Heffalumps

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http://journals.aol.com/judithheartsong/newbeginning/entries/1556

Not that any animal's life is easy....

I have always thought that the dog was a noble creature, and one of the most virtuous. Dogs are faithful, loving, forgiving, smart, comforting, heroic. They ask little but time, affection, food and exercise. And when a dog "misbehaves" you can't really blame it. It's just acting on instinct and what it has learned from it’s humans.

Sometimes we lead animals to bad habits without realizing it. It's not really their fault if they pee on the floor after you've used ammonia to clean the floor. They are doing what comes naturally. They aren't really much different from children in that respect. If you feed an animal at the table, you are teaching it to beg.

I have often thought it would be great if someone held me in as high a regard as I felt for my dog.

And dogs lives aren't all that bad. They love to be outside and to run and play. They don't have to work much and they get to sleep a lot. The food they get isn't the greatest or most savory but they usually seem happy to get it.

There's just something comforting about the tick-tick-tick of dogs paws across a wooden floor. It has been said that the simple act of stroking a dog's fur is calming, and that living with pets adds years to your life.

One of the best aspects of "owning" a dog is that he or she is a natural Good Will Ambassador to your neighborhood. When you own a dog, you know your neighbors. They see you out walking and, attracted by your handsome furred companion, strike up conversation. If you were moseying through the neighborhood without a pet, they'd probably report you as suspicious. And dogs help us get exercise we might not otherwise get. I have known a woman who walked her cat on a leash but it's just not the same somehow.

I have always loved dogs. A shaggy white dog with tawny brown spots is one of the first things I was ever conscious of, one of my first memories. Her name was Gypsy. My parents adopted her from the animal shelter before my older sister was born.

I came late into affection for cats. My mother didn't want us to have cats because as a girl her cat would go out at night and fight and come back bloodied. My first cat experience came in college when I spent time in a friend's lakeside cabin with her kitten. I played with that cat all day. It was attention it needed. She and her roommate were both at school or work most of the day. When she came back to school the next day she was amazed at how much calmer the kitten was. It was the first inkling of my appreciation for things feline.

It wasn't until I was in my 20s that a cat finally came to live with us. I was home from college, staying to care for my mother. This raggedy little cat was in the backyard tossing a field mouse in the air. I don't how it happened but she made her way indoors and we were giving her food. I guess she checked us out and decided she would allow us her companionship. I guess she forgave us for having a dog.

When I suggested the shelter, Dad said "No, they’ll just put her to sleep." That was unexpected. I don't know why he did it. Maybe his heart is just too big.

"Katie" was a pretty calico cat, but she had ticks and worms and patches where she was missing some fur. We took her to the vet. I had plucked her ticks. The vet took care of the worms. Her hair grew back. And then I noticed that there were lumps in her belly. I didn't know what was up. The diagnosis was kittens, and when they arrived in a box under Dad's bed, he was thrilled.

He woke me up early in the morning. "Come here!", he said. "Look!" He was so proud that four squirmy kittens had come into the world under his bed. He felt so very honored.

That was 20 years ago. I haven't been cat-less since.

There are other animals it might be wonderful to be. I have wanted to experience the freedom and fun of bird flight since I heard Judy Garland sing "Over the Rainbow." It was the subject of the first poem I ever wrote. Still, there’s a lot of work to being a bird. And you have to obey the signals to fly with the seasons and you have to spend a lot of time looking for juicy bugs to eat and water to drink.

For all the delight of the freedom of flight, the idea of having to dive-bomb for your lunch, cats, windows, 18-wheelers, jet engines, other predatory birds and boys with bb guns just turns me off. The idea of going somewhere as the crow flies, though delightful, especially now with the price of gas rising, is outweighed by the hard work and various difficulties of avian life.

Every animal has something about them to be admired. Snakes can climb trees and swim. Otters are such cunning cuties. Anhingas are excellent fishermen. Ants are so industrious that the Bible mentions them. Even the mosquito and the flea, though two of the most annoying and treacherous beasties ever devised, are the source of millions of dollars in human revenue every year. Veterinarians owe their children’s college educations to the tiny flea. And wouldn’t you like to sell mosquito repellent in the swampy South or during black fly season in Maine?

It is clear that I would not want to be an animal on display in a circus or a zoo. It is true that for the most part these animals are treated as well as their "owners" are capable of. Still, there is no place like home and no food like what you get at home. The "people" who are your "people" are what home really is. There’s nothing like knowing the terrain and what’s on it, nothing like drinking the water and eating the food you are accustomed to, and smelling the air that’s filled with the smells that you know. Your heart is in the land of your birth and you are a part of it. Your soul homes in on the signal from the place where you belong.

I would want to be an animal with a strong sense of family. Dogs are pack animals and few things are more important to a dog than other dogs. Cats can take or leave other animals. I know that there are animals that mate for life. That is an appealing scenario to me. I know that the Sandhill Cranes that visit my yard are devoted to each other and to their annual chick.

I want to be constantly surrounded with helpful and affectionate others. I want a family with a sense of fun and also of protection. I want to be such a creature that few other animals seek to do me harm. I want to travel and yet always feel at home. I don’t want to have to work that hard to find food.

I have enough trouble trying to do all the things that I should and all of the things I would like to.  I need all the help I can get from my family and friends.

All animals have some sort of predator, man being the worst of these. Man is the animal than can opt to forget the ethics of wasting not. Man is the animal that knows greed beyond hunger, beyond need. Even the ants will devour the every edible part of corpse they use to nourish their colony. Even the bones of an animal become something for rodents to nibble for calcium. They won’t take only one part and let the rest rot. Predatory animals make no profit other than survival from their kill, and other animals benefit from the available leftovers. It is man that kills an entire animal for just one of it’s parts.

See the next entry for the rest of the story....