Well not maybe for all time, but right now I've never felt an emotion so strongly for cats.
I was just on a walk with Caitlin when I looked over on someone's driveway at a cat sitting under a truck. Caitlin loves to see animals so I hoped she saw it too.
As we came closer I noticed another moving thing...but it was so small...was it a mouse? But it was...hopping!
It was the tiniest, cutest, most adorable little bunny! Caitlin was too distracted to see it, but I couldn't help but stop and just watch this little, perfect creature hop about like it had just learned to hop this morning. I couldn't believe it was only the size of a mouse, but still a rabbit!
And then the cat started to approach it. I tried to make noises to scare the cat away and at that point the rabbit came floppily hopping in my direction. I was unsure if I should pick it up and take it far away, or just not worry about it. The cat was uninhibited by my attempts to scare it off but the started nudging the bunny around as it changed course and started hopping away from me. Maybe the cat only wanted to play with it?
Then the owner of the house came out and I asked if he'd seen the baby rabbit before, hoping he would take charge of the cat and solve the problem...
But in that moment the cat swooped down and grabbed the little bunny, no more than 10 ft from me. The homeowner was totally unaffected, having started to say that he hadn't seen the bunny before and then after noticing its fate, saying, "Well that's the end of that." I was heartbroken! And the bunny's last screeches as it was carried away didn't help either.
It took less than a minute to "fall in love," so to say, with that teeny animal. And just like that that stupid cat put an end to it. That perfect, hopping baby animal didn't even see it coming.
I'm very surprised by my emotional reaction to it. I find myself blaming all cats for what happened to that bunny. I'm trying to figure out a resolving conclusion about how death fits into life. Maybe it's that I can relate so thoroughly to small creatures and their need for protection since Caitlin is still so small. Whatever the reasoning, I can't deny this great sense of loss that has welled up inside. Perhaps it also stems from having heard news that an old neighbor from Dresden passed away a couple days ago too.
I just don't get why animals would be so intricately made when this sort of thing happens in the wild all the time. I don't know how old the bunny was, but why even be born if he's just going to get eaten within a month? It makes me wish I hadn't gotten distracted and had reached down and "saved" the bunny as it hopped towards me. But I can't blame myself. I'm just so sad! Why did I have to walk by at just that moment...why did I even have to see that cute bunny...what's the purpose?!?
Stupid cat. I hate them.
4 comments:
First of all, I hate cats too.
Second of all, I'm soo sooooo sooooooooo sorry that you had to see that today. I would be heartbroken too. To tell you the truth, I was bawling by the end of your post!!
Third of all, when I see stuff like that happen, I just think of "The Lion King" movie and how something like that cat killing the mouse is all in the circle of life. :) It makes it a little better to digest, I guess.
See what my Mom told me yesterday that happened to her earlier in the day:
She was watching 2 squirrels at the backside of the house when she was standing on her balcony. One of the squirrels madly chased the other one and my Mom felt some kind of "anger" about that, too. She started praying something like, "Jesus, you see those animals and one of them is bad to the other one. But you are the Prince of Peace and I ask you to hold your hands over that situation as well." At that very moment, the "bad" squirrel stopped, stayed seated for a moment and then turned around coming towards my mother! It stopped again right underneath her balcony and she (don't laugh...) started to talk to that squirrel about God and that He loves it, too. The squirrel really listened to it and tried to climb up the balcony to get closer to my mother...
Believe me, I would hate my cat, too, if he would kill a tiny little rabbit baby!!! But if I'd come along I would really try to hinder it! So I would blame the owner much more.
Do you know the scriptures in Romans 8:20 and 21, where it is said that the whole creation is in bondage and groaning and waiting for the day of deliverance? That kind of helps me dealing with the fact, that also the animals are part of a fallen nature and some of them are really cruel. And I wished the day when "lamb and lion sits beside each other" would come, soon...
Love you!
XOXO
Oh if you want to be re-enamored with cats come and see our three little kittens. They're so darn cute and though their mamma is quite the mouser (and chick-er) they've not yet done anything to earn a turn on the naughty spot. :)
Hey Allison,
Just read your blog about the "stupid cat". I know how you feel. I love animals and nature but the circle of life thing is always hard for me to watch or even think about. And baby bunnies are so cute.
One thing that helps me is that animals that are taken down by a predator usually don't suffer much. They have a lot of adrenalin going which prevents the transmission of pain, and usually the death is quick. This is much better than succumbing to disease or illness or starvation. Usually predators take the weak and sick anyways, so in general it keeps the population healthier. It doesn't seem like it to that bunny or it's mother, but predators are actually doing prey populations a favor.
Of course, that's how it's supposed to work in the wild. In our urban, man-made environment, who knows?
Miss you guys already!
Molly
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