Post Sript My Domesticated Royal Family and other Animals

"We must learn to live together or perish together as fools." Martin Luther King.                                                                  Good news, sweet Mary (one eye blind) returned this evening, this made my day, she looks fine, but not in a good mood at first, enjoyed her food though. I have known for a while that dogs eat some of the food that I put outside for homeless cats. The croquettes are especially created for cats (their requirements differ from those of dogs, Taurine dogs don't need but is very important for cats e.g.) and can cause diarrhea in dogs. There is so called Salami on the market either just for cats or dogs or for both. Not sure about the quality, vets don't recommend them and prices are going up, for example Carrefour raised it by 17% for the sausage for cats. Carrefour suffered attacks, severe damage and looting on several shops, I may add for their defence. They employ many polite, helpful, not well paid members of staff, some worked in hotels in the past and speak a bit of French, English and even German. Generally speaking prices are going up, in view of many having less money to spend not a good idea. The president asked to reduce prices if possible, in particular for medication, fruit and vegetables and Banks to lower their interest rate to help the country. It would also be helpful in my view if folks here would stop watering the streets (nothing will grow there) since we hardly had any rain for quite a while. Cleaning with less water is possible! While people all over the world talk about climate change, how to reduce harmful substances, exhaust gases, etc. Tunisian people continue to let their car engines ran idle (do they love the sound and smell?), not to forget those black clouds from tuned up loud motorbikes. Those days when guys were proud to possess a bike are gone, occasionally one can see a kid ride a bike (without light) but also a motorbike! We could do with less heat, my fur family lies out flat on the floor and other places. I try to provide them with the service they need so they don't need to complain. It keeps me occupied and on my feet even when I don't feel well. As long as they are alive and reasonable healthy it's worth it.

My Domesticated Royal Family and Other Animals

 "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice than you are a friend of mine." Ernesto Che Guevara.                            Early in the morning homeless cats arrive from all directions to attend my "cats' table". After a while I got to know them, got attached and worry when one or two don't turn up. For five days I am missing sweet Mary. She's spayed and neutered, usually stays near my house and sleeps indoors. Some time in the past she had four babies that she took to an unknown place when a celebration took place with those extreme loudspeakers, suitable for a stadium.  This time we had three days of celebration, life music again loud enough for the deaf to hear. Strange custom. If that drove her away, why doesn't she come for breakfast, early in the morning when most folks are still sleeping and it's pleasantly quiet? I fear that she may have been killed by one of many cars parked in double rows during the party. Sweet gentle Mary, she loved to cuddle, I haven't quite given up hope yet that she might return. Two boys proudly declared that I feed their cat. I asked them to take their cat inside at night in order to be safe. One elderly neighbor passing by during feeding time was surprised to see a big gentle golden coloured tomcat among my guests and informed me that he was his cat, now the mother and brother are still living with him. Not all so called stray cats have always been homeless, it is noticable, they usually love to cuddle. Unfortunately children looming the streets tend to have here a disturbed attitude towards animals, they regard it as normal to throw stones at cats and dogs or use a stick. Apart from my husband and me not many adults seeing this say anything. "They are children", one of the most stupid sentences I hear, meaning kids don't need to be told the difference between right and wrong. It is natural for children to find out how far they can go, where the limit is, if you let them grow up wild, they will believe that their parents don't care for them and life with rules and regulations as adults will be very trying for those concerned. I watched a little boy, approx. 2-3 years old attempting to throw stones at a black  dog and wanting to hit him as well with a stick. I ran to him and told him to stop it, it is HARAM (forbidden, against the Quran). An elderly man watching, family member sitting on a chair in front of the house, saying nothing. I advised him that he must teach the child that such action is not okay, please teach your child culture, empathy, not to attack the dog. By the way I know the gentle black dog that belongs to a boy from the same street. Ignorant folks allowing kids to attack innocent well behaved dogs (and cats), youngsters who think it's funny - never heard an animal laugh about such twisted sense of humor - don't understand why may be one day animals try to threaten them and run away. As a rule I can say that even stray cats and dogs are better behaved than those neglected children. If parents are too lazy, sick or ignorant to teach their kids empathy and basic values, then schools should do so, as well as not to drop rubbish wherever they are. Watching adults do this they think it's normal. I tell them that they lost something or that the road is not their rubbish dump. So far no angry reaction. I can't help it, I studied educational sciences. - My amazing tomcat Malek, golden white coloured, blind on one eye, living with us for more than three years, once very sick with water in his lungs, is my highlight in the morning, never have breakfast without my boy on my lap, telling me that he loves me as I am, while giving me a massage. He has sympathy with orphan new family additions and allows them to pretend that he is his mother, even though he has no milk. Fortunately there is milk powder for baby cats on the market (in the past when it was not available many babies died without their mothers), not cheap and therefore I am very grateful for donations from Gisella Romdhani and Chayma Labidi, dedicated to save street cats and dogs though their animal protection organisation, Animal Hearts Tunisia, great women! But actually I don't find it always easy to feed the babies every four hours and they miss their mother, so they cry more than they usually would. I feel exhausted. My big four legged family finds it more easy to accept kittens than adults as new members. (But for heaven's sake no more please). Coming from different families they like to stick together and sometimes find an adult cat to cuddle with. Like humans some adults don't like each other though, some love my husband more than me (he is proud of that), others prefer my company. We sometimes joke who would have which cat in case of a divorce.

PostScript The Good, the Bad and the Ignorant

 "If freedom of speech is taken away, the dump and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington

A lot is happening in Tunisia at present, the parliament has been suspended for thirty days (may be extended), the finance and justice minister, Prime minister and other high ranking politicians, including Ennahdha representatives are dismissed. The president declared his actions are all in line with the Constitution (Paragraph 80) and that 460 persons have stollen 13,5 Billion Dinar, equals 4,8 Billion Euro, of state money. Shocking news, in particular if one bears in mind that a big Tunisian state bank robbery by Ben Ali and his wife took place ten years ago, a poisoned fare-well present to the country. These greedy, corrupt, folks have no shame, no conscience. It is extremely hot, in particular in the South, where we have areas with no running water, bad infrastructure and poor people. Such news must be like a slap in the face for them. Many are happy with the president's actions. Some fear we could be heading towards a development like Agypt, since Aljazeera's offices have been stormed in Tunis by plain clothes police officers, no previous warnings, no warrants and other actions have also been taken against some journalists and various media. Aljazeera English made a lot of international prizes winning documentations about events that several states would love to hide underneath the carpet, therefore it is not surprising that countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA and UAE attempted to destroy their offices or at least prevent them from continuing their investive works. Under Ben Ali's dictatorship freedom of expression didn't exist. People were frightening to talk about politics, one had to be even careful what one said in a taxi, it was forbidden to question tourists. - In the neighborhood three men tried to steal a poor man's motorbike, which he needs to get to work whenever there is some. Another neighbor taking his German Shepard for a walk had his dog suddenly pulling towards a house further down the road. When the dog owner discovered the burglars, he let his dog loose. The thieves got a fright and ran away, leaving behind their rope. We owe a lot to dogs, they often save lives (rescue dogs, police dogs, drugs sniffing dogs, Sheepdogs, guide dogs, etc) and yet, for unknown reasons, some ignorant people hate and want to kill them. This morning a German Shepherd arrived opposite my house, around cats' feeding time. I have seen him a few times before. The cats know that he is harmless and continued to eat. Two women appeared, I could see that they are frightened of dogs. One picked up a stone. I managed to prevent her from throwing it at the dog and shouted that he is gentle, there is absolutely no need to use a stone or stick. I believe that German Shepherd has an owner, he looks well kept and has good manners. I wish I could say the same about the kids in the neighborhood. The social behavior of African wild dogs, 6000 still exist in Botswana, is very interesting and they could be a model for quite a few humans. After the bitch has given birth she stays with her puppies for three months, feeding them her milk. During that time other dogs provide her with food and they do the same for old, sick or injured dogs of the community. Imagine life without greed, corruption, envy, hate, dirty tricks, theft, lies....... In Costa Rica stray dogs are caught, spayed and neutered, after two weeks if no family is found, returned to the street where they were found (the surroundings they know) prior to that photos are placed on the internet, they get marked, vaccinated and chipped. If they get adopted and later on placed out on the street again, the owner is held responsible. Various homeless types that normally wouldn't meet, resulted in interesting mixtures, every dog an original and beauty of his/her own. This gave some guys the idea to start a big adoption event stressing this interesting point. The success was tremendous, men, women and children proud of their very special great new family member.