The Kittens and the Soldiers

itty (Sherry ) wrote in message ...
In the rural US, people still take kittens, put them in a sack and
throw them in a lake or a river. It happens all the time. So
basically, those kind of people think of kittens not as living beings
but as trash to be disposed of. If someone has that kind of attitude
towards kittens, I could see them taking it a step further when they
get looped and thinking it was amusing to set fire to a kitten.

Whoa now. DO NOT insinuate that rural folks are somehow more capable of
animal
abuse than metropolitan residents. That's all I'm going to say. Hopefully.

Sherry

No, unfortunately, it's not all I'm going to say. I could list the social
status/occupation/area of residence of every animal abuse case I've ever seen
or heard of. All that would prove is, the capacity for abuse can't be neatly
pigeonholed into category. Certainly not military, or rural, or old or young.
I don't think military folks have any more bad apples than civilian
professions. I don't think rural people have any more bad apples than city
folks. But that's exactly what they are--bad apples. No way representive of the
entire group.
Sherry

I didn't mean to imply that there is any more tendency of rural folks
to engage in deliberate cruelty to animals than folks that live in
urban areas. My impression is that that isn't true.

I *do* think that the way people treat animals is part of the general
culture that people live in and just as cultures vary, there's some
variation in how animals are treated. Growing up in suburbia, I had
never heard of an actual incidence of someone drowning unwanted
kittens-I thought it was something that people used to do a long time
ago. I was really surprised to hear some of my relatives who moved to
a small town years ago tell me about how incidents of people either
drowning kittens or taking them out to the woods and leaving them
there occur pretty regularly in kitten season where they live. In
fact, one of them has a cat he adopted from a litter someone found in
a box while taking a walk in the woods. Their take on it is that it's
kind of a holdover practice from days when people had cats around
farms but left them to fend for themselves a lot more than we do now.
If a cat had kittens and the people owning the place didn't want to
have 6 or 7 more cats underfoot, it was'nt that unusual for someone to
take the kittens out to the lake in a sack to get rid of them. Not
saying that everyone did it, but it did occur with some regularity and
still does where they live. I don't think the people who do it are
doing it because it gives them kicks to do it, I think it's a kind of
insensitivity. Of course, I know that in the suburban area where I
live people will find kittens in dumpsters on occasion, which isn't
any different than taking them out to the woods and leaving them
there; my impression is just that in some rural areas this sort of
thing happens with greater frequency when the population density is
taken into consideration.

(Napoleon) had some very interesting things to say
about The Kittens and the Soldiers:

insensitivity. Of course, I know that in the suburban area where I
live people will find kittens in dumpsters on occasion, which isn't
any different than taking them out to the woods and leaving them
there; my impression is just that in some rural areas this sort of
thing happens with greater frequency when the population density is
taken into consideration.

When I was in my teens, my grandfather wound up with two kittens that
my uncle [his son] had rescued from a dumpster. My uncle couldn't keep
the kittens himself, since he had well-established dogs with serious
cat problems, but said uncle DID know where to take the kittens to be
certain they had a good home. :-)

Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.

--
"Don't mess with major appliances unless you know what you are doing
(or unless your life insurance policy is up-to-date)." - John, RCFL

(Napoleon) had some very interesting things to say
about The Kittens and the Soldiers:

insensitivity. Of course, I know that in the suburban area where I
live people will find kittens in dumpsters on occasion, which isn't
any different than taking them out to the woods and leaving them
there; my impression is just that in some rural areas this sort of
thing happens with greater frequency when the population density is
taken into consideration.

When I was in my teens, my grandfather wound up with two kittens that
my uncle [his son] had rescued from a dumpster. My uncle couldn't keep
the kittens himself, since he had well-established dogs with serious
cat problems, but said uncle DID know where to take the kittens to be
certain they had a good home. :-)

Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.

--
"Don't mess with major appliances unless you know what you are doing
(or unless your life insurance policy is up-to-date)." - John, RCFL

Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore down a
pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a dumpster. He got
them out and brought them home. I raised them and we released them (which is a
hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming back home).....Their names were
Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept pretending he didn't like them and always
called them Beavis & Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company he
only brought them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)
Sherry

Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore down a
pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a dumpster. He got
them out and brought them home. I raised them and we released them (which is a
hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming back home).....Their names were
Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept pretending he didn't like them and always
called them Beavis & Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company he
only brought them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)
Sherry

itty (Sherry ) dumped this in
on 16 May 2004:


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore
down a pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a
dumpster. He got them out and brought them home. I raised them and we
released them (which is a hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming
back home).....Their names were Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept
pretending he didn't like them and always called them Beavis &
Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company he only brought
them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)

)

--
Cheryl

itty (Sherry ) dumped this in
on 16 May 2004:


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore
down a pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a
dumpster. He got them out and brought them home. I raised them and we
released them (which is a hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming
back home).....Their names were Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept
pretending he didn't like them and always called them Beavis &
Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company he only brought
them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)

)

--
Cheryl

The softie in my house is definitely my spouse. I hate pigeons, almost as
much as my cats hate blue jays. To me they are just rats with feathers.
Probably have a place in nature, but not in my front yard. Part of the
reason I shelled out the money to have our palm tree pruned and razored was
to get rid of what had become a pigeon roost. In the process, a nest with
one squab was knocked down. The tree guys were apologetic and set it aside
carefully. I'd have been quite happy the euthanize it, but after lots of
fuss about the poor parent pigeons, Charlie took the baby to friend that
does rescues and she hand raised it.

Jo
"Sherry " wrote in message
...
Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore down a
pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a dumpster.
He got
them out and brought them home. I raised them and we released them (which
is a
hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming back home).....Their names
were
Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept pretending he didn't like them and always
called them Beavis & Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company
he
only brought them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)
Sherry

The softie in my house is definitely my spouse. I hate pigeons, almost as
much as my cats hate blue jays. To me they are just rats with feathers.
Probably have a place in nature, but not in my front yard. Part of the
reason I shelled out the money to have our palm tree pruned and razored was
to get rid of what had become a pigeon roost. In the process, a nest with
one squab was knocked down. The tree guys were apologetic and set it aside
carefully. I'd have been quite happy the euthanize it, but after lots of
fuss about the poor parent pigeons, Charlie took the baby to friend that
does rescues and she hand raised it.

Jo
"Sherry " wrote in message
...
Said uncle, incidentally, especially for the anti-military contigent,
is a retired career Marine.


I think compassion is one of the best attributes in man. :-)
My Dh is an old softie from way back. The guys at his job once tore down a
pigeon nest, and tossed the two baby, featherless pigeons in a dumpster.
He got
them out and brought them home. I raised them and we released them (which
is a
hoot of a story in itself, they kept coming back home).....Their names
were
Blackie and Brownie, but DH kept pretending he didn't like them and always
called them Beavis & Butthead. He also claims when we're in mixed company
he
only brought them home for Yoda, and I took them away from him :-)
Sherry