How can anger and sorrow be wrapped up in an emotion together. They should be separate. One demands action, another is a cry for help. But after the last 24 hours my heart was wrenched and twisted into ire and sadness. We are humans. A species far more intelligent than any other species. But are we really? The animal kingdom fights wars for territory. We fight wars for oil. Animals fight each other for the strength of breeding the best to perpetuate the species. We fight over who gets in WalMart first on Black Friday. Animals fight for a logical reason, be it territory, passing on their genes or better resources. They aren’t vindictive, cruel or tortuous. Only the intelligent human species has the capacity to be deliberately cruel.
She didn’t ask for the life she got. It was given to her by a cruel human. Likely crammed into a small cage where she couldn’t even lay down, for months, maybe years. Had to been given some water and food to live long enough for her nails to be deformed and 2″ long. Had to live long enough for maggots to start eating her body. Had to live long enough for the urine and feces to dissolve the fur on all 4 legs. Had to live long enough that after she was finally found, to have her muscles so atrophied that she couldn’t even walk and so emaciated you could feel every bony protuberance.
Who does this?? Where has intelligence brought us? The means to torture? The brain to say “I’m bigger, smarter and in control of you?”
Found wrapped in a blanket at a dumpster site, the person who rescued her was beside himself with sorrowful emotion and sickness. The smell was terrible but he picked her up anyhow and brought her to the shelter. 3 days of vet care, IV fluids, scrubbing off scabs and killing maggots, we had high hopes she could recover.
Fostering and caring for neglected dogs is one of the things that I do best. Nursing emaciated dogs back to health and showing them that there is love and compassion in the world and not just cruelty and bad people. We thought we could bring this girl back from the brink of death. A warm place to sleep. Help outside to pee. Long rests on a bed with a hot water bottle tucked beside her body covered with a blanket.
I’m glad her last day was one of warmth and gentle touches. I’m glad her last day she had some food in her belly. I’m glad her last day she had kind words whispered in her ear.
I’m sad that the other 6 or so years of her life weren’t so happy. I’m angry that people still do bad things to animals. I’m irate that there is someone in our community who did this to this super sweet girl and that there is no way to find out who did it and if we did….well, a slap on the wrist is probably what they would get.
Are we really smart? Do we really have empathy? I know some of us do, but there are those out there that don’t. Do I have to say that I am the same species as them?