Alley Cats

My daughter's creative learning class organised a scavenger hunt last Sunday. The hunt was a fun way of practicing the skills that had been taught in class during the year. It was centered around a very inspiring theme,  the Hero Within. In class, the children had explored the qualities of a hero and that anybody can be a hero. As part of the hunt, they were asked to create an inspirational poster that would encourage others to be heroes to their family and their community. On top of that, each child painted a tee shirt which was to be auctioned off for charity. The proceeds were channeled towards buying solar light bulbs for the orang asli or indigenous people.

My daughter chose to highlight the problem of stray animals and the steps which can be taken to help them as well as curb the growing population of strays. I believe she chose this subject because she is familiar with it. We have been taking care of four stray cats at our backyard for the past few years. It all started after her first stray cat,  Pansy died. Pansy's playmate,  another stray cat  named Ginger, gave birth to two female kittens which were left with us. Six months later, she left another two male kittens. After the third set of kittens, we sent her for spaying.

We feed them, give them medical care as well as send them for neutering or spaying. Neutering them helps curb the increasing population of strays. Each year, thousands of healthy and lovable animals are euthanized at shelters and pounds in our country because their numbers greatly exceed the number of available homes. To me, spaying them helps reduce the suffering and abuse of unwanted animals in our society.

I used to think that I did not have the time to help out and that I had to wait until my retirement to contribute to society. After thinking it over, it occurred to me that it is so true that charity begins at home. I actually do not have to travel very far or wait for the perfect time. The perfect time is always now. I decided to do what little I can first. So I started with the stray cats because they were right there, right before my eyes.

Animals can be pretty helpless. For example,the dog pound goes after strays. They are hunted and put down. There are cruel people who take delight in torturing them. How does it feel to be treated so cruelly? Don't they care that animals have feelings too?. And animals do not wear masks like human beings do. You can take them as they are. Which is more than what can be said about the human beings who torture them, isn't it?