OK,
Installment two:
Cat 2 was killed on new years eve, which is a huge shame, as the reason I brought this house was specifically becuase of the 1,000 acres of fields directly behind it and the ultra-quiet, 10-cars-a-day road in front of it, but it still managed to get run over.
Cat 1 ( btw, their names are/were Cat and Cat, but have numbers when need to be distingushed ) is getting very sad as is a social sort of girl, so with trepidation we go back to the animal shelter.
Of cats we have have a bountiful choice, and it looks like we will soon be the new owners of a three legged cat who is currently named "hop-along", which frankly is far worse than calling a dog "dog" in my opinion. Very poor form.
Also go and have a look at this otter. It's about as skinny as a whippet, and is barely eating. However, this may because they have got it in a rabbit hutch sleeping on straw, and it has no access to water apart from one of those drip feeders that you give to rabbits. SWMBO did a bit of snivelling, and so it looks like an otter is coming to stay at the house for a while. (seriously --- someone brings an otter in to you. Surely you think to yourself "Hmmm... otters... probably could do with a big bowl of water to have a frolic in". However, this does not seem to have been a thought that has passed through the minds of ANY of the animal shelter staff...)
Now, this thing is NASTY, on account of it being an otter and a grumpy, starving one at that. So sunday see's me off to B+Q to buy wood and mesh to make an enclosure for it in the garden. Supposedly it's house trained but it'll kill the cat as soon as look at it.
God damn animals costing me a fluffing fortune! It's not even as thought I get to stroke the wretched thing. Have ordered a chain mail glove off the internet in case I have to go near it. Was tempted by an entire suit of armour, but the fluffing thing is costing me enough as it is...
Anywho, this is not the annoying part.
Around the base of a tree stump, the staff have made a globe type shape of wire mesh. On having a peer into said globe, I see that there is a male blackbird with a horribly broken wing with blood coming out of it. "Hmm..." thinks I "Must be waiting to see the vet". However, on asking about it, the bird has been there 2 weeks!!
So I ask why it hasn't been fixed. Answer is "You can't fix birds wings, so all you can do is feed them and leave them captive until they die. This I am told comes from the resident vet, not, as I suspected, the resident loony of a manager.
This isn't actually true at all, it's pretty simple to fix a bird with a broken wing. I explain this to the lady at the desk. We get into a bit of a "is", "isn't", "IS!", "ISN'T!!" type of argument.
Finally, vet is contacted on phone. I explain that the bird needs it's wing fixed, and that it is easy. Am told "Yes, it is easy, but it's hassle, so we leave it" "Why" i ask "Because we only really bother with cats and dogs" >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Lets put this into perspective. This is a person who has made the choice to give up 8 years of his life at Uni learning how to cure animals. He gives up his time, for free, to deal with sick animals at the shelter. His practice gives the shelter the medications at cost price, becuase he cares about the animals. However, he can't be fluffed to deal with "Only a bird" becuase "It's hassle" Seriously, there is something very wrong with this picture. I just don't get it at all.
This, as you can understand, caused me to start shouting. Bad words were said, some of which may have upset young children. Certainly the 3 year old kid with it's parents was cowering behind his Ma's knee when I'd finished, and his Ma was looking pretty distressed as well.
Up shot of situation is that I'm now also going to take charge of a male blackbird. In two weeks it will be set free flying as good as new. I will feed the otter and then take it to the otter sanctuary in Wales when it is fit again ( or shoot it, if it goes for my throat, and looking at it, it does have a touch of the vampire about it). I will re-home the cat.
From them on, I am having nothing more to do with this place. Not, I must make it clear, because it makes me incredibly angry, although it does, unbelievely so. Rather, becuase every time I deal with these people I feel like I'm entering a different dimension where the rules of common sense seem to be turned 180 degrees. I come out of that place feeling like the world has gone wrong and that some form of strange "stupidity dust" has got under my skin and my infect me.
Will post a picture of evil otter when it is behind 8 layers of wire mesh with addded mines and guard towers to stop it escaping and also a picture of a blackbird in a gimp suit having it's wing fixed in the next week or so.
In summing up
Animals: expensive, cause people to act stupidly, poo a lot.
Question: Worth it? I'm beginning to think not
Steve
p.s. if you can think of an alternative to fish to feed an incredibly aggressive otter that won't eat fish, please shout out. I am considering buying a few live moutain lions for it to hunt and mutilate....
