ANIMAL STORIES
Kitten Rescue
To The Editor:
In
the past few years I have written you about instances of animal cruelty
but this time I wanted to tell you about a kitten rescued by six young
boys.
The St. Lawrence
County SPCA has its board meetings at the Ogdensburg Police Station and
on Tuesday night during our meeting Steve LaFleur, dispatcher, came in
to let us know that someone had found a kitten in a snow bank near
Hackett's Hardware. The kitten apparently had been in the street when a
snowplow went by, was thrown up in the snow bank and couldn't get out.
I left the meeting and drove out to Hackett's to pick up the kitten.
There I was met by six young boys
ranging in age from approximately 11 to 13 with a three month old tabby
and white female kitten, very wet and cold. They had been playing tag
when they heard the kitten crying and searched until they found her in
the snow bank. One of the boys had a cell phone and called the Police
Station. All of them were concerned about where I was taking her and
what would happen to her.
I have sent each of them a note -thanking them for their act of kindness but I think they deserve to be recognized publicly for their
compassion and concern for the welfare of the kitten. If they had not
rescued her and found her help, she would have died of exposure.
Working in animal welfare can make you cynical about human nature:
Instances such as this are like nuggets of gold and we treasure them.
The young men are
Matt Hance, Robert Hance, Brandon Perry, Ronnie Redmond. Justin Spooner
and Brad Youngs. All of us at the St. Lawrence County SPCA think
they're pretty terrific.
Debby Mitchell
St. Lawrence County SPCA
Ellie is a little, seven to eight pound fluffball of moderated
pleasure! She's an older lady, rather laid back and opinionated
now that she's acclimated and taken over the household and its
occupants as her own. That includes by the way, two other dogs
and 5 cats. She has some funny little quirks, but she's a dear,
and it was her picked out my wife, not us picking her out. My
wife is a volunteer at the SPCA and somehow this little dear manged to
catch her interest.
When she came to the site, she was quite a mess.
Yellowed, loost teeth, losing her coat, anal-sac infections, and
looked pretty much like she didn't care whether she died or not
and probably would have preferred to. She wasn't all that far
from it when she was fround on the street and brought in.
Well, they took care of her, fixed up her mouth and other
problems, and made her as presentable as they could, just in case
someone came along. Apparently they also gave her a course on
"How to Capture a Human's Heart" because she did it well.
She's not a fully furred, pure-bred and looks it,
straight-eared little dictator! The other dogs, about 40 pounds
each, listen to her and get out of her way when she "asks" them to, and
the cats, well, one's a friend, the rest keep their distance.
And, she's a great pet! A little too lap-happy sometimes,
but hey, she deserves it; she's a healthy, good looking old gal now.
I got the answer to my wonderings about her "quirks" the
other day, too. It seems she was a breeder-dog, and aged-out, as
they call it. This perfectly explains all of her seemingly funny
actions and attitudes! So, those excellently thinking,
wonderfully professional puppy-mill bass turds just put her out on the
street: Along with two or three others, depending on which
version of the story you get.
I have a "reward" for those previous owners if I ever
actually find out who they are. But, meantime, her and later her
mates have all been adopted and are now living the life of luxury.
She looks at me sometimes with her ears straight out, eyes
sparkling, and seems to day "Who says prostitution doesn't pay!
Look at me!" I call it slavery, but her opinion is more
accurate, I guess. Anyway, we're all happy she's a part of the
family, especially her!