"This poor kitten just wanted affection."
This isn't new or original, it is however something I'm pretty upset about and I just wanted a moment to vent/rant.
My friend runner_ashley is studying to be a mortician. She's got a strong stomach and a pretty skewed sense of humor. She's an animal lover to the extreme; she and her husband foster animals all the time and work pretty tirelessly at a local shelter. They are amazing.
Today a family surrendered a kitten while she was working at the shelter.
A kitten who was put in a microwave by a toddler.
Warning: Upsetting/graphic information if you are an animal lover
Link to her LJ/account of the day
The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham
Today is a day I'll never forget. Keep in mind, I have a strong stomach for many things, but today just about proved that statement wrong.
I was at the shelter printing and typing up some new documents for the shelter information binder. It was a pretty tame day by the time I arrived, however it was busier earlier. I was helping clean up around some areas and went back to typing the new documents.
I was behind the main counter putting the new documents in the binder, chatting with two of the staff members and bidding an evening farewell to the shelter manager as he was leaving for the day. A young woman, young man and children came in with a kitten wrapped in a towel. I didn't know what all was going on in the beginning as I was talking to the foster care coordinator. The older staff member had the kitten in her hands, and I offered to hold him while she had the young family fill out the paper work. I glanced at the man, and he smiled very warmly, almost creepily. I asked what the problem with the kitten was, and the older staff member said very quietly, "He's burned." She had an empty, glossy look in her eyes as I took the kitten from her. The kitten was meowing, looking around, and most importantly, moving. I unwrapped part of the towel and smelled something.....I smelled cooked meat. I took the kitten back into cat receiving so he could have a kennel to himself with some fresh food. When I unwrapped him from the towel, my heart sank. The other staff member was already in cat receiving preparing the kennel, and she was on the phone with one of the kennel managers. This is the conversation:
Staff member: "You won't believe this, and I need you to come in a soon as you can. I know you just left, but this is unthinkable. We have an 8-10 week old kitten....that was placed in a microwave. He has severe burn marks, and it doesn't look good. You need to see the look on Ashley's face. I think she's going to punch something."
I didn't punch anything. I just stood there in shock. I have pictures of this poor kitten, but I don't think I'll post them. The family's story is as follows: The toddler, who comes up to my KNEES, put the kitten in the microwave and cooked it. They stated that the burns didn't look bad, but what the staff members tried to explain to them is that microwaves COOK from the INSIDE OUT.
Oh, it gets better.
The staff member that was on the phone earlier speaking to the shelter manager walked out and noticed the man laughing hysterically in the car.
This poor kitten just wanted affection. He was forgetting his pain thanks to the affection we were able to give him. It was so sad. I will never forget the smell. Never. I'm going to be blunt; the kitten was practically cooked from the inside. His feet were burned with pus coming from the wounds, the inside of his legs were burned, his tail was burned, and his anus was burned terribly. He kept swelling and swelling, but he was so hungry for food and affection that he ate and nuzzled our hands.
The humane thing to do was to euthanize him. We have the woman's name, address, and telephone number. We were all in such shock that we didn't think straight to ask for a state issued ID to scan in order to obtain the proper information.
I came home in tears to Fred. I have more feelings for animals than I do for humans anymore. Animals are innocent. They can't speak, but they can communicate. They can't tell us how they feel, but they do reason. I do know that they suffer, and the lucky ones are fortunate enough to get forever homes while some are better off being humanely euthanized. All I can think about is the animals that we have saved instead of the ones we've lost to idiotic owners.
The only humane thing to do for the kitten, at 8 weeks old, was to put it to sleep.
I am beyond irate. I'm sick with rage and indignation. How did this happen? How was this ALLOWED to happen? Did the kid really even do it? Did the crazy/creepy man do it? What kind of imitation-of-a-human either does this himself and BLAMES a child or doesn't understand the magnitude of what a child did?
I just...I know a lot of you are animal lovers so please, take tonight to give your pet a little extra snuggle and if you ever EVER encounter a child who might THINK about abusing an animal, take the time to educate them. Because I swear to god if someone ever lays a hand on one of my pets, I will shank them.
Feel free to spread this story, repost, comment on runner_ashley's journal.
My friend runner_ashley is studying to be a mortician. She's got a strong stomach and a pretty skewed sense of humor. She's an animal lover to the extreme; she and her husband foster animals all the time and work pretty tirelessly at a local shelter. They are amazing.
Today a family surrendered a kitten while she was working at the shelter.
A kitten who was put in a microwave by a toddler.
Warning: Upsetting/graphic information if you are an animal lover
Link to her LJ/account of the day
The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham
Today is a day I'll never forget. Keep in mind, I have a strong stomach for many things, but today just about proved that statement wrong.
I was at the shelter printing and typing up some new documents for the shelter information binder. It was a pretty tame day by the time I arrived, however it was busier earlier. I was helping clean up around some areas and went back to typing the new documents.
I was behind the main counter putting the new documents in the binder, chatting with two of the staff members and bidding an evening farewell to the shelter manager as he was leaving for the day. A young woman, young man and children came in with a kitten wrapped in a towel. I didn't know what all was going on in the beginning as I was talking to the foster care coordinator. The older staff member had the kitten in her hands, and I offered to hold him while she had the young family fill out the paper work. I glanced at the man, and he smiled very warmly, almost creepily. I asked what the problem with the kitten was, and the older staff member said very quietly, "He's burned." She had an empty, glossy look in her eyes as I took the kitten from her. The kitten was meowing, looking around, and most importantly, moving. I unwrapped part of the towel and smelled something.....I smelled cooked meat. I took the kitten back into cat receiving so he could have a kennel to himself with some fresh food. When I unwrapped him from the towel, my heart sank. The other staff member was already in cat receiving preparing the kennel, and she was on the phone with one of the kennel managers. This is the conversation:
Staff member: "You won't believe this, and I need you to come in a soon as you can. I know you just left, but this is unthinkable. We have an 8-10 week old kitten....that was placed in a microwave. He has severe burn marks, and it doesn't look good. You need to see the look on Ashley's face. I think she's going to punch something."
I didn't punch anything. I just stood there in shock. I have pictures of this poor kitten, but I don't think I'll post them. The family's story is as follows: The toddler, who comes up to my KNEES, put the kitten in the microwave and cooked it. They stated that the burns didn't look bad, but what the staff members tried to explain to them is that microwaves COOK from the INSIDE OUT.
Oh, it gets better.
The staff member that was on the phone earlier speaking to the shelter manager walked out and noticed the man laughing hysterically in the car.
This poor kitten just wanted affection. He was forgetting his pain thanks to the affection we were able to give him. It was so sad. I will never forget the smell. Never. I'm going to be blunt; the kitten was practically cooked from the inside. His feet were burned with pus coming from the wounds, the inside of his legs were burned, his tail was burned, and his anus was burned terribly. He kept swelling and swelling, but he was so hungry for food and affection that he ate and nuzzled our hands.
The humane thing to do was to euthanize him. We have the woman's name, address, and telephone number. We were all in such shock that we didn't think straight to ask for a state issued ID to scan in order to obtain the proper information.
I came home in tears to Fred. I have more feelings for animals than I do for humans anymore. Animals are innocent. They can't speak, but they can communicate. They can't tell us how they feel, but they do reason. I do know that they suffer, and the lucky ones are fortunate enough to get forever homes while some are better off being humanely euthanized. All I can think about is the animals that we have saved instead of the ones we've lost to idiotic owners.
The only humane thing to do for the kitten, at 8 weeks old, was to put it to sleep.
I am beyond irate. I'm sick with rage and indignation. How did this happen? How was this ALLOWED to happen? Did the kid really even do it? Did the crazy/creepy man do it? What kind of imitation-of-a-human either does this himself and BLAMES a child or doesn't understand the magnitude of what a child did?
I just...I know a lot of you are animal lovers so please, take tonight to give your pet a little extra snuggle and if you ever EVER encounter a child who might THINK about abusing an animal, take the time to educate them. Because I swear to god if someone ever lays a hand on one of my pets, I will shank them.
Feel free to spread this story, repost, comment on runner_ashley's journal.