This post is dedicated to Priscilla, who belonged to the cat colony I help feed, and her primary caretaker, Victoria. Priscilla was hit by a car on Friday night. So sad, she was so shy, painfully, and I mentioned here before that I’d felt a bit bad for not continuing to make the extra effort to draw her out after a while. Mostly because there were just so many variables that needed to be just so for that to happen, and while so often she didn’t finish eating because too much was overwhelming her, I tried to trust that if she didn’t want to come back or even out at all, it was because she didn’t want to, and that was her choice. I don’t know. Luckily she had Victoria, who she came out on the sidewalk and rolled for in the mornings (something she did for me occasionally too in the beginning…I never gave up trying to get her food, I just stopped cajoling). I was too erratic for her, I think, with my timing, coming anywhere between 4-8pm, and only on Saturday eves.
Regardless, she was the first one I fell in love with. My instinct to protect her, to make her feel less isolated was strong. Perhaps I stopped seeing her as so vulnerable because I knew she knew she was safe with me, and could eat close by, and I treated her as lovingly as the others. I take solace in that. Naturally, it is Victoria who is deeply upset, and understandably so given what she experienced. She has fed Priscilla for 5 years, everyday, and had to find her stiff but peaceful, as if she were sleeping, under a car. The first time she EVER got to touch her. Can you imagine? Then gently turning her over to discover a gaping wound/hole in Priscilla’s stomach. She had the decency to take her to the vet to find out what happened, to hold her once more before she was taken away. And in those moments to see how well-groomed this shy shy kitty kept herself in a little cubby beneath a house, crammed w/junk, and reeking of urine. Her best buddy, Porto, died about a year ago, her only friend as far as I could tell. She would groom him and they would sit down below the steps to the house they live around (its former owner having cared for them, her descendants – still there – being very much uninterested. Hostile even).
The life of a street cat is never long and never easy (I’m feeding two new strays in my own yard at the moment), but Priscilla was SO LUCKY to have a human being who cared so much. AND who took the responsibility upon herself to safeguard these animals. AND another colony by the river! To build them shelters, and keep these shelters clean, to coordinate feedings with other volunteers, always knowing it fell on her, in the end, should someone cancel or no longer be able to help. Changing out the hay, the water, taking them to the vet when possible/needed, giving them flea treatments, and “handling” their remains. Despite workmen who mocked her, or the family in the house who regularly gave her a hard time (their mother/grandmother having passed the torch to Victoria, how ironic is that? And now it seems they’ve abandoned their own cat to the streets, assuming we will feed him, which we do). While I could never do anything so callous, I do not think I could be as responsible as Victoria either. Its part of why I never had kids. I could handle the negative attitudes – people seem so cut off from their compassionate nature, I’m used to it – but the organizing and capturing and appointment making, what this woman does is amazing. A service to us all, not just those cats. THANK YOU VICTORIA!
So anyone who lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and is interested in helping out PLEASE let me know! And really, if you’re not nearby, volunteer somewhere else doing something, ANYthing, to help those who need it, be they animal or human. Because its endless how much help is needed out there. There are cat colonies in most neighborhoods whether you know it or not just as there are homeless/halfway shelters, etc. If you have no time, then donate to a local animal shelter/groups who rescue and foster animals, ask the nearest food pantry what they might need. You will feel better for it, I promise!
(BTW, I’m still watching Enlightened, especially inspired by an episode in Season 2, I just watched, guest directed by Todd Haynes, who is also apparently a fan!).
