Or that is what animal rights activists tell you. Used to be when farmers cited midnight hours spent checking on stock, delivering babies, or doctoring the sick as examples of genuine caring by farmers, the AR critters really didn't have an answer.
Then some fanatic decided that farmers only do that stuff because the animals are worth money. If they weren't we wouldn't bother to go out in awful weather at ungodly hours to tend them.
Yeah, right. We all know better.
An incident here over the past two days is a pretty good example of that. My favorite fluffy logger kitty, Pumpkin, managed, with a massive amount of help from Liz, to raise a chubby, handful-sized kitten named Smog.
Like all kitties, as soon as he became cute, he also started adventuring.
These are barn cats. They are worth no money to anyone. We hope that they catch rats and mice, but we feed them cat food and all the milk they want and get them vaccinations...when we can catch them....and do what we can for them, rats or no rats.
When Smog vanished yesterday afternoon the consternation was considerable. The boss was afraid that he had run over him. I thought that he had run afoul of a fox or hawk.
Everyone looked for him. We were late milking because everyone was looking for him. Last night Becky and the boss practically took the horse barn apart looking for him.
Halfway through chores this morning I nipped out to the milkhouse to grab a sip of my coffee.
There he was, strolling across the gate bars on the bridge, smug as you please.
From the level of rejoicing all over the barn, and judging by the way everybody ran to grab him and cuddle him and fuss over him, you would swear he was worth a couple million.
But, nope, we just like animals, and feel a strong responsibility for those under our care. Even barn cats.
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6 comments:
What a cool looking cat. How many cities across this nation have feral cats? They are a huge problem here in Washington state. There are place that catch them, spay/neuter, and give them their shots. We call the animal shelter and go get a few and put them in the barns. They are wonderful. Never underfoot and keep the place clean of mice and rats. And yes, we do feed them year round. The animal right people - well, I best keep my mouth shut. :)
I agree with Jan...I think the animal rights activists are a bunch of hypocrites...and THEY love the money that pour into THEM.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
God bless you for caring for His creatures so tenderly. But many farm animals -- and others, in labs and puppy mills, for example -- do suffer terribly. Not all animal-rights advocates are "odious hypocrites," but do try to raise awareness about unnecessary cruelty or neglect. And God bless them for that.
I'm so glad you found your kitty.
Awww . . . I love a happy ending.
The devotion to the creatures at Northview - great and small - suffuses the pages of your blog.
This....
Jan, oh, yes, they wouldn't have considered him to be adoptable. Too many issues. Jerks!
CDH, it is hard to get a free cat around here. Everyone wants a homing fee or an adoption fee or some form of coin for parting with them. There are some more kittens in the crawl space above the milkhouse...offspring of the smarter logger kitty..so hopefully we can grow our own. lol
Linda, the way they euthanize healthy pets is sickening....and fight against no kill shelters! they don't care about animals, they care about power and money.
WW, me too, thanks
Cathy, you would have to laugh at adults being so jubilant about one little cat that will probably either grow up to be a complete pain the butt or get eaten by some varmint the day after tomorrow.
Jeffro, I hope your new kitty is settling in....
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