Dear Kitten Rescuers:

[vraiblonde]

This is a serious question, not a knock on you all:

With the vast number of kittens we are inundated with each and every year, why do you work to save the sickly and abandoned ones and nurse them back to health? It makes no sense to me because there is no shortage of kittens, and by saving ones that should rightfully die, you just have to find homes for them eventually, which takes away a home from another deserving kitten.

Why not cull the herd, so to speak, and let the weaklings die off so that other kittens don't have to compete with them for a home?

 

[libertytyranny]

I can't speak for the 'technical" rescuers..but though what you are saying makes absolute perfect sense..animal crazies as they are called around here..love animals as something more than entertaining pets. Therefore it is supremely difficult to determine that one should die when you have the power to save it. I personally always feel MORE attatched to the more sickly ones..animals and people alike...they need my help more.

 

[vraiblonde]

I personally always feel MORE attatched to the more sickly ones..animals and people alike...they need my help more.

But by helping the sickly ones, aren't you taking resources away from the healthy ones, who are just as deserving?

 

[libertytyranny]

But by helping the sickly ones, aren't you taking resources away from the healthy ones, who are just as deserving?

I'm sure. But my mind doesn't work that way...I once pulled a lightening bug out of a spider's web...it had already been half wrapped up..but was still alive and fighting. Presumably it had already been bitten and would die soon...but I "rescued" it any way. Now I am fully aware that that bug would die..and that the spider would just catch another one...and I deprived the bug of it's usefullness...but I also couldn't just leave it there to be eaten..knowing it was there. Completely illogical. and I HATE being illogical.

 

[Toxick]

But by helping the sickly ones, aren't you taking resources away from the healthy ones, who are just as deserving?

What are you, a freakin' cyborg?*




Seriously though - You're never going to logic someone who acts on emotion into not acting on emotion. People who nurse sick animals back to health are not doing it because it's logical and reasonable to do so - they're doing it out of sympathy and compassion, whether anyone believes it's reasonable or not. They may even agree with you that it doesn't make sense, even as they continue doing what they're doing.






*2 points

 

[Baja28]

I'm sure. But my mind doesn't work that way...I once pulled a lightening bug out of a spider's web...it had already been half wrapped up..but was still alive and fighting. Presumably it had already been bitten and would die soon...but I "rescued" it any way. Now I am fully aware that that bug would die..and that the spider would just catch another one...and I deprived the bug of it's usefullness...but I also couldn't just leave it there to be eaten..knowing it was there. Completely illogical. and I HATE being illogical.

I read an article in the Washington Post about a spider that died of starvation because it's food was stolen. Know anything about that??

 

[libertytyranny]

I read an article in the Washington Post about a spider that died of starvation because it's food was stolen. Know anything about that??

Great. Now I am going to feel guilty all day. Like the time I ran over a squirrel and cried for a week. Thanks.

 

[BuddyLee]

I'm sure. But my mind doesn't work that way...I once pulled a lightening bug out of a spider's web...it had already been half wrapped up..but was still alive and fighting. Presumably it had already been bitten and would die soon...but I "rescued" it any way. Now I am fully aware that that bug would die..and that the spider would just catch another one...and I deprived the bug of it's usefullness...but I also couldn't just leave it there to be eaten..knowing it was there. Completely illogical. and I HATE being illogical.

Sorry...

 

[Baja28]

Great. Now I am going to feel guilty all day. Like the time I ran over a squirrel and cried for a week. Thanks.

You're in luck. The video tape is strangly missing the 2 minutes where you freed the lightning bug that was dying a slow, painful death as the starving spider's poison melts the his insides.

 

[Toxick]

Like the time I ran over a squirrel and cried for a week.

There's an easy remedy for these kinds of guilty feelings.



Just tell yourself that you did the squirrel a favor. When you run over it, it's quick and painless, and the poor little guy never knew what happened....


...Compared to the terrifying and painful death that he would have suffered at the hands of a raptor bird that would've carried him off and peeled strips of his flesh off to feed to its hatchlings.


The hatchlings just had to settle for berries and granola that morning, but they're fine BTW.

 

[ginwoman]

I read an article in the Washington Post about a spider that died of starvation because it's food was stolen. Know anything about that??

I saw that article too! Poor dead spider (not). I hate a dayum spider.

 

[aps45819]

There's an easy remedy for these kinds of guilty feelings.

Eat a steak while watching Animal Planet

 

[Larry Gude]

This is a serious question, not a knock on you all:

With the vast number of kittens we are inundated with each and every year, why do you work to save the sickly and abandoned ones and nurse them back to health? It makes no sense to me because there is no shortage of kittens, and by saving ones that should rightfully die, you just have to find homes for them eventually, which takes away a home from another deserving kitten.

Why not cull the herd, so to speak, and let the weaklings die off so that other kittens don't have to compete with them for a home?

One word for you;


Moosie

 

[aosmiles]

Hmmm....who should determine who is "more deserving" of being saved? They are living, breathing creatures. If someone wants to nurse an animal back to health, what difference does it make? But, people do it all the time with babies...I'm not even going to get started on that one. Not everything in life should happen based on what makes sense or is logical. Sometimes you should do things based on compassion, empathy, and morals.....

 

[Baja28]

Hmmm....who should determine who is "more deserving" of being saved? They are living, breathing creatures. If someone wants to nurse an animal back to health, what difference does it make? But, people do it all the time with babies...I'm not even going to get started on that one. Not everything in life should happen based on what makes sense or is logical. Sometimes you should do things based on compassion, empathy, and morals.....

So are you one of those that compares animals to humans??

 

[aps45819]

Hmmm....who should determine who is "more deserving" of being saved? ....

a Human

 

[Nickel]

when I adopted my kitty from a shelter a few years ago he was very little, and the day after we brought him home he got very sick. I kill houseplants, so I'm very proud of myself for nursing that little guy back to health when my vet didn't even expect him to live. Now he's 3 years old, 14 pounds, and has earned the nickname "The Kraken". Perhaps you're onto something, Vrai.

But I really do love my kitty. He's just a pain in the neck.

 

[vraiblonde]

One word for you;


Moosie

And I rest my case. Whose idea was it to save him?

Any cat we got would have been just as sweet as Moose. You know I have good luck with cats (except for Gidget the asshatcat).

 

[BuddyLee]

(except for Gidget the asshatcat).

 

[Aerogal]

I found some kittens wandering around my garage and took them into the vet. I paid to have them looked over and was going to pay for spay/neuter & shots but they all had feline *something*, so they were put down. Just as well, too many strays out there and they're killing all the local fauna.