Leave The Cat Alone

Anyone who can laugh at another creatures suffering had better be prepared to laugh at his own.

Bate
**************
I don't want to write this entry, but a long time ago I said I would, so here it is.

One day I was standing in a radio studio with another announcer, a young, talented, intelligent fellow, when we were visited by a goon, another fellow who used to hang around and do odd jobs trying to get on the air. He told us about his friend's cat. It seems his friend, for a joke, would put his cat near a wall, then rub its fur the wrong way and watch it hit its face into the wall. The goon then broke out in a big loud laugh. The other announcer and I were quiet for a moment and then he said that it seemed the friend was a sick person. I agreed. A dark cloud fell over the face of the goon. He didn't understand it but he realized there were at least two people in the universe who did not think abusing an animal was funny.

Something I have never been able to understand is sadism, the enjoyment people get out of cruelty, Why does the human race allow and find pleasure in bull fights, dog fights, cock fights and other forms of animal savagery? The Europeans used to enjoy bear baiting and horse baiting. Now there are fox hunts which don't allow the fox to escape. I heard of one which took 7 minutes for the fox to die. There are fox hunts in America that plug up the fox hole for the same reason. Is it so much fun to watch the dogs tear apart the living fox?

When I was a kid there was a guy who would catch a frog, tie it to a string, tie the string to a stick and hold the frog over a fire watching it jump around trying to escape from the flame, The guy would laugh as if it was a comedy act. I was always glad when the frog got away.

Here in my own county there are boys who will catch a feral cat and barbecue it, enjoying the screeching. Some people will catch a dog and skin it alive. They take videos of these things and post them for others to "enjoy."

In some places they poke out the eyes of birds so they will sing. Or cut off their feet so the birds can't land and will fly until they drop dead.

I recently read an article written by a man who was interviewing some boys who had been brought in on animal abuse charges. He was a crime reporter and said he thought he was fairly hard nosed and toughened about things, but the stories of abuse some of these boys told him made him gasp.

What has been woven into the human race that allows for the level of viciousness practiced by some twisted people? What can be done to cure it? How can compassion for our fellow creatures be injected into the sadists of the world? How can the urge for cruelty be erased from human consciousness? With no laws to protect animals in unenlightened countries, loosely defined and laxly enforced laws in more modern countries, the miserable lives of some laboratory animals, the wretched events in some slaughter houses and the barbaric cooking methods of some kitchens, it seems like a totally impossible thing to convince the human race to start taking care of its animals instead of torturing them.

I'll leave this topic now except to ask one more question. Eagles are cruel, predatory beasts. They don't like to eat anything that's dead. Instead they rip pieces off the squirming, writing creature under their feet to feed themselves and their young. Why is the eagle our national symbol?

DB
*********************

WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 7 responses so far

I await your answer.
DB
******************************