carole
12-30-2006, 02:41 AM
Today my husband and I went for a drive to Te Aroha, which is a small town under a largish mountain, Te Aroha is a Maori name meaning Mountain of love,(yeah where is the love for those poor kitties eh) anyhow they have the most awesome mineral spas,nothing like it here in the big city, so we venture over there from time to time.
To cut a long story short we were to have a picnic, but the weather was too cold so we sat in our car eating our picnic lunch, trying to find a suitable spot that was nice enough we went to this reserve by accident, it was not nice at all infact a car wrecker was situated there, and then i noticed three lovely young cats, all black, I said to my hubby i bet they are strays, we had a spa booked in so we went to that, i could not get them out of my mind and had suggested we go and buy some cat food at the supermarket opposite and give them some, Hubby agreed and so off we went, well they all started appearing from nowhere and there were six instead of three, i assume from the same litter, all little blackies, well kinda brownish really and one black and white one and a grey tortie looking one, they all looked around nine months to a year old and were obviously feral.
It just broke my heart to see them and of course realising that this situation is everywhere, even in my own city and my suburb, i had talked to a shop owner there who said yes someone had dumped a mother cat there and well you guessed the rest.
When we first arrived back from the spa not a kitty was insight, but as soon as i opened the cat food, they came out, just watching me, and as soon as i went in the car they all came and started eating even though we had not left, there was also a guard dog a German Shephard at the premises, i felt sorry for him too, chained up, he did have shelter and i assume his owners come and feed him and let him off the chain, but i will never know that, he did not look in bad condition, and never even barked at us, infact when he smelt the cat food he wagged his tail, poor dog, i did not venture near him though as i did not know what he is like.,friendly or ready to attack, he appeared harmless but one never knows.
I had a wonderful day, but it was spoiled by witnessing these poor wee kitties, most of them did look reasonably healthy considering , but two of them had rough looking coats,but none were sick or stick thin, so i hope that maybe the owner of the wreckers or someone else is helping them out by feeding them.
Te Aroha is too far away for me to do much i am afraid, i just have to hope and pray these poor wee souls get some care from the locals, i do think i will contact our cat shelter here, who used to trap and neuter and spay and release to see if that is a possibility, but somehow i have a feeling they are no longer able to do so, hopefully someone in the town might beable to do something ,certainly not contacting the local council as they will kill them all.
Te Aroha is where i myself was raised from about 3 years old to 12 yrs old so i remember it well, it sure did leave me feeling sad, and in despair, to think all this suffering and neglect is caused by human beings, just makes me so mad,THANKS for letting me vent that out, i know you all feel the same.
To cut a long story short we were to have a picnic, but the weather was too cold so we sat in our car eating our picnic lunch, trying to find a suitable spot that was nice enough we went to this reserve by accident, it was not nice at all infact a car wrecker was situated there, and then i noticed three lovely young cats, all black, I said to my hubby i bet they are strays, we had a spa booked in so we went to that, i could not get them out of my mind and had suggested we go and buy some cat food at the supermarket opposite and give them some, Hubby agreed and so off we went, well they all started appearing from nowhere and there were six instead of three, i assume from the same litter, all little blackies, well kinda brownish really and one black and white one and a grey tortie looking one, they all looked around nine months to a year old and were obviously feral.
It just broke my heart to see them and of course realising that this situation is everywhere, even in my own city and my suburb, i had talked to a shop owner there who said yes someone had dumped a mother cat there and well you guessed the rest.
When we first arrived back from the spa not a kitty was insight, but as soon as i opened the cat food, they came out, just watching me, and as soon as i went in the car they all came and started eating even though we had not left, there was also a guard dog a German Shephard at the premises, i felt sorry for him too, chained up, he did have shelter and i assume his owners come and feed him and let him off the chain, but i will never know that, he did not look in bad condition, and never even barked at us, infact when he smelt the cat food he wagged his tail, poor dog, i did not venture near him though as i did not know what he is like.,friendly or ready to attack, he appeared harmless but one never knows.
I had a wonderful day, but it was spoiled by witnessing these poor wee kitties, most of them did look reasonably healthy considering , but two of them had rough looking coats,but none were sick or stick thin, so i hope that maybe the owner of the wreckers or someone else is helping them out by feeding them.
Te Aroha is too far away for me to do much i am afraid, i just have to hope and pray these poor wee souls get some care from the locals, i do think i will contact our cat shelter here, who used to trap and neuter and spay and release to see if that is a possibility, but somehow i have a feeling they are no longer able to do so, hopefully someone in the town might beable to do something ,certainly not contacting the local council as they will kill them all.
Te Aroha is where i myself was raised from about 3 years old to 12 yrs old so i remember it well, it sure did leave me feeling sad, and in despair, to think all this suffering and neglect is caused by human beings, just makes me so mad,THANKS for letting me vent that out, i know you all feel the same.