I live in a very lovely mobile home park. It is surrounded by apartment buildings on the streets that border it. The end result is that when someone moves out of their apartment and leaves their cat to fend for itself, it often finds its way over to our park. We get a newsletter every month, and every month they have the same message in it - don't feed the stray cats, don't take them in, call and have them removed. As for us tenants, we can only have one cat. For the seven years I've been here, I have seen many poor, starving strays. I have sneaked them into the space between my storage shed, made beds and houses for them, cared for them, and found them homes. I have been threatened more than once by the management to stop caring for the feral/abandoned cats, but I just tell them it's against my religion to ignore a starving animal. When Hershey, my beloved dark chocolate Burmese Service Animal of 17 years passed away last June I was beside myself. Eventually, I adopted my Heinz 57 Tortie, Minja. No one wanted her, she had been adopted and returned numerous times because of behavioral problems. Love, patience, and lots of one-on-one training put an end to her bad ways and now even my mother can't believe she is the same screaming, out of control cat I brought home a month before. Shortly after that, a got a call from one of the Humane Societies in Denver, CO, they just turned up a dark brown Burmese. When Hershey passed, I had tried to find another dark brown Burmese, but could not. Apparently, they kept my name on file. They interviewed me several times as they wanted to make sure I could handle her - she was a true feral. My experience has been with abandoned and part-feral cats, but not with an actual feral who had 2 months of human contact. Her foster mom was a lovely woman who met me at the Denver airport ( I live in San Diego) and handed Hershey Rose over to me. Before adopting her, I had contacted both TSA headquarters and the TSA manager at Denver Airport and was assured that if her carrier was labeled "FERAL ANIMAL" a Supervisor would come over and just do a visual inspection, she would not need to be disturbed. This made me feel better as her foster mom told me she had to be drugged to get her into the carrier, and she would be a wild child if they tried to remove her. Assured by TSA, I accepted her and adopted her by fax. Upon reaching Security at the airport, however, it was an entirely different story. A brazen young man decided he needed to remove her and inspect her see-through carrier. They took Hershey Rose and me into a small room where he grabbed her and pulled her out of the carrier. She went crazy. She bounced off the walls, ceiling, floor, knocked over a lamp which broke on my head, and was totally terrified. This went on for almost 30 minutes. Later I found out he had NO authority to touch her, he was a lead, who decided to show off in front of the female TSA officers. His boss, the real Supervisor, was furious that he touched a feral animal, and that a customer was injured because of his breaking the rules. I don't believe he works there anymore, and I could care less. Everything Trish, her foster mom did, working with her and trying to get her used to humans was destroyed. When I finally got her home, she was one ferocious animal. Her bites landed me in the ER several times. My doctor advised me to get rid of her. My mother and her sister ragged on me everyday to have her put to sleep. It only made me more determined to win her over.
This past Sunday afternoon I was lying on the couch with my electric throw, reading and fighting off the flu. I felt my Minja jump up on the couch, squirm her way between the back of my legs and the couch cushions and lay down to take a nap. "Hello, Minja" I said, not looking up. Minja let out a little meow when she heard her name. But the meow came from the other side of the couch. When I looked down at my legs, my heart literally stopped! There, sleeping on my legs, was Hershey Rose. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I realized, after all she had been through, she finally found a human and a home she was comfortable in.
Hershey Rose is a permanent member of my household, and is my Minja. Yes, we are only allowed one pet. But Hershey Rose and my late Hershey look a great deal alike, and no one but my family knows Hershey passed away. As for Management and the rest of the neighbors, Hershey Rose is still my Service Animal (who legally cannot be counted as a pet), and Minja is my one allowed pet. Sneaky, yes. But without people who care enough to help these creatures, they are doomed to short and hard lives. Here's to those of us guardians of these beautiful, furry, four-legged lost souls! May they be lost no more!
Lei Ann
This past Sunday afternoon I was lying on the couch with my electric throw, reading and fighting off the flu. I felt my Minja jump up on the couch, squirm her way between the back of my legs and the couch cushions and lay down to take a nap. "Hello, Minja" I said, not looking up. Minja let out a little meow when she heard her name. But the meow came from the other side of the couch. When I looked down at my legs, my heart literally stopped! There, sleeping on my legs, was Hershey Rose. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I realized, after all she had been through, she finally found a human and a home she was comfortable in.
Hershey Rose is a permanent member of my household, and is my Minja. Yes, we are only allowed one pet. But Hershey Rose and my late Hershey look a great deal alike, and no one but my family knows Hershey passed away. As for Management and the rest of the neighbors, Hershey Rose is still my Service Animal (who legally cannot be counted as a pet), and Minja is my one allowed pet. Sneaky, yes. But without people who care enough to help these creatures, they are doomed to short and hard lives. Here's to those of us guardians of these beautiful, furry, four-legged lost souls! May they be lost no more!
Lei Ann