somebodywantsme

All from same litter (we think). Tashi means Happy in Tibetan. Zapa means Friday. Found them on Friday. Saturday morning found Indi and Isha. Sunday morn found Zora. The cream kittens are female. The tigers are male. No shots or spaying and neutering yet, but scheduled. If you want one of them now we can let you know when they will be ready and the price. These kittens are offered by:

Heartland Cat Rescue. Sebring, Florida. Please leave a Detailed Message at the following number (863)382-7138 Hours to Call: 9:00a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Foster Mom is Vicci

Buddha is said to have given a “silent sermon” once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it.  After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile.  He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon.  According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen. (Eckhart Tolle, The New Earth)

“I have lived with several Zen masters–all of them cats.” (Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now)

Zen is the doctrine that enlightenment can be attained through direct intuitive insight. Watch the cat and you will learn the art of Being.

Whether it be sliver of shade or sliver of sunshine, therein lies the cat.

A cat properly stretches, and gets plenty of sleep.

Cats are content at your feet, yet they often seek the highest places.

If a cat knows there is better, the cat will demand it. Cats demand the best.

The patience of the cat surpasses all.

copyright 4/9/2012 Vicci Springer

I once met a cat who was by far the most unique personality I have ever met and I will never forget. We knew each other only for a few minutes. We met in a parking lot. Such an amazing creature killed out of the hate and vindictiveness of a man who wanted to prove he could “clean up all the cats.” Oh, this man does not have the wisdom of even one cat he has killed, and he has killed thousands.

The foolish crush and kill and think they are doing good. How can this be? They fail to ask, WWJD? He would feed the five thousand with one loaf and two fishes; so can we.

Thank you for saving me.

Please don’t throw me away. . .

Some say I have no eternal soul It’s only man who counts But what man does to me Show me the soul in that?

They say we’re too many We’re a nuisance to them They kick us to the curb And expect us to live

Some kind person may feed us, Love us from a distance But we need more than this Especially if we are domestic

We’d rather take our chances Out on the street That’s how we roll – ‘cause We’re good as dead at Animal Control

Do you know how many of us Are marked for death on Monday? Every day of the week we are killed No one bothers to look for a place for us to live

If we’re wild and feral You can still take care Capture, neuter and spay Return us to our place

We mean you no harm We’re just trying to remain alive A few of us are pampered and petted But most of us are struggling to survive

What have we done to you That you can toss us in a cage Abuse, neglect and torture us The few days we have before we’re dead?

We’re created for your good pleasure It pleases you to destroy us? Trap and Kill, Trap and Kill Life for you just got easier

But I can be a lot of fun And you could help me find a home You could demand they set me free For less of a fee

You could demand they add more Cages and space and hold on longer … Somebody wants me I know somebody wants me

So, Move that bus, Move that bus They have land enough To take care of us

A change of heart Some volunteers Everybody working together We can become NO KILL!

George Bush, declawed on all 4 paws, found abandoned.

This article is from a speech which has been reworked for this website.

An acquaintance of mine that works with animals was in Walmart. The cashier told her this story about how her neighbor brought a dog over to her house, a puppy, with two broken legs. The boyfriend of her neighbor broke the dog’s legs to keep his girlfriend under control. Power and control. I don’t know what happened to the puppy. It probably is either crippled for life or dead, will end up at animal control. Short life. Dead.

You probably saw it on the Tampa news where a man recently was sentenced to a year and a half in jail for starving his dog. They didn’t put the dog down. They worked with it, saved it, made it healthy and made a statement with it. 1) abuse and neglect comes with a penalty. 2) animals who are in really bad shape can be brought back to health and adopted.

The most common response from those who’d rather kill then save is, “Oh, they had a big budget. We don’t have that kind of money.” NO. What they had was dedicated people. Government subsidized animal control facilities have a budget. And I know that budget could do a lot more for the animals. Animal Control facilities need to be open to the public; to men and woman who have the knowledge and compassion to work with animals. Many such people have low paying jobs, some of them are looking for a better more fulfilling job and many will freely volunteer.

Animal Control facilities have the power. The power to kill or the power to save.

Abuse is abuse. Neglect is neglect. Whether it is for one hour, one day, three days, a week, six months. Abuse is abuse and neglect is neglect. But out society approves, even endorses, many abuses and neglects. Not only against animals but against humans.

But as we have seen in our lifetime, the underdogs and cats are making progress. Time will erode archaic thinking whether those who resist change like it or not. All those KKK members in MS. are now dead, my father included; and black Americans have a right to walk around freely and vote and eat and drink and ride the bus wherever they please, just like the white Americans. Because somebody worked toward it and somebody cared. People who initially care in this society are shunned and labeled. Compassion seems to carry a price.

We are more than just one label, animal lover, cat lady, dog lover. We are professionals and laborers, homeowners and tax payers. Citizens. But the fullness of who we are often gets lost if we speak out for the helpless. It is prevalent throughout our country and other countries as well, that some of the most archaic abuses are inflicted on animals. It could and should be stopped TODAY. TODAY. It adds to my sorrow that those who have the power and control won’t insist that it be stopped today. Rather many animal control directors continue to inflict pain and abuse and agony on an animal. I’d like to make a citizen’s arrest. I am not the only one. But our numbers are still too few to have any effect in many areas of our country.

I would like to arrest those who put traps out on a Friday and do not pick them up and bring those trapped animals in until late Monday afternoon. I’d like to arrest them for using a trap so small that the big cat they capture is totally confined from movement. And if the cat was captured on Friday, and comes in on Monday how long has that cat been confined without food and water? How long has that cat been terrified and even more terrified being thrown on the back of a truck and eventually driven to a shelter where it is unloaded and sat next to a cage until somebody has time to attend to it. By now the animals are absolutely terrified. So terrified they are shaking and foaming at the mouth. And why bother checking the traps over the weekend. Who’s got that kind of time and money. And why bother carting them around in an air-conditioned van. Big boys like driving big trucks not a sissy van. How incredibly funny would it be if you saw a van tootling down the road with animal control printed on the side of it. It would look like the publishing clearing house’s prize control bringing good cheer and happiness. The lucky animals are the ones trapped and picked up by the women who run the shelters. They use their own vehicles and they use volunteers. They use every resource they have because unlike government funded animal control officers they don’t function off tax payer monies and they do not have a budget of any kind.

An excuse not to make things right is just an excuse. It is not a valid reason.

It is an excuse.

And when people start wasting my time spouting off excuses, I don’t want to hear it. I have better things to do with my time. Like change. Every animal deserves its day in a fair court before fair judges. I am not saying there are animals who do not need to be put down. But you do not put them all down for convenience sake. And you do not put them all down because it’s less work and you think it is cheaper. You do not put them all down indiscriminately. And when you do put an animal down you do it with love and compassion.

In today’s society we are clearly lacking in love and compassion. We as a society do not have the collective capability of being loving and compassionate. Love and compassion are rare, and yet they should be the norm. It is my opinion and the opinion of psychologists and scientists of today that it is how we care about all living things that will bring about the result of a whole and budding society that does not foster abuse and neglect. Because abuse and neglect are violent behaviors. And this violence has run amok in our animal shelters.

There are changes that can be made today. Change does not come easily to those who do not want it. In the brochure, the NO KILL PRIMER, you will read about an animal control director who didn’t believe in change and didn’t want change. His working crew didn’t want it either. But he gave it a shot anyway, to save face. And his eyes were opened and he saw good and great things happening. And it felt good to save animals and have the approval of the public. Better than it felt to drive around in a big truck being a bully to helpless animals and compassionate people. The NO KILL PRIMER contains answers. Yes, yes, we know there are animals who have to and need to be put down. The right people need to be making that decision. There are processes and controls that can be put into place to help make the right decisions. Not more money but more human compassion. Making proper use of our power and control. Yes, it is a huge task. But it can be a fun task. And it would yield results other than a truck load of unhappy and marked for death animals.

People who are doing wrong, hide. They hide behind gates.

They hide behind facades. They hide behind excuses.

 Stop abuse in one place and you will see it affect the community as a whole. Because those scientists and psychologists are not wrong. I will be the first to admit I don’t know everything. I hardly know anything. But I am on a journey to know and to educate myself and the public. I am on a journey to raise the level of consciousness and awareness. I am on a journey to stop the abuse and neglect of animals in our animal shelters. And here is where you can start on that journey too: 1) Support your local shelters who are doing it right 2) Lend your voice on behalf of the animals to those shelters who are doing it all wrong. You can throw money at them all day and it won’t do any good. That is why the lack of money excuse is so stupid. They think the job and the shelter was created for them to have a life, not the animals.

 Support shelters who make the animals Job One.