Autumn, Cats, Dogs and Environment

 "When you bury the past, make sure you avoid friends that know the graveside." "Never insult a crocodile whilst your buttocks are still in water." African Ubuntu Proverb.                                                                                            Sweet black and white kitten in front of my door, keen to enter. I am taking a closer look, it is one of those that I offered" asylum" a few days ago, it ran out without us noticing but quickly realized that the street is not an inviting place to be, live as a stray? No thank you. Poor innocent little treasures. Nowadys even beauty doesn't always help. Fleur, a regular visitor to my Cat's Table, has a gorgeous kitten, mummy obviously got engaged to a Siamese, the little one has such lovely fur, only the typical dark face markings are missing. I'd wish I could find a good family for the two. Fleur obviously loves her baby, she learned this from her mother, who always used to turn up with fleur (untill she one day disappeared for good). When cats suddenly disappear, apart from a natural death, it can also mean traffic accident, poisoned, other forms of abuse, or even slaughtered for a meal or black magic. I am told some immigrants from sub Sahara countries do the later. Hopefully they get caught, arrested/deported. This is a horrible crime and Tunisians are shocked . The cruel shooting of stray dogs (and cats?) in the whole of Tunisia for 4 weeks is very depressing. For 3 nights I heard shotgun shootings in Sousse, Jawhara. It gives me nightmares. The few strays I saw here occasionally were gentle, clean and beautiful. No danger for anyone, many had a family before. Those irresponsible folks capable to throw pets out on the street worry me. In most countries such actions are regarded as crimes and punished as such, even prison sentences. We badly need good animal protection laws. Those in Turkey (created in co-operation with animal protection organisations) are a dream. Respection of animal rights doesn't seem to cause any problems there. "Have empathy with the animals on earth, then Allah will also have sympathy with you." Words of the Prophet Mohamed. The other day my husband tried to explain to a young boy that throwing stones at cats is Haram (forbidden, a sin) and was surprised to hear the lad asking:" What does Haram mean? " The streets crossing in front of our house have multiple functions, sometimes it sounds like a market place (street vendors coming and going), then like a racing track (speeding motorbikes), a kindergarten playground (up to 20 very young kids screaming and running), or a football stadium, up to 3 balls simultaneously kicked against house walls and doors, children arriving from all directions, yelling appears to be an important part of the games. Several children in my neighborhood are neglected/disturbed. We could do with street (social) workers here. In view of often ignorant parents who don't understand their responsibility as parents, or just couldn't care less, much needs to be done. Denial of kids' bad behaviour doesn't mean you are a good parent. - A woman stated she can't afford getting her cat spayed and neutered. As she tried to drop off the unwanted kittens in front of a house, she was seen and told to stop this, as at that address there is neither a shelter, nor an association to meet the expenses. She replied: " No problem, I know a woman in the neighborhood who feeds and keeps cats, I shall take them to her house." She admitted that she had my house in mind. By the way, the woman who "can't afford" the approx. 100 Dinar for her cat, intends to now spend a family holiday in Tunis. Well, my husband and I can't finance any holiday, we neither have the necessary money nor can we leave our big feral family on their own.