Yesterday, I wrote that Maria and I hoped to visit Maine one day and ride some ferries to Canada. I made hotel and motel calls, just in case we ever have enough money to go. I did get a response from welcoming Maine admirers:
From Elise: “Maine doesn’t want you…animal abusers are not welcome…no hospitality or respect for that sort of people…”
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From Sue, a friend of Elise: “How are you only putting up the yay Jon posts? A lot of people know the REAL Jon Katz…Donald J. Trump is tutoring you. Maybe someday you will get to share a cell with him.”
Sue, thanks for reading my blog so faithfully and for comparing me to Donald Trump. He is wealthy, successful, and powerful and has a lot of hair on his head, unlike me, who has lost much of it.
I appreciate your support. I love the idea of Yay Jon messages; thank you. It’s odd, but I prefer messages from people who like me rather than people who hate me.
It’s just a weird quirk. He would make an exciting cellmate; perhaps we could be friends. I’ll ask him during one of our tutoring sessions.
And thanks for something else. I love the idea of Yay Jon posts; it might make a good club. I can’t get enough of that.
This name might stick if I am good.
And thanks for getting me to tell the story of Zip and the state of Maine, one of the most beautiful places in the world. In a way, rescue groups there are Godparents to Zip.
But back to your pal Elise. Thanks, Elise, for your sensitive and helpful message.
I am sorry to tell you that a motel manager in Northern Maine, whom I called yesterday for information about a ferry ride to Canada with Maria, was pleased to take a deposit and make a reservation for me to visit him in Maine when we are ready to go.
You’ve inspired me to go. I know a lot of people up there. But not for a while.
Of course, the motel manager didn’t realize I was no longer welcome in the state. This will be disturbing news to some old friends who want me to stay with them when I visit and cat rescue groups that have supported Zip and me.
My I’m picturing state troopers at the border with my photo in their cars. Will the Lobster Roll people refuse to feed me my favorite food?
I understand your thoughts about “this sort of people…” That is one of the most exotic things I have been called in years, and I’ve been called many names. I know what you mean; we are “that sort of people,” for sure. We are different.
Your insights reminded me of the research I did when we decided to get another barn cat. You might be a wee bit embarrassed to learn that Maine was the place that guided and educated me when it came to getting a bar cat. I’m a research addict when it comes to my animals.
I’m grateful. We only have Zip partly because of Maine’s very kind and dedicated feral cat rescue community. They do great work for feral and forgotten cats.
You may not know this, Elise, but there are estimated to be between 60 and 100 million stray and feral cats in the United States.
While animal shelters and governments shoulder most of the load in managing the size and health of stray cat populations, owners bear much of the blame for the situation (and the solutions to it).
The animal rights movement promotes the idea that it is cruel for any cat to live in a barn. (The movement also claims it is abuse for any working horse to work. They also die in great numbers when deprived of their work also.)
As a result of this ignorance, millions of cats have no home at all and die young and painfully, many in the name of animal rights. In Maine, rescue groups are trying to do something about it.
The rescue group that brought Zip to us is here in New York. The scandal isn’t that cats like Zip can’t live inside a house; the scandal is that people won’t let them or give them the chance to live at all.
Lots of cats die brutal deaths for this.
Animal rights groups ignore this awful crisis for cats, and very few people are willing to take a chance on these forgotten animals. We are happy to have given one a good and safe home.
His rescuers told us Zip would be a poor candidate for a house with dogs and no freedom at night. They were right. He didn’t get along with other cats and had become somewhat feral from living outdoors all his young life. For him, anything else is terrifying.
I got the same advice from the local rescue group in our community. It was educational and persuasive. Maine is ahead of much of the country when it comes to saving the lives and freedom of feral and outdoor cats.
We were told Zip could have been a poor candidate for a house life, we see that is true.. He was and is restless and fiercely independent. He dodont care to be picked up or touched and never settles down.
I heard that Maine rescue groups were doing remarkable work saving and helping feral cats and promoting their adoption for barns and other sites open to the experience and nature.
I’m returning your kindness, Elise, by helping you avoid appearing ignorant or abusive about barn cats. I’m sure you mean well and believe God is at your elbow.
Maybe he is. We’ll know soon enough. I’ve gotten enough messages like yours to expect the worst. I’m not sure if you will pay much attention to it, but I feel morally obliged to try; I imagine you feel the same way.
Barn cats live are all over Maine, and so are the people who are adopting them in great numbers and giving them their natural lives in barns and other outdoor buildings.
According to at least a dozen Maine rescue groups, that is the humane thing to do with feral cats. These cats want and need care but often can’t exist safely or peacefully inside the confining environment of houses.
They need to be free, they need to hunt.
Confining them is considered cruel.
Urging sensible adoption of cats like Zip might be more helpful than banning me from your state; the rest of the state seems to have yet to get the news.
I’m sure you had a rough early life or wouldn’t do that. I’m sorry for your suffering.
Cats don’t care as much as you do, whether they live in a barn with food and shelter or sleep in the house during winter at night.
Heated cat houses (which Zip has) are plenty warm enough for them. Sadly, you don’t
Here are a few groups in Maine that advocate saving feral and other cats who have grown up outdoors and need alternative places to live safely and still be cared for.
If you go online, you find a lot more.
I am happy, perhaps beyond your ability, to understand, that we have given Zip such a home, and he is thriving here.
He has become a great friend to me, and I loved him from the first day.
(I should warn you that one of these groups asked me to speak if I came to Maine. You might like to go and hear Zip’s very happy story.
Confining all cats of all kinds to an indoor life is an awful choice for feral cats and those who grew up outdoors in most cases.
The Pope Memorial Humane Society helps place healthy cats unsuitable as pets in environments where they can flourish. “These cats,” they say, ” can be successfully placed in barns, construction companies, police stations, and other businesses looking for inexpensive and effective rodent control.”
Barn Buddies of Bangor, Maine.
“Why adopt a barn cat? Barn cats are incredibly good mousers. Many people who own farms seek out barn cats as a safe pesticide alternative. Providing this type of feline with a safe alternative to the typical home environment is also incredibly fulfilling. Barns are not the only place where barns or feral cats can thrive.”
Friends Of Feral Cats, Maine: This group seeks homes for cats languishing in crates for years. The cats aren’t suitable for homes but deserve a way to live and be sheltered—barns are great.
Our mission, says the group, is to humanely reduce the number of feral cats in our communities by trapping and neutering them and then releasing them back to their colony sites (a method called Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR). Over time, the colonies’ populations shrink due to a lack of reproduction.
Working Cats Animal Welfare Society. “Through this specialized adoption program, we pair cats that could be better suited as outdoor pets with families looking for natural rodents and pest control on their property. Working cats, also known as barn cats, feel their best when they have a job! This program is for you if you have a shed, stable, garage, or outbuilding!
Working cats have temperaments, histories, and behaviors that would not make them as happy as house cats. They do best as indoor/outdoor cats, where they can use their instincts in a natural environment. Cats adopted from this program enjoy complimentary access to the outdoors, where they can come and go at will. However, they understand the care you give them.”
I’ve lived with cats, dogs, and other animals for much of my life now, and I’m happy to tell you, Elise, that Zip is a beautiful success story—my best since rescuing Simon the donkey. Zip is thriving, as almost any cat person can see. He’s living the life he wants and needs.
He likes to be touched and held now and is happy, active, and healthy on the farm. He is making friends with almost everyone but Bud.
That is a far better fate than millions of feral cats ever get. He avoids confinement, and while he sometimes peeks in the farmhouse window, he dashes away when he gets too close to the door, or we do.
Zip loves his barn refuge, which includes a heated cat house and his freedom to wander, hunt, and explore. I am genuinely sorry you can’t or won’t see the justice and care in this, but that’s not my problem; it’s yours.
Messages like yours are just juvenile; they accomplish nothing. I do feel sorry for you. Loving animals, for me, is not about what I need but what they need. I choose not to hate anyone, even people who feed off it.
I can’t wait to establish a Yay Jon club of blog readers; I love messages that are kind to me and my work. I’m sure you would prefer to avoid getting the kinds of messages you send to people.
I am sorry for the sad life you must have had.
