The cats, dogs and iguanas had the run of two bedrooms and generally were healthy and well-fed, according to the news report. The owner worked for animal rescue outfits and would simply take her charges home. People who hoard pets like this apparently think they're the only ones capable of caring for the animals. While this poor woman clearly was going overboard, I can understand the mindset. I've heard the awful stories from rescue operations-- why wouldn't you want to bring the poor creatures home?
But I can't imagine 34 Saint Bernards running around our place. Not even 34 cats, three Saint Bernards and two iguanas. And how did they all get along?
People like to say that dogs hate cats, but I'm not so sure. Maybe that's just one of those stereotypes, a pop psychology fact that people like to tell one another but really have no clue. Daisy does seem to take a friendly interest in Merlin, the slim white cat with blue eyes that lives across the street. Merlin is an amazing creature that will appear out of nowhere in the driveway, then just as suddenly disappear. He crosses the street with abandon, never looks both ways, and yet has lived at least 18 years.
I've known at least one Saint Bernard and Siamese who were quite fond of one another. That Saint was also close friends with a chicken, but that's a story for next time.
4 comments:
Multi-speciesim...Last year Michael and I rescued a Box Turtle as she was ambling across the road, totally unaware of the peril she was in. I brought her home, made a nice enclosure, with a turtle pond and turtle water fountain ($80 at Petco) and fed her blueberries, which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
Within an hour she was out of the enclosure and heading back to the road. I made a higher enclosure. She climbed that and made a beeline for the hole in the fence. Despite a third even higher, heavier enclosure made of boulders and beams, and many, many blueberries, she vanished. I was remarkably distressed by this, and looked for her for weeks.
But what a stupid turtle, to pass up the opportunity to my pet, which everyone agrees is a good deal, even if it does entail a lot of sitting and downing and staying...
I guess, as Holly Golightly said, you should never love a wild thing.
So from now on, for me, it's dogs, only dogs...Mara
Oh, and by the way, The Girls were very ladylike and polite to the turtle. That means they didn't try to eat her, which is what they try to do to any other critter that is neither human nor canine. Oh, and toads. Maggie tried to eat one once, and started drooling so severely that I had to hose out her mouth (that's how you flush out toxic toad juice.) Neither she nor Lisa have ever tried to lick one again. So toads are safe. And I guess turtles. But no cats. Or squirrels. Or raccoons...Mara
Maybe your turtle was heading off to hibernate? This happened to my sister when she was about ten -- the turtle disappeared, we had a funeral, then months later my mom found her, well and alive, while digging in the back yard.
I'm not sure how Daisy would respond to a turtle. She's not much interested in creatures other than dogs, although she did take a very long look at the screeching black oystercatchers hanging out on the cliff at low tide one day.
RE: Hibernation...I don't think so. It was July. She just didn't want what I had to offer. I still look for her, though...
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