A magical place

I was transcribing a program today at work that was partly about a remarkable lady in California who devoted her life to caring for animals. Over a decade ago she'd been invited to visit a sanctuary for elderly cats and was surprised to find a place she described as cold and clinical. She thought surely it's not too difficult to improve on these conditions and give cats a safe, happy, loving environment to live out their lives in. Soon afterwards, Gail Pope and her husband Richard transformed their home into BrightHaven*, a sanctuary open to all animals that are elderly, sick or no longer wanted. 

These animals, mainly cats, aren't kept in cages or lack the attention they seek and deserve. Instead they have the run of Gail's entire house and garden, socialize with all the others animals, get fed a high quality, natural diet and most importantly are loved and looked after by Gail, Richard and a team of selfless volunteers who promise one thing: that this place will be a nurturing, comfortable home for them for good. There are currently over 70 cats at BrightHaven, as well as dogs, goats, horses and birds. These are all animals that have been abandoned, injured, abused or simply given up on. As you can imagine, many of the cats are from shelters where they'd otherwise have been euthanised.  

When I saw Gail talking on this program, I couldn't help but be struck by what a kind, giving lady she is, not just because of her extraordinary efforts, but also because of her general demeanor and obvious gentle, caring nature. All too often she is picking up the pieces of another person's selfish actions, yet she comes across as humble and understanding of them. She says that sometimes people feel it's best to put their animals out of their misery because, for example, the pet has the onset of kidney disease or has sustained a bad injury of some sort, but often it's the owner that is being put out of their misery, not the animal, so why should they not be entitled to carry out the rest of their lives in a comfortable, happy place where they are loved?

It would be a fantastic thing if places like BrightHaven were commonplace rather than a brilliant rarity, but I guess it all comes down to the issue of money. At least I know who'll be on my list of organisations to donate to when I have some spare dollars, and in the mean time I feel more uplifted than I would have two months ago knowing that, albeit small, I do form a piece of the jigsaw with my six little foster cats who may not otherwise have been given a chance.

* I urge you to visit BrightHaven's website. Their work is so inspirational and getting a glimpse into this feline dreamland, at the risk of sounding saccharine, really is magical.

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The story

I'm a 23 year old girl living in downtown Toronto with my lovely boyfriend, Matt.  Just over two weeks ago, I was absent-mindedly indulging my recurring fixation of getting a puppy by looking for puppy ads online. All of my friends, family and indeed myself know that I cannot possibly get a dog with my condo-dwelling, full time working lifestyle, but it was still mildly enjoyable looking at pictures of cute puppies when there were no new home renovation programs to be watched. I found myself on Craigslist, specifically on the Toronto pets section when an ad claiming to be "URGENT" caught my eye. There was a picture of a beautiful black cat nursing tiny grey kittens in a small steel cage. This little family was at a high kill shelter in Hamilton, where they were shortly due for euthanasia because of overcrowding.

The infamous picture from Craigslist:

Just over 24 hours later, the cat family was in my tiny condo on the 28th floor. Matt was displeased, my mum fuming and my mouth dry from disbelief that I'd actually done this. I am only fostering the cats, not giving them a permanent home, you understand, but for some reason it didn't quite seem real at the time: I didn't really believe that anybody would get back to me about saving these cats, or perhaps I thought that plenty of other people would have stepped up to the challenge before me. But no, one day I was young and carefree and literally the next I was, well, still young but carrying a whole load more responsibility.

You may wonder what the big deal is. After all, a cat is little hassle and a mum cat especially is very good at looking after her babies. This is exactly what I thought, yet the all-encapsulating masseuse-like fingers of dread still kneaded at my skin, and still little was I to know exactly how hard this venture was to turn out.