The song playing for all the unfortunate little souls is "Knights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues.
Before you read on, please visit this link right here!!!! The Canadian government is finally thinking of toughening up laws concerning crimes and cruelty against animals. Even if you are not Canadian, you can send your input! Your tourist dollars are important to our government. Please visit the link and send your input!
Ok "hoomins", put your furkids safely to bed, they shouldn't see this. They are the lucky ones, the animals that have warm, safe homes, are well fed and cared for...they are loved! Too many animals are not so lucky. They fall victem to neglect or abuse. And there is nothing they can do about it because they are silent and defensless. It is up to us, as caring and compassionate beings to be a voice for the animals, to be their defenders!! Please visit the links below...some are graphic and disturbing, I will provide a brief description of each so you wont be surprized by sudden shocking images or descriptions of violence. Please help! Even if you cant directly help the victems of violence and neglect, you can write letters, sign petitons, give generously to those who are directly involved. Above all, REPORT CASES OF ABUSE OR NEGLECT if you should encounter them. You can make a difference, we can all make a difference to these sweet, innocent and perfect little souls.
This link is to a site on the Sweetkities page. It gives disturbing examples of many sick people who began with violent behaviour towards animals and ended up killing people. I'm sure you don't need to be convinced that violence towards animals is wrong, but many people don't see animal abuse as a serious crime! These people need to understand that there is a conection between animal abuse and violent offences against people.
This is the Noah's Ark link. Visit their homepage and take a tour around the site.
On this site, you can read about the March 7th tragedy in which three young "men" broke into the shelter and beat many of the cats to death with a baseball bat.
Here is an exerpt from the sentencing and verdict section. This is what one of the jury members said about the crime:
"It was a stupid
mistake, but we've all killed cats at one time or another when we were younger, you know, teased them,
tormented them or kicked them around. We (the jury) didn't ever think the cats were worth more than
$500, but we took the breaking and entering part pretty seriously."
Each cat's life was considered to be worth $31.25. How anyone can place a value on a life is beyond me. Please check out the site and read more of the sad details for yourself. Then act. You can make a donation to Noahs Ark at this site. Give online, by fax or by snailmail.
Visit the Noah's Ark Vigil site. The shelter address also appears on this page, so send a card or a gift.
This candle burns for all the sweet, innocent victems of the tragedy. Want one for your site? Download the image and link it back to http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/8925.
I can't begin to express how important it is to spay and neuter your pets!! This site does an excellent job of it. It's called "Stop Abuse - Don't litter" and it's full of links to petitions, letters, and lots of sad, sad stories and pictures.
This is another excellent activist site called Action Cat. There's lots of petitions to sign and great ideas for people who are under 18 and therefore can't sign petitions....you CAN still help!!
Tired of "ribbon campaigns"? This section of Action Cat is of particular interest. It's a great idea for promoting an end to violence and cruelty...the "Odd socks campaign". Check it out, and wear odd socks!
Read about the Arizona grooming shop tragedy in which cats at a grooming shop were tortured. This site is terribly sad.
Another excellent spay-neuter site...help Stamp Out pet overpopulation. If you live in the States, write to your congress person to have a postage stamp designed which will promote neutering of pets.
No more cruelty!! This site has lots of really great links.
Here is a site that describes in graphic detail, the sick torture and murder of a little terrier dog named Scruffy. The extremely graphic sections are well marked, so you may skip them if you wish, but I suggest you read them. It is important for those who love animals to realize that so many people out there do not, and are capable of enormous cruelty. This site will spur you to action, if nothing else!
Yet another excellent spay/neuter site by Nancy Pilotte. This one has lots of great stuff. There are photos of Nancy's cats, info on feral cats, more animal cruelty links, general cat care and health information, and more! There is an abosolutely heartwrenching poem just below the cat photos. I doubt your eyes will be dry after reading it.
I'm including this graphic here, although the link is not working. I've made some inquiries to try to find out what has happened to this page, and when I do, I'll make the graphic "clickable". The cat in the picture was named Olivia. In July of 1997, a group of young people doused her and three other cats with hairspray and set them on fire. Terribly injured, Olivia struggled for life until October 12, 1997, when she suffered a stroke and passed on to the rainbow bridge.
I can't hold back the tears when I think of how terrified and confused she and the other cats must have been. Please help! Most of the above links will lead you to sites where you can sign petitions or to addresses of congress-people you can write to. Make animal cruelty a felony offence everywhere!! The so-called "men" who set the little dog Scruffy on fire would have got off easy if they weren't charged with arson! This makes me so angry! It didn't matter that a living, breathing, feeling creature was set on fire, all that mattered was that a fire was set...period! We can change this...speak up!!
What's the animal cruelty law in your State?? Check out this site at Lisaviolet's Cathouse. This is a most excellent website with a LOT of links to all kinds of neat stuff. The direct link to the animal cruelty law section is below.
Operation Save Our Cats -- it's part of The Cat Connection which is a really fun site!
Here it is! The Fund For Animals. It was founded in 1967 by the wonderful cat-loving author, Cleveland Amory. There's lots of great stuff on this page, including this super spay/neuter section
There's also sections with news, alerts and facts about animal welfare issues, kids stuff and links to other great sites. And don't forget, if you haven't read Cleveland Amory's books about "The best cat ever (except of course for yours!)" Polar Bear, you can order the whole trilogy in one from Barnes and Noble. It's a fantastic read!
You can also find links to order other books by Cleveland Amory as well as books on animal welfare issues, vegetarianism and more. So visit the fund, click on the logo below to go to their main page.
That's all for now folks. If you have a great anti-animal cruelty site, please let me know so I can add it here!
cmorris@uoguelph.ca