animal rescue

by

Part I – I Was Born on an Amish Farm in the Middle of Winter

Mr. BeanI was born on an Amish farm in the middle of winter.  I divided my time during my first six weeks between playing with my siblings and nursing when I could.

Sometimes my mother wasn’t around, and the six of us youngsters pushed each other aside to drink the trickle of cow’s milk that dripped down from the metal pipes carrying it away from the cows, away from us.  There wasn’t much milk, but it at least sometimes it quenched our thirst.

One day an older cat wanted the milk I was lapping from the pipes.  He rushed toward me and I lost my footing and fell.  I—with all of my 3 pounds—jumped on his back, expecting him to tussle playfully like my brothers and sisters.  He had other ideas, though, and bit off a chunk of my ear.  I learned to be wary.

Over time my stomach became swollen and filled with worms.  I was always hungry, and I became sickly and quiet.  The barn was icy cold, and the wind crept through the cracks.

One winter day a man and woman came to the farm.  They looked different from the people I had known—no long skirt, no hat.  They spoke with the farmer.  The farmer’s little boys found me and delivered me to them.  The woman told the boys that the kitten was going live in a house.  The boys, wide-eyed, said, “Nooo!”  “Yes,” she said laughing, “and the kitten is going sleep on a bed.”  “Noooo,” they said, and squinted at her as if she might be crazy.

To be continued…
For Part II: https://untoldanimalstories.org/2013/09/20/part-ii-i-was-born-on-an-amish-farm-in-the-middle-of-winter/

by

The Black Panther’s Stride

freeimage-5279799-webIn certain angles of light, my spots are visible.  They call me a black panther, but I am really a black leopard.  When I was young I roamed with my mother in the riverside forest of Thailand.  At my mother’s side I learned stealth and patience, how to slip silently through the forest, to drink from the rushing river, to kill only as much as we needed to sustain ourselves, to respect the boundaries of other, to know freedom.

By night the scent of the forest was fragrant with flowers and the earth was cool beneath our feet.  By day the forest was a dozen shades of green.  We slept cradled in the boughs of trees, safely hidden by the tangle of leaves.

One day we came across some tree branches plaited together on the ground.  We walked around them, sniffing, exploring.  My mother put a tentative foot on it and the ground gave way beneath her.  She tumbled into a trap from which she could not get free.

I stayed by her through the night into the next day, when humans arrived.  They talked excitedly when they saw us.  I retreated into the forest, but not quickly enough.  I was captured, my mother was killed, and they took us out of the forest.  My mother’s body was used for ceremonies and luxury clothing.  I was too little to be of use that way, so I was sold into the exotic pet trade.

I changed hands many times.  Some of my owners, as they called themselves, were kinder than others.  Eventually, I traveled across the water and came to this place called a zoo.  My cage here is bigger than the cages in which I was accustomed to living.  I can stride six paces in one direction, turn, and stride six paces in the other direction.  People come to look at me, and mostly I ignore them.  Sometimes I turn my golden-eyed gaze on them.  In the eyes of the bigger people I see a tinge of fear.  In the eyes of the little people I see only wonder.

There is a man who brings me food and water and talks to me in a calm voice.  He told me that soon, soon, they will build me a bigger enclosure and I’ll have rocks, trees, a little trickle of a stream, and space in which to move.

Sometimes when the night sky is black and the stars glitter, I feel pulled toward my wild nature.  My urge to roam is deep and strong and visceral.  I close my eyes, and in my dreams go to the riverside forest and remember the fragrant night wind, the soft earth beneath my feet, the sound of the rushing river.

Panther©Enjoylife25|DreamstimeStockPhotos|StockFreeImages