Live Presents

I have been continuing my no-kill hunting expeditions- well, hmm, ok, to be honest, my actions did kill a young mouse but I only meant to play with it and when I was done it was still alive but it didn't know or couldn't make its way back home (still alive in the picture taken by my girl). Since then, I have been gentler with mice and another one has been able to scurry away once I was done stalking and catching it.

Ok, so where was I? Yea, my no-kill hunting expeditions which have spawned a healthy catch & release cottage-industry at my house. (Anything to keep my pudgy girl busy.) So I have hit upon another strategy. I like having bunnies for company and they are getting pretty scarce as most are growing up and some have been eaten up by that big coyote and its family.

We live just the three of us in the house and I know that my girl (I really need to name my female human) likes bunnies. My boy is not so crazy about them- he always shouts and runs around when we get bunnies at home. Sounds something like "Hunter-wire-us." Maybe he is worried I will "wire" him? Dunno. I just let him be. It can't be bad for him to get some exercise too even though I see no reason to be loud about it.

Anyway, so I have embarked on this plan last week. I bring home bunnies and release them at home. They are not smart like me (well, they are generally quite young) and they don't know the way out. They generally hide out under the furniture. Well, I released a couple at home without telling my humans. Later that afternoon, my girl was scurrying about all over the place because while she was talking on the phone upstairs (where I released a bunny, he he) a tiny bunny hopped out from under the dresser. It took her a good 30 minutes to catch it. She then came to me to show me what she was holding. So cute and cuddly! I had to rub against it. Then it was released out again. That evening the second bunny I had released downstairs chose to run around when both the humans were sitting and talking. It was funny. The boy just picked up his legs and shouted "hunter-wire-us" (it's getting old!) and the girl had to scamper around again trying to corner an agile bunny baby. She got it eventually and released it.

Bunnies can be just released outdoors and still survive. But many live presents are not so lucky. In fact, I have heard that a lot of people get kittens and puppies to give as presents to young kids and friends. That is not such a good idea. A lot of people may even appreciate the animal for a short time but not be able to take care of it (almost always the case with little human children). It is mostly cats and dogs that are given as presents and we need tender, loving care and attention.

The live presents trend is one essential source of income for the breeding mills which are inhumane. In addition, live presents often end up at animal shelters. Some of these animals will get re-adopted but a majority are just murdered because many shelters claim not to have the resources to care for so many animals (my girl will write on this on her blog). Dogs are more likely to be adopted from shelters than cats which are turned over to the shelters with such absurd excuses as "it doesn't match my carpet!!" Most cats at shelters are killed (unless you are a lucky cat that ended up at a no-kill shelter like the one in Denver. :(

No one has the right to give or receive a cat or dog or for that matter any other animal as an expendable "gift." While cats and dogs have been domesticated and in most cases, depend on humans for their survival, that doesn't make them less important or sentient or expendable at the convenience of the humans. Please, adopt pets responsibly. And there is no reason to buy pets if you wouldn't buy humans. We are not a commodity.