Cat cuddling time

I was interested to receive a bulky envelope from a gang called IFAW (reference 1) yesterday, although I am not clear how they got my name and address. A bulky envelope containing several pages of heart rending appeal for money, a direct debit mandate form, a second class business reply envelope and half a dozen animal flavoured notelets, complete with envelopes, one of which is illustrated. The sort of thing that you can buy in packs of ten from museum shops for a fiver, although in their case the pictures are not usually cute & cuddly cats.

One of the items in the appeal was the awful information that in China they have markets for cats, where the cats fetch maybe £2 a kilo, mostly for use in restaurants. For all the world like the sort of small livestock markets that used to be common in our country towns. I say in passing that it remains a puzzle for me why it is OK to raise pigs for pies while it is not OK to raise cats for meat or elephants for ivory. All the animals involved are more or less conscious, sentient (if not thoughtful) beings and once one allows their bringing into life and subsequent slaughter for human purposes, why is one different from another? All mammals are equal say I.

Other awfuls included orphaned infant animals, merciless poachers and men who bury their dogs alive. It does indeed seem that there is a lot of cruelty out there. Forgetting, for the moment, the animal-on-animal cruelty mentioned in the hawk book (see reference 2). And not to mention the heron in yesterday's DT which appeared to be eating, that is to say swallowing, a live weasel.

However, while I might not care for the way that some people treat animals, I am not minded to give any money to this lot. Much too much of a moral muddle and much too much cloying sentimentality about small furry animals. And what about the way that such people are likely to treat human animals, never mind the small furry ones?

Perhaps we shall just have to look forward to the time of righteousness advertised in Isaiah 11:6 when the leopard will lie down with the kid. Also advertised in the Christmas Eve festival of lessons and carols from King's College, at which this bit of Isaiah is one of the lessons. At which point I wonder about the overlap between god people and cat people. And so off to resume DIY.

Reference 1: http://www.ifaw.org/united-kingdom.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/goshawk-white.html.