Kittens

On my way to work, I frequently pass by (and ignore) this particular man with a cart and a sign saying please help blah blah blah. The cart always has two or more kittens in it. The man doesn't look particularly haggard- I just usually ignore him because I generally ignore anyone asking for money or trying to hand out fliers. I always figured that the man was using the kittens to get money. I worried that the kittens weren't taken care of, and wondered what happened when they were no longer kittens, since he ALWAYS had just kittens.

So today I decided that I actually had a few bucks I could give him (I normally don't have cash), so I stopped and gave it to the man. I was surprised when he explained that he and the "we" he "works" with find feral mom cats who are pregnant and then, once the kittens are weaned enough to be away from mom, they take the kittens away and get the mom to a vet who does fixing and shots before they release the mom again. The kittens are then carted around as part of an adopt this kitten campaign. They look around 12 weeks old...maybe slightly more. Their concern is that if the kittens don't get adopted, the female kittens will be pregnant the instant that their growing bodies allow for it, and the cycle will continue.

All along I passed this man thinking that he was just tugging at people's heart strings using kittens to get money.


















I have a relative (a second cousin or something non immediate like that) who created a non - profit group to help animals, and this seems like the best possible post to make a plug for her group, For the Love Of Critters. You probably have something in your area similar.
It's probably more effective than, say, sitting out on a sidewalk with a sign that says Please help....