It's Not 'Just' a Cat
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"Every editorial piece I write ends up angry :("
I have never seen myself as an animal right's activist. Though, looking back at when I shielded a kitten with my own body to keep it from getting hit with a baseball bat, I don't see how I could look at myself any other way.
The following is a story from New York that was distributed by the Associated Press on July 16:
A New York City teenager has admitted that she failed to let a kitten out of an oven after a friend put the animal inside and left it to roast to death. After pleading guilty to charges of animal cruelty and attempted burglary on Wednesday, 17-year-old Cheyenne Cherry confronted a row of animal activists outside the courtroom. Cherry stuck out her tongue and told the activists that the kitten named Tiger Lily was "dead." Authorities say Cherry and a 14-year-old friend ransacked a Bronx apartment before putting the cat in the over, where it cried and scratched before dying. The 14-year-old was charged with aggravated animal cruelty and burglary in the May 6 incident. Cherry will serve a year in jail under a plea bargain.
Despite how many psychological excuses could be used, such as bad parenting, bad environment or a disfigured morality, none of them would be enough for me to ever forgive this person.
And then to taunt people about it afterward. That teen has a future.
In addition, every time I read a story such as this I am reminded of the time I shared such a story with a colleague. They were not sad. They were not shocked. Their only reply was, "It's just a cat."
Really? Well you are just a human being. I guess what happens to you doesn't matter much either.
It hurts to say something like that. It makes me sound like I am an extremist PETA member, which I am not.
Do you kill cows painlessly for food? Great.
Did you accidentally run over a deer at night? Accidents happen.
Did you put a kitten in an oven for no reason and laughed about it? You need psychological help. And lots of it.
It takes a lot of effort in my mind to sympathize with people to view animals as objects simply because I am unable to see their understanding on the subject, which is where the animosity between animal activists and those guilty of animal cruelty grows.
Am I an animal right's activist? I guess so. Because the problem exists and someone has to stand up to do something about it, even if it is convincing just one or two people that animals think and feel just like you and I.