When Animal Violence Hits
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A Personal Story
This article is about an act of
violence against my own cat. Whether it was an accident or on purpose I'll never
know, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do know who's fault it
is. Mine. It's my fault for not keeping him safe and out of harms way. It's my
fault that he's suffering right now, and has been for the last 3 days.
He's the type of cat that will drive
you insane to get what they want. They will get your attention in the worst
ways, and then you finally give in, and give them what they want. In "George's"
case, it's to go outside. He will pace and howl for hours until someone opens
the door to let him out. There's no way he's going to quit until he gets his
way, and it could have been a fatal mistake. It still might be.
I live close to a river lake where the
sounds of duck hunter's guns can be heard during this time of the year. They
start at first light and end at sundown. I let George out Sunday morning and by
Sunday night I knew something was wrong. It was pouring down rain and starting
to freeze and George was no where to be found. As tears kept flooding my eyes, I
searched through the rain that eventually turned to snow. Finally I had to give
up my search for the night, only to continue it through nightmare after
nightmare. For the last 3 days this is all I have done.
At around 8pm Tuesday night, I heard a
slight scratch on the outside door. I looked around and counted 5 cats and a
dog, everyone was inside so it could only be one thing, George! Yes, it was
George, he came running inside and straight to the food dish. Something
looked very odd about his face though, it was twice it's normal size. I soon
discovered that George had been shot in the mouth and neck. Shot-gun pellets are
scattered all over this area of his body.
As I reached down and started to pet
George along the side of his back, he looked up and started to purr. I repeated
over and over how sorry I am for not protecting him the way a responsible pet
owner should have. He just continued to purr and reach up to meet my hand. What
a sweet boy he is, what a tragic situation he is in. Can I forgive myself? Only
if it never happens again. Let my lesson be your lesson, and protect your pets
before it's too late.
Sally Hayward-Vice
President
