I am guilty of species preference. I think most people are.
A lot of us like to say we love all animals in mostly an equal manner, but we just happen to prefer cats. The fact is, most cat people seriously are drawn to cats above and beyond other species, and a good way to judge is how we react to something like this sweet fellow dead in the road.
When I see a dead raccoon or skunk on the shoulder of the highway, I think "how sad." If it's a baby (or two babies, or a mother and babies) I feel worse, imagining how the young were killed hovering in desperation around their mortally injured mom, or vice versa.
However, when I see a cat, I get sick in the pit of my gut. I often pull over, as I did for this cat, and get him out of the road. I do this for wildlife, if I have reason to believe they could be alive, but I stop for every cat.
And I say a little word over the cats, and sometimes even wrap them up in a towel if it's raining and I find it sad to let them lie there and get soaked. I do leave the cats (if they have died) rather than taking them away, so an owner has a chance to find them. If the cat is still there the next day, I will pick it up and take it with me so it doesn't lie along the road for weeks.
I do not do this for wildlife. And why is that? It is because I have an absolutely irrational love for cats. And I try to keep that in mind when I am dealing with people who like and admire cats (just as they like and admire deer, or hawks, or dogs) but who aren't species-skewed toward them.
It's important to remember that, when I'm dealing with people who "just don't seem to care," and my heart is pounding, and I'm growing slightly furious....to remember that I am little off center of normal when it comes to thinking about cats. And I get my very own litmus test every time I see a handsome youngster like this, who had been sweet and gamboling, full of life, just the night before, dead alongside the road. There is a hole in the universe, it seems to me, because he is gone.
I would not have quite that feeling of utter loss, toward a sweet sad skunk. And that is how I know I am a speciesist.
5 comments:
That's very kind of you to take time to honour a fallen cat. Here in "the big city" I never see animals who've been hit by cars, as they either get decimated immediately or are picked up by animal control, I guess. I'm sure they're out there, I just don't see them. I do see a fair number of birds, though, and I have a soft spot for birds. I've rehabbed many wild birds and fed many baby birds who'd fallen from nests, so they're special to me as cats are special to you. I found a small sparrow in my pool filter last year and felt horrible -- I imagine the poor thing was learning to fly, got swept up by the wind and fell into the freezing pool. I buried it in the yard, under a tree. I'm also the person who scraped up the dead pigeon from the end of our street, went and picked up the dead mourning dove that sat down by the mailbox for days, etc. I just think they deserve a little respect... it just takes a minute to give them a bit of dignity, even in death, and to acknowledge their existence.
I think it was Fergus who turned my love for cats into a feeling others might think was irrational. Fergus and I were so close that I felt I could see the world through his eyes. Losing him so young left a cat shaped hole in my heart. Even though I have had cats and loved them for thirty years Fergus is the one that started me writing about them and sent me down to the shelter to start helping all cats.
My new Pawprints tv show is on Caturday. Being a writer and videographer I have the ability to do more. What I'd like to do is get further up the river and work to change people's attitudes to the throw away lives of unwanted animals. And yes, I am a speciesist. Cats it is.
Well, I guess I'm a speciesist too, when it comes to cats, but my heart breaks a little for wild animals being pushed out of their homes by encroaching suburbs. The thing about cats(and dogs)though, is that they don't have to end up dead on the road. And that doubly breaks my heart and makes me glad that there are people like you out there doing what you can to help them.
A secret: whenever I see a dead animal on the side of the road on long drives, I say a little pagan/buddhist combo prayer to release the spirit of the animal into enlightenment/peace/whatever's after, just in case the animal's spirit/soul is so shocked by the traumatic death that it's still hanging around, earth-bound.
Do I know whether such a thing happens (kinda like animal ghosts?)? No. Do I think that my little animal blessing helps? Well, I really don't know, but I figure it can't hurt in any case, so... I do this for every single dead critter that I see.
I know it sounds pretty woo-woo and/or ridiculous (i.e. "oh my god she's such a space cadet!"), that's why I'd never told people before, but what the heck. If you can't share with cyberstrangers...
I also always look to see whether the injured animal seems alive, just in case.
Once, while I was the passsenger in a car, I heard a bunch of crows making a huge raucous, so I looked to see what was going on, and there was a crow on the street, seeming unable to fly. A bus was coming. I told my ride to "stop the car!", I ran back, straight in front of the bus, waving my arms to motion the driver to stop, and I picked up the crow just in time. I brought it to a local shelter where they told me that they would send it to a local bird of prey rehab centre (crows qualifying for that, apparently).
I'm always on the lookout for injured animals, over the years I've brought turtles, dogs, bunnies, seaguls, crows, and various other critters to shelters. I don't want to be one of those people who just turn their head the other way and do nothing. If I see it, it becomes my responsibility.
The cat, unlike the skunk or other wildlife puts up with us living with us irrational humans in close proximity. Despite the cats superior awareness, it puts up with us. The cat is a representative of and allows us to experience some contact with our fellow animals. Without the cat we would have no idea of what fellow animals are like. We would be isolated and lonely as the dog only provides that sense of linkage to a lesser degree. Therefore the cat is like a messenger from that other fellow animal world. I accept it with immense gratitude and honour the cat for that.
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