On this day back in 2012 a lovely young cat showed up at my place. He was as ‘feral’ as any cat could be; huge, thuggy, but sweet. My guess would be he’d never spent any meaningful time with people. He was smart. Smart enough to find me. Smart enough to trust me. But also smart enough to look after himself.
Which is why, for me to take him to a shelter to be held, tortured (as holding untame cats can be described as nothing else) and then after a time killed would have been extremely cruel. And massively unethical. Apart from not being ‘pet cat’ material, he was otherwise healthy – so why should we take his life?
Other Cat has a home – outdoors and wild – and now he has the odds on his side as he has me to support him. His home is my home. We are both invasive species, except my life – my house, my car, my city, my massive human sucking of resources – does far, far more environmental damage than his ever could.
Groups claiming to be ‘advocates for cats’, refuse to stand up for cats like Other Cat. They cling to the outdated notion that cats like him can’t live happy, healthy lives outdoors. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary – the hundreds of healthy, fed, adult cats they are killing. And all for nothing.
Other Cat would not have been ‘better off dead’ back in 2012. He wouldn’t be ‘better off dead’ now. That is a lie. It is a cruel lie which justifies the shelter-intake torture and killing of tens of thousands of cats each year. By the very same groups who take millions of dollars in the name cat care.
Happy ‘caughtya day’ OC! I <3 you gorgeous bub!
