I’m Not Normally A Vigilante, But…

A horrible story is making its way around the Internet today.  It involves videos posted to YouTube of a kid torturing a cat.  I’m not going to even link to them, because that’s how disturbing they are.  The cat’s name is Dusty.  The videos are no longer on YouTube, but they can be found.  The incidents took place in Oklahoma.  The name of the alleged torturer is Kenny Glenn.

The good thing is that the animal-loving hive mind of the Internet figured out who this was.  (The culprits, apparently brothers,  are wearing ninja-type face-concealing headwear in the videos.)  People looked at the perpetrator’s YouTube profile and got the name of the town.  They looked at the name on the account and found part of a name.  They started searching through Myspace and Facebook and all those other spots.  By comparing details from the videos with photos posted by the perp on the web, a positive ID was made.  This was all conveyed to the local sheriff, who apparently has already initiated action.  I’m sure nothing would have ever happened except for the work of all those Internet-savvy civilians who took the time to investigate.

I’m a reasonably sympathetic person by nature.  I believe in the concept of rehabilitation.  But, I also believe that some people are beyond rehabilitation.  These kids are two of them.  I don’t care if the chief perp is only in eighth grade.  We’re talking about little proto-Dahmers here.  I, and apparently an awful lot of other people, would like to see them flayed alive, then thrown into a Morton Salt truck until they dessicated to death or whatever would happen in such a situation.  Luckily for society, I’m not in charge of those things.  I’m not normally about vengeance, but some things are just too much.  And where were the parents?  Couldn’t they see what was happening to this poor animal?  How can your kids turn into monsters without you noticing?  It’s apparent from Dusty’s demeanor that bad things had happened to him many, many times.  He doesn’t even fight back.

The good news is that Dusty is still alive.  He’s been removed from the house and is in the care of a vet.  I’m sure he’ll be taken care of well.  I hope he’ll be OK enough to be adopted out to someone who will love him.  Animals are incredibly resilient.  Maybe Dusty can survive.

God, humans disgust me sometimes.

Never To Be Forgotten

Mr. Bonkers’ courageous struggle ended today.  Our loving memories of him will not.  Maybe right now he’s frolicking with Mabel, Bacardi, Fuzzy, Oscar, Vixen, Max, Themis, Luke, Ben, and all of everybody’s other old friends.  More likely, he’s watching TV while everybody else frolics.

Magnificent Creatures

Although we shouldn’t have spent the money, Mary Ann and I went to Providence, Rhode Island and thereabouts recently for a short vacation.  I’ll be throwing up (poor choice of words) some highlights.  First we have the whale-watching tour.  Yes, it’s kind of hokey, and there were a lot of the same kind of people who call whales “fish,” but the whales themselves were incredible.  It’s one thing to see them on TV, but quite another to see them close-up.  I’m not a photographer and don’t have the equipment to do them justice, but here goes anyway.  The photos are probably better than the video:

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Morticians And Taxidermists With Too Much Time On Their Hands

Southwest Chicago correspondent Nancy, along with Josh (who was bitten by a wallaby, hahahahaha!) recently traveled to various locations in Wisconsin to see strange things.  Among them were a funeral home in Madison where the director and taxidermist friends have set up numerous scenes of squirrels, including the rare albino ones, participating in human activities.  The squirrels, by the way, died of natural causes such as being hit by golf balls.  Well, maybe that’s not a really natural cause.  Anyway, no squirrels were harmed to make of the tableaux.

Words alone cannot adequately depict this veritable squirrel necropolis, so here are some pictures:

I’d like to see someone do this with Republicans.  It would be OK to harm them, though.

Tough Times For Bonkers

Mr. Bonkers isn’t doing well.  Although the vets don’t know precisely what’s wrong, he’s suffering from severe fluid build-up in his lungs, pericardial sac (which surrounds the heart) and abdomen.  He’s extremely listless, although seemingly not in actual pain.  His breathing is becoming labored.  He doesn’t move much.  The vets are suddenly using words like “end-stage,” although they seemingly failed to diagnose the beginning stage and middle stage.

We’re proceeding with more antibiotics.  We’re also reducing the huge amount of prednisone he’s taking.  Prednisone depresses the immune system.  With the dose Bonkers was on, he became susceptible to all kinds of infections, and some of them may be happening now.

I never thought the illness of a cat could make it difficult for me to function and focus on my daily tasks.  I was wrong.  And as heartbroken as I am, Mary Ann is that much worse.  I keep telling myself that if it wasn’t for us, Mr. Bonkers might not have made it out of that shelter to enjoy five of the most-loved years a cat ever had.  That isn’t much consolation at the moment.

Still, we have not given up.

Happy Birthday, Mary Ann!

I won’t say exactly how old Mary Ann is, but she was showing me a picture of a trilobite that lived in a pond where she grew up.

In honor of Mary Ann’s birthday, I’ve honored her request and posted footage of an aardvark and the giraffes at the Brookfield Zoo during a recent visit.  The footage is special in that it’s the first time we ever saw an aardvark doing anything but lying in a motionless heap.  Also, we caught the giraffes while they were being given a special leafy treat.

Lots of love, Mary Ann, and many special leafy treats in the future!

P.S.  The binturongs send their best wishes too.

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Mack: A Tribute

I’m still editing some footage from the Wisconsin trip this weekend. I went up there with long-time camperfriends Mike and Brian. Brian brought Mack, one of the great dogs I’ve met. I’ve known Mack ever since he was a little puppy. He’s about ten or eleven now. Like all three of us, he has a little mileage on him, but he still enjoys life. He’s been a wonderful friend and companion for Brian, and he sure as heck keeps those raccoons away! Mack continues to enjoy people, the outdoors, and above all…meat.

So, here’s a tribute to Mack that will endure for eternity…or at least as long as I keep this blog up.

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Bad Luck For A Good Cat

Not only are Mr. Bonkers’ lymph nodes acting up again, but I noticed the other day that he was limping. It seemed to improve, but then worsened again. When we checked, the underside of his paw seemed discolored. So, it was back to the vet’s, where everyone will be able to buy a new boat this year.

The diagnosis? A nasty infection, probably caused by a splinter or something. They gave him antibiotics and put a big lumpy bandage on his paw. This was with Mary Ann this morning. When I arrived home, I noticed that Bonkers appeared to have three front paws. Somehow the bandage had worked itself off (or been pulled off by Bonkers), and was dangling uselessly by a piece of tape. It was back to the vet’s for further review. This time, they put a collar on him. He really, really doesn’t like it. I wouldn’t either. Of course, I’m not the one that bit his bandage off, am I?

Preki Has More Than Me

Preki is now on prednisone, a human drug frequently prescribed to humans (or vice-versa!). Anyway, his prescription is filled at Walgreen’s, so he now has his own drug-saver card. I don’t even have a drug-saver card.

Preki Says Thanks to Mom and Dad

Recently, mom and dad sent Preki this really sweet card:

Enclosed was a check.

Preki says thanks very much to mom and dad. He is very sorry to have to tell everyone that he slipped the check from my wallet, forged my name, and spent all the money on booze and gambling. He is awfully ashamed and promises it will never happen again. I’d like to think we can believe him.