Saturday, March 19, 2011

I heart 'Animal People'

I used to believe that when a good cause came along, all the people that supported such cause would work together without any major conflicts, they would just work together and advance this good cause, make a difference.

Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.

There are many animal-related causes out there, every one just as just as good as the next, but surprisingly, working together just doesn't come that easy, unfortunately, power, politics, money and personal interests or feelings can get in the way of doing our absolute best for the animals.

The first time I realized that we, animal lovers, didn't have a single voice was when I read an article about a group in California that was lobbying to cut the City funding for a successful TNR program in the Community and instead using that money for trapping and killing community/feral cats and to my surprise, the group lobbying for this change was a group under the animal protection umbrella... This group had a very worthy cause in their hands, protecting birds.

This is when I realized that we aren't all 'animal people' or 'animal lovers'... There are some people out there that will discriminate when it comes to what animals they love and what animals, in their opinion, deserve to live and which ones deserve to be killed.

True animal lovers will not discriminate in such a way, animal lovers will care and be compassionate and kind to all animals, regardless of species or breeds.

I'm not saying in any way that birds are not worthy of our care, compassion and protection, but surely a plan can be devised by animal lovers in which certain balance and compromise can be achieved. Imagine how much more could be done for animals if animal groups don't waste a single dollar or minute fighting each other and they just sit down and work together!

I often hear or read about how bad feral cats are and how many birds they kill... but in reality, cats would never kill a fraction of the birds that we, humans, are killing. The number of birds killed by habitat lost, hunting and as we recently learned, actual sanctioned killing of birds by our Government agencies is appaling! And make no mistake, this is 'killing' not euthanasia like they are trying to label it. Even if the cats of the world were to organize themselves to eat only birds, they would never be able to kill a fraction of the birds that we humans kill, and we don't even kill them in order to survive.

So, instead of killing cats, we should re-double our efforts to keep cats with their families so they don't end up abandoned and homeless, we should re-double efforts around TNR programs in the communities to reduce the number of feral cats that are being forced to fend for themselves, and above all, we should re-double efforts to educate ourselves and make sure we are making a difference in the life of animals by being 'animal people'.

I myself have 7 cats, I love cats, but that doesn't mean I want or support the suffering or killing of other animals, that doesn't mean I will spend any time, effort or money advocating anything like that or supporting organizations that are not true 'animal lovers'. To the contrary, I am very happy and grateful to know that there are a lot of 'animal people' out there, making a difference with dogs, cats, birds, wild animals, farm animals, critters, you name it! In our modern world, all animals are in dire need of our kindness and support.

And one of these groups making a difference every day is Blistered Whiskers. BW is a small group, but they are a small group of 'animal lovers' that are comitted to saving as many kitties as possible with TNR, rescue and adoption. I am a proud supporter of Blistered whiskers.


Lupemaria

3 comments:

  1. have you checked out Nooter's Club? I have posted them on my blog before and they post low cost spay/neutering clinics...I think you should check them out because they also feel that if pets were spayed/neutered to begin with, we wouldn't have the number of feral cats that we have. They are www.nootersclub.com

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  2. I completely agree Caren, spay/neutering-TNR are just 'must have'... and thank you for your note, i didn't know about nootersclub.com but i will keep an eye on them now... btw, loved the pictures in your page, one of my kitties does the same thing, he gets a mouse toy to use play with and then use as a pillow :D so cute!

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  3. @lupemaria glad you are checking them out!
    thanks for the kind words about my photos!
    Have a great day!

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