Animal Refugees

--Hobo sign for kindhearted woman

She's a good-hearted woman
in love with a good timin' man
She loves him in spite of his
ways she don't understand
--Good-Hearted Woman,
Waylon Jennings

It's a hard world for little things
--Night of the Hunter (1955)

I'm a Mekong crocodile from Vietnam
When the napalm scorched each tree
I swam to Laos at dead of night
I'm an animal refugee
--Animal Refugee,
Sheena Blackhall
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My neighbor Chris came over this morning to ask about the latest cat seeking succor on our little corner of the planet. "What's the line on this tortoise-shell? Is it a he or she . . . well, she's been sleeping on our porch and the dogs don't attack her." "Probably abandoned -- she drinks water here but is very skittish," says I.

It's becoming an old story: Owners move or drop the animals off due to lack of finances or interest, and the poor animals must fend for themselves. To those not inclined to being kind-hearted, they are now officially "nuisances".

My last cat had this ignoble pedigree -- found as a kitten at a construction site, she was passed through two owners before I inherited her with the rental. Ranger was also found by a beautiful and sweet American Pit Bulldog this August who obviously escaped from being fought as he had multiple wounds. Just washed up on his back porch one morning, and he has earned the name "Tyke" from Buster Brown commercials.

He must find a home as Ranger's dog is terribly aggressive towards him (the Pit is properly deferential and has no aggression.) So this is an advert, as well:

If anyone would love a sweet and tender small (50 lb.) Pit Bulldog
anywhere near the North Florida area, please contact us; we will transport him.

This sad state of affairs seem to be increasing in this poor economic milieu. Seeing the film, Night of the Hunter this Friday dovetailed with the dog's and cat's plight and drove the point home hard what life was once like and can be again: Among other things, it is the story of orphan children during The Depression taken in by a kindly older woman (played by Lillian Gish). During the Depression, hobos would leave signs by the roadside to let newcomers know what they might expect at each house, kindness or a brushoff.

Of course, the animals have no signposts and may just as well be flayed as fed. I fear the abandonment will occur more often as people lose their means of support, and also become meaner, enjoying "sports" like dog fighting as a means to express anger. It was just yesterday we enjoyed our blood lust at colisseum fights; bullfighting is still the rage, and safaris are still fun for those with the bucks. Perhaps sometimes, war is The Most Dangerous Game.

I don't know what else to say. Be kind. Be responsible, even if others are not. Try and dilute the misery in the world by taking constructive steps to improve someone's lot, even if that someone is an animal.

Animals

NOTE: The best laid plans of mice and men. . .
We had had good intentions of providing five posts
a week as promised Monday.
Alas, that was premature.
It is still summer, and the next two weeks will be spotty.

However, there will be a homily,
and fairly regular posts 'til then.
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The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together
--Isaiah 11:6

They do not sweat and whine
about their condition,
they do not lie awake in the dark
and weep for their sins,
they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
with the mania of owning things,
not one kneels to another,
nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago
--I Could Turn and Live With Animals, Walt Whitman
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Congressional Quarterly reported that Rush Limbaugh has signed on to advocate for the Human Society of the United States at the behest of HSUS president Wayne Pacelle.

Like his ideological brother Newt Gingrich, Mr. Limbaugh is a great lover of animals. This is a noteworthy impulse -- to care for the vulnerable among us -- but their compassion does not always extend to the bipedal mammals.

"For years, the HS has tried to change the perception that it is an animal rights group and equates animal life with human life. That image has been particularly damaging among conservatives, Pacelle says.

"Rush doesn't think in terms of animal rights, but human responsibilities, and that's the tenor of our language now. Because we are powerful and intelligent we have a responsibility to be decent to the less powerful."

If only Limbaugh could extend that precept to his fellow humans, we'd have a happy day.