in windowless stables or cellars, and it’s not unheard of for a hunter to chain his dogs to a tree and then forget about them, leaving them to starve.
But the worst part is after hunting season. Because greyhounds aren’t considered ‘companion animals’, as soon as hunting season is over, they become unwanted mouths in need of feeding. Lots are simply abandoned to fend for themselves, often with one or more leg purposely broken to keep the dogs from following their master home. Some are suffocated with plastic bags tied around their heads, and others are tossed down wells, where the fall generally doesn’t kill them and they suffer with broken bones until they die of shock or starvation. Often, it is tradition for the hunters to hang their dogs. The most skilled hunting dogs are hung from the highest branches of trees so they die mercifully quickly, while the unskilled ones are hung from lower branches where their feet just touch the ground, prolonging death. Often they are beaten first.
Thankfully, through the efforts of GRIN and other rescues like Greyhounds In Need, there have been less hangings in recent years, but the dogs are still in miserable condition.
I met a rescued galgo once, named D’Artagnan. He was wary of new people, but once he figured out that you weren’t going to hit him he was the sweetest guy ever. He had longish wiry black hair, something I’ve never seen on American greyhounds.
I don’t understand how purposeful cruelty can grow to the point that it is actually tradition to do it. But then, that seems to be the motive behind most of the abusive horse training methods…
I have three (more) lovely cats that were dumped at the Episcopal church I attend. One is along-haired orange tabby with white trim and a stumpy tail called Rufus. One is a long-haired tuxedo cat named Alexander- Zander for short. These first two are probably brothers. And the third is a little striped kitty with tortiseshell mixed in called Sweetie. From her looks and the way her head is shaped she is NOT related to the first two.
When these cats first showed up at the church (dumpees?) Sweetie also had two orange kittens about 8 weeks old that looked very much like minatures of Oscar.
I called the local volunteer animal “welfare” group. They were willing to take the two kittens immediately — “we can get them homes at our adoption day next Saturday.” But they didn’t have any “room” or willing foster homes for the adults. They did offer me a bag of donated cat food. They trapped, and and brought Sweetie and Rufus to a “Spay Day” at the LSU vet school (Zander would not go in the trap.) Then they brought them from surgery and dumped them back at the church.
Well, I was able to catch Sweetie and take her home while her inscision healed — and she just stayed. Then I was able to “make friends” with both Rufus and Zander. Well, I ended up taking them home, too. I later had Zander’s horribly infected ears treated (infection left one ear permanently wonky) and had him neutered at my own expense. The welfare group had the nerve to ask me to turn Rufus, Zander and Sweetie over to them so they could take them to one of their “adoption days” where people pay would $70 to to the group to adopt them.
I declined, and I also refused to pay their adoption fee. Since “possession is 9/10ths of the law” they didn’t push the issue. I call these three cats my Episcocats. They are now full-time indoor cats– and they love it.
This Feb., when a stray dog showed up on our street, I called for the animal “welfare” group’s help again– got same answer– “we don’t have room or fosters available”– they never do, it seems. Anyway, “Nell” just had the puppies I thought she might be carrying– nine of them! She looks to be a black lab mix, but the puppies have all sorts of speckled and light colored coats. Now, I will need to find good homes for 9 puppies– and no, I’m not going to bother calling the local animal “welfare” group.
Oh- I forgot the real reason I ended up taking all the Episcocats home permanently instead of just continuing to feed them daily at the church– where they had covered porches, walks and buildings for shelter.
Our new acting deacon-in-charge said they couldn’t continue to stay on the church grounds because one of the church members could be allergic to cats– AND – “What if one were to scratch one of the member’s children?”
My retort – “Well, cats usually don’t scratch for no reason and what if they deserve it for teasing?” did not go over so well. I was so PO-ed with her attitude that I actually said, “Well, I guess your Christian charity is just reserved for people.”
Love the pic of the soldier with the puppy head sticking out of his pocket!
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I’ve been to Crete, and they definitely have a feral cat problem there. Beautiful cats, too, that look JUST like Egyptian cat mummies (Wonder if they’re African cats, not European ones, in origin). I wouldn’t want to see them eliminated, but they could definitely use to trap, neuter, release a few of them to get the numbers more reasonable.
A lot of the ‘ill treatment’ of donkeys in these poor countries is because these people simply don’t have money. They might be operating at subsistence level, or they might be out and out poor. They need help, not censure for ‘starving their animals’.
Subsidized vet care goes a long way in these situations.
My dear Kit N.
I miss you so much.
July 2000 – February 25, 2010
I’m going to disagree with you—not really on the premise as much as the tone. We’re talking about animals in a third-world Muslim country. Even if the people valued cats, dogs, and livestock just as we did, the general populace is lucky to get enough food in a day to feed themselves. The governments are generally cash-strapped themselves (particularly if they’re not corrupt). In the case of Afghanistan, they’ve had a hard enough time keeping a functioning and effective central government while avoiding getting them assassinated. I’m not sure if they even have rabies there, but there is no way they’re going to be able to organize trap & vaccinate clinics. And, if there isn’t rabies there, an uncontrolled population of anything isn’t a good idea from many standpoints, including the spread of disease. We’re not talking about a place with the same sanitation standards that we have here. If they have these “round-ups” periodically, obviously they’re not eradicating the cat population at any given time. Yeah, I’d much prefer they find some other way to deal with the problem; but they have no infrastructure to deal with it. I would be very surprised if there was one single person in the entire country (not counting foreign military) who is qualified to peform a spay or neuter procedure, esp. a spay.
With regards to Muslim countries in general, dogs are considered unclean and are not to be handled. That’s one of the reason shepherds are so despised—because they use dogs for guarding their flocks. I currently have an Anatolian Shepherd and have been interested in the breed for a long time. They originally come from Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country. Despite being unclean, the dogs are so well thought of there that Turkish currency either did or does have the dog’s head printed on the paper. It’s also illegal to export the Kangal strain (fawn w/ black masks) out of the country. Knowing this you probably have an idea of how the dogs are treated. Nope, erase anything you’re thinking. The dogs (even puppies) receive no veterinary care and are literally left to the wolves. They are all semi-feral—some even completely feral. The thinking is that only the best and strongest dogs will survive. They don’t even really have a breeding strategy beyond “survival of the fittest,” i.e. only the best dogs will get to pass on their genes. There is no such thing as a shepherd keeping one of the dogs as a “pet.” So, this is what their culture considers *proper* treatment of a dog.
Trying to impose Western standards of pet ownership, breeding responsibility, animal husbandry, etc. isn’t realistic and it’s very unfair. I’m not saying I like it at all….far from it. What I am saying is that we’re talking about a cultural, a religious, and a financial situation that is so completely and fundamentally opposite to our way of thinking, that it’s very unfair to go in with guns blazing (metaphorically, of course) and expect them to see our side of it. In the case of Oscar, absolutely the CO did the right thing and I don’t fault him. That was *their* cat. However, you can’t take that instance and think you’re going to reform third-world animal husbandry (or lack of it).
We should be very thankful that we live in a country where we not only have laws & tolerant religions, but the financial means to take care of all sorts of animals (even if it means humanely euthanizing them). I personally am very thankful not to live in a country where my horse, goats, dogs, and cats would be considered food. Both my horse and the goats would be in serious danger of abduction due to their, um, fluffy body conditions. LOL! Seriously, though, I realize there are people out there who may really have a heart and a calling to change animal treatment throughout the world; but they just have to realize that the barriers will be close to insurmountable and can’t be handled like we would handle things in our own culture.
I don’t accept any of that. I truly believe everything in the world can be changed. It just comes down to (a) how many people want it to change and (b) how many people want it badly enough to take actual action.
50 years ago, I doubt you’d have convinced the average person that we’d have feral cat groups in America that would do trap-neuter-release at their own expense for cats that were going to stay feral. Just one example. What is inconceivable to one generation is normal to the next.
Of course you can change it, but yelling that people are morons is not the way to start!!!
I have a very short fuse, and I would be tempted to shout at them, too, but, trust me, it does not good, it just makes them feel, justifiably, that you are nuts.
A softly softly approach of education and help is what is needed.
Plus, of course, a bit of help for the humans, not just the animals!
I visited Egypt a few years back and was so saddened by the way they keep their horses. They are used to pull the carriages with the tourists around and these guys just flog the poor things. They are so skinny with horrible hooves – and lots of sores from ill fitting harnesses.
We went into the markets and I bought a big bag of apples and went and fed them to all the horses that were lined up waiting for tourists. I remember one of the guys only let the horse just take the apple in its mouth, then whipped him around and galloped off again so he could go get more work. Didnt want to waste any time actually letting the horse eat…
So sad, but I hoped at least a kind pat and a treat might have helped them feel a bit better, even just for a little while.
OT: Okay, I really do try hard not to post craigslist ads, because we all know how many kooks are out there, but this one is just too crazy for words! And no, I’m pretty sure the price is not a typo. Just last month she had the mare listed for $10,000!!! And she’s always begging for blankets, shelters and hay for her horses on craigslist. Sad, really…
http://roseburg.craigslist.org/grd/1653834617.html
She has clearly lost her marbles if she thinks she is going to get a price like that. That said, the mare is adorable and I hope she is not going hungry. Ugh!
That is like saying, “A grilled cheese sandwich once sold on ebay for $19,000, there for my grilled cheese sandwich is worth $19,000…” Faulty logic! Besides, something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.
(Here’s the grilled cheese story, just to prove I’m not making stuff up)
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/virgin-mary-grilled-cheese-miracle-blesses-ebay/1071/
LOL! LOL! LOL!
PERFECT analogy.
wow, talk about your delusions of grandeur, that is quite impressive.
I have found more adorableness…thought I would share
This last one is precious- look closely at his hands
I could continue, but I shall refrain myself
Real men love cats <3
The way a society or group of people treat animals says a great deal about their humanity, or lack thereof.
I am going to hug a cat now … whomever I trip over first gets the hug! My daughter's fat brown tabby Matt is sitting in front of the 55-gallon fish tank "chasing" his saltwater reef fish. Who can't love that?
The problem isn’t rabies. It is Hydatid Disease and Toxoplasmosis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinococcosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
I have seen first hand the horrendous toll these illnesses take on the human host, once they take hold.
As CACON UNFICYP Medical Officer in 1992-3, I had to deal with a very large population of feral cats. They were uniformly diseased, half starved, and many had severe congenital abnormalities. They were living in underground warrens and tunnels and were impossible to “round up” or to effectively neuter.
Unfortunately the regiments before ours were feeding them. What had started as a few feral cats became thousands. When you feed a population of starving feral cats, you do not get healthy content kitties. You get a bigger population of starving feral cats.
The locals knew what they were talking about when they recommended extermination. It is typical of Western arrogance that we go into a foreign land and try to impose our Disney-tainted view.
I heeded the locals’ advice. When I left Cyprus for home, the local cat population was down to just a few well loved and cared for neutered pets. The rest reentered the ecosystem, so to speak.
I find it odd that we equestrians decry the surplus horse issue, and are fully aware of what is needed to deal with it, but many of us are apparently unable or unwilling to apply exactly the same rationale to a feral cat problem.
Hopefully by now, Oscar has received a rabies vaccination, otherwise he will continue to be “at risk” of being infected, and infecting others. Perhaps if they put a collar and rabies tag on him, Oscar will be exempted from future round ups.
Have I made a difference in a different country? Well, maybe. I was invited to Taiwan, and spent a month there, teaching people about clicker training. My website: http://www.vickysclickertraining.com has a page where I put the comments that people wrote for me, when I was leaving: http://www.vickysclickertraining.com/testimonies.html
There is no SPCA there, although there is a guy recently that was trying to set something up. I don’t want to take all the credit, beause there are many, many locals who rescue animals on their own (taking them in off the streets, and into their homes) but of course there are many, many, many dogs living (and being born) on the streets. Most have mange, probably because of the heat, and the stress they live under.
There is a program where dogs are caught, neutered, innoculated, given a green dog tag to wear, and released again. There are just not enough rescuers’ homes for them to live in.
Like another poster wrote here, the most popular breeds are Siberian Huskies, and Golden Retrievers. Considering the lack of space and the hot temperatures, these are not great breeds, but people see them used in advertisements, and they take off.
Apparently the government is promoting ‘buy your dog from a pet store’ because otherwise people get them at night markets…too young, unhealthy. I suspect that very few shelter dogs get adopted.
Although it seems to be popular with people in North America, to ship unwanted dogs in, from other countries…but as I kept saying when I was there…you will make more permanent changes by educating people. My attitude was ‘Get people to bond with their pets, by teaching them how to train them, and the rest will take care of itself’. I mean they will stop putting them out onto the streets at the beginning of each day, they will have dogs spayed and neutered, etc. if they are working toward a goal, with their dog training.
I am just going to start doing something again, with Skype, long distance with Taiwan, I believe. If anyone is interested, you can find the link to my discussion list, on my web site, and there is more info on this there. I do believe that working toward a goal with a dog does help change people’s attitudes.
Actually animals in the middle east, even Arabian horses, don’t get that much of a fair go. They are “valued” as possessions, but as animals have no souls, they are still treated harshly by our standards.
Well, a couple of years ago, before I left Germany and moved to Australia, my Mum used to take my sister and me on holidays to Romania because that is where she grew up… We used to holiday in a different part of the country than where she grew up but from her descriptions it’s all pretty much the same, how the animals are treated, anyways.
Yep, that’s me xD never said it was pretty…
Gosh I loved that horse!
Me being me, of course, I found what must be the only ‘Arabian’ horse stud in Romania and instead of spending days lazing at the beach, my m
Mum ended up being carted to the stables and back, every day. Mind you, I was between 12 and 14 at the time we went on holidays there, so I’m afraid I couldn’t do very much to change anything as children and animals are pretty much on the same level of consideration over there. So anyways, we found one of the ‘carriages’ with a horse that didn’t look like it was about to drop dead from starvation (there are a bejeebeloads of people over there who actually, get this, go to that very same stud and STEAL a horse to put in their crappy old carriage they made out of scraps and get it to cart tourists around for a living.. With ill fitting harnesses, little to no food and living in basements, in the riny gaps between houses or wherever the hell they’ll fit.. Someone actually admitted to feeding their poor horse their table scraps, including meat and everything, can you believe that!) So this guy with his almost normal looking horse, which still had never seen a vet and had a god-awful home job done with its shoeing and don’t get me started on the wormy belly, started driving us out to this place every day and picking us up of course. At the time I was a pretty timid rider and not very strong at that, though I was plenty tall.
So they picked the quietest STALLION they had for me (they either don’t know HOW to geld over there or they just don’t believe in it. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me to know that they lost a heck of a lot of animals to infection after some butcher cut their balls off so they stopped because of that.. I really don’t know) Anyways, I started riding this animal every day and we was quiet as a lamb, believe me. The stallion stable, the mare stable and the paddock I was riding in where all pretty much next to each other and my little 12 year old self never had troubles riding this gentleman (fugly) Arab stallion everywhere, including about 10 km through town to the beach, along busy roads packed with cars and those poor animals carting tourists about, some mares, some stallions, some mares IN SEASON or whatever, everything peppered with a nice amount of stray dogs and cats, all in various stages of being alive-ish and dead. I kid you not, we came across a few that were very dead, apparently people poison them to reduce numbers… And then leave them wherever they died, which happened to be ON THE ROAD or very near it on a few occasions). So I took this horse to the beach and he did as he was asked and went and played in the waves with me and yes, I did charge some fat tourists, that was my favorite game back then and no, I didn’t wear a helmet because my Mum didn’t know any better and the guys who owned the horses didn’t know their arses from their elbows either.. And as you probably can tell by now, I fell in love with this stallion’s skinny, wormy self and wanted to take him home!Actually, this guy was in better condition than the others because he was one of their best working horses (they use ARABS for LOGGING and stuff like that over there O_O)
(I don’t know if the tag works so here is a link:)
Anyways, to cut a long story short, our holiday was over but my Mum continued to negotiate with these guys and it was decided that we would buy him for 700 Euros and ship him to Germany. This would have to wait till the next year, though as we needed some time to organise not only where to keep him (Germany hasn’t got very much room and boarding stables in Munich, where we lived are very expensive) but also a large animal vet (rare as well, in the city) who would geld a 14 year old stallion who just arrived from Rumania, not to mention quarantine and shipping in the first place.
So, about 8 months later we were ready and went on ‘holidays’ again, planning on bringing back this ‘baby’ of mine.
And them guys over there being bastards, had miraculously ‘disappeared’ him, despite deposit and freqent phone calls and all the rest!
Of course we had the shits big-time and eventually they just sought to get us off their case with a ‘replacement’.
This guy was 4 as far as I remember, had the exact same name that I can’t spell or pronounce to this day and he was in way worse condition and a bit more unruly, too, not having suffered from their great ‘training methods’ (namely beating the shit out of them until they submit) for quite as long as my beloved older guy had. Surprisingly, after a few days I could get him to do most things the other guy would do for me, but it just wasn’t the same. Not to mention these guys were trying to get us to pay the full price, despite deposit and all the rest and even though this thing was obviously not what a by now 13 year old should be riding around on…
So my Mum (God bless her) refused and we went home without a horse. We came back the next year and snuck in the ‘facility’ to see if ‘my’ horse was there when they didn’t expect us but he wasn’t. So that was my attempt at rescuing one of those poor creatures. Unfortunately, my Mum refused to go back and being not even 16 at the time there was not much I could do. Then, at 16 I left Germany and any chance of going back in the near future is pretty much gone as I now have oceans to cross..
But yeah, it sounds that Afghanistan is a lot like Romania in the animal welfare department.. Oh yeah, they also ‘race’ these poor Arabs over there on a regular basis which is why they have like.. 500-odd animals crammed on top of each other with very little food and care and without gelding.. I can’t imagine how they even cover their costs, but having no turn-out, no stalls and simply long, dark, low buildings with horse tied up next to each other about half a meter apart is probably a big help…
This is what I am riding now, with helmet and everything, even though I’m 19 now xD, yes, I actually learnt stuff since back then.
So, did the cat get a US citizenship?
Sounds like he has political asylum at the moment.
Here is the kitty that came with the house my husband and I moved into on the ranch we live on.
(I hope the link works)
No one told us about her and one night she just showed up on the front porch screaming bloody murder so I gave her some dog food (it was all I had) and she gobbled it down. I called the ranch manager and she called me back the next day and told me that cat had been abandoned at the vet hospital where the manager’s daughter worked and had lived in the house with the former night managers but we didn’t need to let her in and she’d bring us some cat food for her. We fed her on the front porch until one dark and stormy night, my husband (who thinks all animals should live outside) informed me that he had brought her in because it was not fit for any animal to be outside on a night like that. She hasn’t been outside since. I used to try and put her out on nice days but she would run back inside before I could turn around and close the door. I figured out she’s a ragdoll and all she wants in life is to be held and petted and fed. She put on a lot of weight when she first moved in because she figured out if she stood in the kitchen screaming at my husband he would feed her.
Yay Oscar. He’s a very smart and handsome kitty to pick such loyal people. But I am biased since I do adore big orange tabbies.
Ginger is not only a Manx, but also the smartest cat I have ever owned.
Here is my orange Manx. I found him at the horse stables one day, locked in a horse trailer dressing room that had last been used about a week and a half before I found him. He was curled up in the spare tire laying on the floor and was probably pretty close to dead. Not sure how he survived in there for a week and a half with no food and water. I’d heard him meowing for about a week but every time I walked toward the meows, they stopped, so I couldn’t ever figure out where he was. I figured it was just a stray cat hiding under the trailers. So, first thing I did was give him some water and some of the barn dog’s food, then took him home and gave him a can of my roommate’s tuna. He gobbled it down, and then immediately went to the living room and took a nap. He’s been with me for almost 10 yrs now. He was already full grown when I found him, was neutered, and was 100% familiar with the sound of a can opener, so I always wonder who he came from.
(BTW, he’s indoor only, we just placed him in the tree for the photo. We do take him outside some, but on a leash and harness.)
It is interesting that poor treatment of women and animals go hand in hand in so many countries. It says a lot about the cultures. When I heard how badly the people in the mid-east treated their animals, I knew trying to get any kind of peace there was going to be close to impossible. These people are so out of touch with the earth I don’t know how they could be peaceful ever. There is no respect for anything other than dogma. There is no compassion. I don’t know where or how they would begin to change. I do know that if they did begin to see animals differently then there would be hope.
The American Association of Equine Practitioners has an Equitarian Initiative program whereby members can volunteer to care for working equines and educate their owners in this country and abroad.
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/feb10/100201a.asp
P.S. Has anyone else read An Edge of the Forest? It is one of my all time favorite books, but one of its themes is that a working dog is ruined by being made a pet.
In the midst of chaos and horror, rays of sunshine appear…
Here’s some useless trivia for today:
Did you know that orange tabby cats are about 80% male, and about 20% female?
Also, all tortoiseshells and calico cats (any black & orange coloration) are 100% female?
My husband swears that orange tabby male cats are the BEST cats, personality-wise – and he should know. He and his ex-wife used to run a feral cat rescue and at one time had over 50 cats living with them (they had a special “cat house” behind the people house!). He got the cats in the divorce. When he and I got together he had over 20 cats. Over the years most of them have passed on, mostly due to old age, and we are now down to 5. Two are happy as barn cats, two are happy as outdoor house cats, and we have one who is happy being in the house most of the time (she gets along with the house dogs – the other cats don’t tolerate them), with the occasional hunting expedition outside. The two cats that live in the barn are around 15 years old and are the last of the original feral cat rescue group. Anyway, out of all those cats – hubby loved his orange tabbies most of all.
Me – I’m a dog and horse person!
There are male calicos, I know that, but they are rare. I don’t think I have seen a male tortie.
I DO think orange cats have great personalities, and I’ve done cat rescue so I’ve met a lot of cats!
Calico and tortoiseshell are almost the same thing…calico is tortoiseshell and white.
The gene that makes a cat red or black is carried on the X chromosome (cats have one of the smallest genomes out there, a lot of double duty in there).
You get a tortoiseshell when your female cat has red on one of her X chromosomes and black on the other. Only one of these color genes is switched on in any given cell, resulting in patches of red and patches of black. Her male offspring, of course, can only inherit either red *or* black. Her female offspring can get one or the other or both. I’m not sure why gingers seem to be predominantly male.
The only ‘male’ tortoiseshells are cats unfortunate enough to have acquired an extra sex chromosome, forming X X Y – physically male, but, to my knowledge, invariably infertile. Obviously extremely rare.
I am ashamed to say my grandmother was close to becoming one of those crazy cat ladies for a while. Once I visited her and she had about 20-30 cats… I got a phone tree going with my family, and we started getting them spayed and neutered because she just couldn’t part with her kitties, but things were definitely out of control.
My uncle got her a couple of those auto litter sifter things, and started keeping a better eye on her and her cats.
One thing though, she had at least 3 tortie males… Not full tortie, but an ginger with a black patch…
Also interesting is one of them was a hermaphodite. Had testicles, but one was retained and actually recessed into an ovary. This particular cat even at 4 years (before it was neutered) never developed a male “face”.
My grand passed in March, by this point she was down to 4 cats, and my aunt is caring for them.
One thing I will say, even the tortie and calico females had ginger babies. Black kittens were few and far between. I think it’s worth noting that all these cats came from two females, Butter who was a tortie and Princess who was a calico. My Gran had them when I was in elementary (Butter, I think I was 7) and middle school (I think I was 11 when she got Princess).
In the end before we started getting them spayed and neutered, my Grands cats were producing siamese marked cats with blue eyes, and gingers but no blacks and no greys, and no patched cats either, though there were a lot of ginger and whites and black and whites patched cats at one point.
As a cat rescuer – thank you for being a responsible granddaughter! Thank you for not letting this get to the point where some rescue all of a sudden had 30 kitties to pick up.
That reminds me of a family friend of mine who was a captain in the Army Rangers. He was part of the Afghanistan invasion force and spent a lot of time over there and Iraq. He has some really crazy stories, for one thing the mountians in Afghanistan don’t have good enough roads to use hummvees, so they were doing patrols on horseback. Anyways, during the early part of the Afghan war a number of civilians left their homes and abandoned all sorts of animals (they were being bombed so I don’t blame them). As a result there were a number of animals that started hanging around the US troops. James rescued a donkey and dog that way. Both of them were biters (which seems to be the story of James’ life, animals with behavioral problems seem to be attracted to him and his wife. At least one kid too, they adopted one of their foster kids). He worked with the dog to deal with its biting, and eventually found him a home with a solider at the end of his deployment. IIRC the he trained the donkey as a pack animal and used it on patrol so it would be an official Army animal, meaning that it would have to be shipped back to the US for retirement. I’m no sure what happened to it after that, but as you said, the US is far better a place to end up then Afghanistan if you’re a donkey. Plus the military really doesn’t like you mistreating its animals.
I am currently in Afghanistan. I have a soft spot for children, human rights, the elderly, and abused women. I also firmly believe in animal rights. This country is populated by people (I use that term loosely) that have no respect for life let alone any of the above listed groups. Their behavior is so low and unacceptable that it is below that of most members of the animal kingdom. Most people refuse to accept that people like this even exist.
We have dogs and cats that are either in or just outside our camp. We care for these animals by feeding, watering and providing them with vet care. The cats and dogs are what would be considered feral by U.S. standards. The Afghans wait until we are not looking and try kick, stomp, poison, spit, throw rocks, or anything else they can to harm them. They have no respect for life in general. Every Friday next to my former base they would hold dog fights. The barking, snarling and yelping could be heard in my camp. It was a disgustingspectacle. Watching the Afghans handle these dogs made us all angry. There was one incident that I remember where this medium sized mixed breed female snatched by the Afghans from just outside our walls and used her as a tune up or confidence builder for the fighting dogs. We really loved this little dog. She had just had pups and went a little too far from the gate to give birth. She was gentle and weak. She made easy prey for the Afgans to snatch her. Only one of her pups survived. Given a different set of circumstances it would have caused a violent reaction from us. I tried to get cooperation to send her home, but it was too little to late.
The part that the so called civilized world refuses to accept is that there is nothing that will fix this situation. They will never change because they don’t want to change. They hate everything that is not part of their religion. This is a horrible, violent place. A lot of women here hate their life so much that they commonly drink acid or set themselves on fire to commit suicide.
The only thing we can do is try to save as many of these animals as possible. We lack resouces and assistance. We lack knowledge as to where to start.
Currently in our camp we have two orange kittens. Both were born with some sort of virus that causes the eyes to not develop. One of them has eyes that are recessed deep in his head. He is mostly blind and walks around with his head cocked to the side. Both kittens are very bright and playful. They crave human attention. In the evenings when we all are in the common area talking you can find the kittens playing under our feet and trying to get us to pet them. The kittens remind all of us of home. The worst part is that someday we will pack up and leave and these cats and dogs that we all care so much for will be left to fend for themselves. They will not live long after we’ve gone. This society embraces using these animals as food. No, the Aghans are not starving!!! They are LAZY and will eat the easiest thing they can find. This includes cats and dogs that are not aware of how dangerous hanging around them can be.
If anyone has knowledge of how to help get these animals out of here please let me know. I can always make room for one or two more at my house. Several people I know would do the same.
I know that when I leave this place there will be a part of me that is left here.
Thanks for reading my rant.
Thanks for writing it, and for being there. Wow.
I too thank you for your service.
A quick check online gave me this information. I am hoping that one of them might be able to help you and others in service bring their adopted foreign pets home..
http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi/iraq_us_soldiers_pets.html
from that link
“Military Mascots (Service members: Please email using your .MIL email address), an organization dedicated to helping service members and their pets, has sometimes been able to help troops bring their animals to the United States.”
They can be found at
http://www.militarymascots.org/
Also
http://www.afghanstrayanimals.org/
http://www.spcai.org/baghdad-pups.html
http://pilotsnpaws.org/
I hope one of those links are able to help you.
And once more, thank you.