A 1 in 6,000,000 Chance

Someone won the lottery today. It was a one in six million chance but she won and now she will long and happy life where she won't have to worry about food, a warm place to sleep, or medical care again. She has gone from homeless destitution to never wanting for anything as long as she lives. She is beyond lucky. We are settled into our new home now and we find that we have room for a new addition. We decided that, given our active lifestyle, a cat would fit in nicely. Having volunteered in an animal shelter, there was no argument that our new addition would be rescued. Instead of going to the usual place ( www.waysidewaifs.com ), I decided to go to the Kansas City Municipal Animal Shelter. They are overcrowded and having to put down animals at an alarming rate. They are begging for people to come and adopt animals. Any animal shelter is a sad place to visit. This one is especially dank and depressing. None of the fancy buildings and nice decor of wayside, this is merely a cinderblock building with a metal roof and concrete floors meant to house as many animals as efficiently as possible It is a prison, death row, for a host of beautiful animals. These innocent creatures have been victimized by supposedly 'superior' humans who were too irresponsible to spay their pets, who assumed that a young animal somehow knows not to chew shoes or poop on the rug and could not take the time to teach them, or who just got tired of them or decided that they really did not match the decor. Now they live in a cold metal cage, confused and wondering what they have done wrong and what is to become of them. Each tick of the clock lessens their chance of having the happy life they are entitled to and brings them closer to the needle which will bring them eternal sleep. It is Saturday and there are a lot of people at the shelter. Many of them have come looking for their lost pet but you like to think most are there to adopt a pet. You have to walk past the dogs to get to the cats and all of the excitement of new people walking through has generated a cacophony of barking which makes your ears ache. There was one particularly cute young dog; a Lab of about three months of age named 'Buddy.' A friendly, happy dog- if I had any way of making it work I would have adopted him on the spot but, since I could not, a put a little spell on him to make sure someone would. We found the area set aside for cats and entered. Most of the residents were kittens- thanks to irresponsible people who do not neuter their pets- but there were a couple of adults, one female who was nursing a litter, and one poor guy who was simply pissed at the world and lay in his cage with is ears folded back looking menacingly at anyone who spoke to him. I knew what I was looking for. I wanted a kitten, short haired (an absolute requirement), and I wanted it to be coal black like the stereotypical Witch's cat. They had two black kittens. The first had long hair so, too bad (but not really as he was already in the process of being adopted). The second was in a cage with two other kittens, presumable littermates judging by their common age (about eight weeks) and size. Homing in on the kitten I wanted to adopt, I reached through the bars to stroke and play with him. Suddenly one of his cage mates, a beautiful crème colored Siamese with gray points and a big splotch of gray right in the middle of her face, pushed her way forward, shoved him out of the way, and began batting at my hands. 'You don't want him, you want me!' she seemed to say. After that performance, she was right. I did want her. I have always preferred animals with strong personalities and intelligence and, with two ferrets as roommates, any cat living in my house would certainly need them. I also saw a little gray Manx cat and, for a while, the choice was between him and the Siamese but he was still too young for adoption so the choice was made for me. I asked the Animal Control officer if I could hold the little Siamese and, when I picked her up, she snuggled up against me and beg an purring. Evidently I met her stringent criteria as well. So we went to the office to pay the fee and fill out the paperwork. The lady who helped me recognized which kitten it was and was very glad she had found a home. I know from my own experiences working in a shelter that, although you want each and every animal to find a home, you do have your favorites and it is an especially good feeling when one of them gets adopted. We don't have her yet. She won't be home until Tuesday- after she has been spayed and given some of her shots. I cannot wait to go get her. As we left, Buddy had still not been adopted. He, like the gray Manx and the pissed off old cat, would just have to hang in and hope his chance to make someone happy would come around before the kennels get too crowded and the cold and uncaring calendar decides it is his turn to make room. When a cat enters a shelter, there is a one in six million chance that it will be adopted. This slaughter of beautiful and friendly animals- the ultimate innocents- must stop. There is absolutely no reason for your pet to be intact. If it is not spayed or neutered, get it done now. Get off the computer, call the vet, and get it arranged. If you can possibly find the room in your home and your heart, go to your local animal shelter and give some deserving animal a chance to enrich your life and save their own. You can be its winning lottery ticket.

-dyn

'The Cunning Linguist :Þ' < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote in message

Steve

'The Cunning Linguist :Þ' < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote in message

You'd not be so enthused if you'd seen his previous posts, bragging of giving small animals cocaine, and killing stray cats....

Gosh, these links seem to show what kind of person you REALLY are when there aren't gullible newbies around who don't know about you

http://tinyurl.com/3yugl

Search Result 1 From: The Talesin- The Bad Boy of Witchcraft (tm) ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Subject: Re: Divination View: Complete Thread (191 articles) Original Format Newsgroups: alt.religion.wicca Date: 2002-05-31 05:17:12 PST

i lure cats into my car with treats, take them out into the woods, eviscerate them, and read their entrails

scry me a liver, baby

[chortle] la ninny is such a bad joke, it can not recognize, much less appreciate, humor, when it comes from someone other than it's own perverted

You reveal more and more about your perverted self ninny, you are one of those grotesque types that routinely abuse their fellow humans, glory in your alleged ability to 'kick ass' routinely disparage people with the vile profanity you are so adept at & yet if a little kitty should be hurt you are outraged. Typical. Pity we don't routinely cull the human heard, your name would be at the top of the list.

The truth is where you find it, regardless of the source. Past behavior aside, this was so far above the spew that comes out of your pie hole, it's no wonder you can't see it. What a pitiful life you must lead. But, that's your choice, and hardly any concern of mine. Please do me the favor of directing your bile in another direction in the future.

> You'd not be so enthused if you'd seen his previous posts, bragging of > giving small animals cocaine, and killing stray cats.... You reveal more and more about your perverted self ninny, you are one of those grotesque types that routinely abuse their fellow humans, glory in your alleged ability to 'kick ass' routinely disparage people with the vile profanity you are so adept at & yet if a little kitty should be hurt you are outraged. Typical. Pity we don't routinely cull the human heard, your name would be at the top of the list.

High five!