Protect Your Pets

It's the time of year when some really sick people start doing nasty things to cats, dogs, and horses. A few miles from my apartment, a man's 5-year-old orange tabby has a broken pelvis and is suffering from 3 pellet shots. The pellets are lodged against bones and the vets say it's best to just leave them in place - their removal could cause more harm. The cat's pelvis is broken in three places, and has been wired, screwed and plated back into its normal form. Why? Because it's Halloween. Orange tabbies and black cats are hurt most; black dogs are the next on the prey list. It's a very sad commentary on the world today.
Unsuspecting and trustful pets are shot, tortured and burned alive by people "out for a good time" in the few days surrounding Halloween. Horses have their tails and ears cut off. A few pitiful horses even have a hoof cut off - which means they are literally the walking dead. Such atrocities should never occur. Children need to be taught to respect all forms of life, and to honor those creatures who serve us as companions and friends, as well as those whose flesh we consume in our ultimate "human superiority."
Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve, and was given the name by the Catholic church. It is, however, the Celtic practice of Samhaim (pronounced Sow-in - sow rhymes with cow), a time to celebrate the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that on the night of Samhaim the air/space/time continuum was extremely thin and that the dead, both the good and evil, could visit between worlds. They had ritualistic bonfires to char the bones of their newest winter slaughter, and to keep the evil spirits away. Friendly spirits, such as relatives and neighbors, were very welcome, and food and drink was set out to assuage their thirst and hunger.
Unfortunately, throughout the ages, some twisted humans have used Halloween as an excuse to harm defenseless and trusting animals.

"The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot." ~Mark Twain, What Is Man, 1906

Please protect your pets during this Halloween season.