Truly, there is no Father Christmas. No tooth fairy, poo fairy or guardian angel.
But never mind. We've managed just fine without them up to now, haven't we? I mean, from weak, hairless wonders to the species that holds dominion over the planet, uses the vast majority of its resources and has the fate of billions in its control.
I'm reading Carl Safina's Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. It's wonderful and heart-breaking. The first section is about elephants. There are some incredible stories - how they communicate with each other, the wisdom of matriarchs, the ways they seek to save babies and each other from harm, their grief at the deaths of family members. There are stories of elephants caring for humans too. And what do we do? Kill them. Reduce their habitat to a postage stamp. The next section, which I'm finding hard to read, is about wolves. Again, their individuality, their social connections, their bravery, stoicism and phenomenal intelligence. And what do we do? Kill them.
I'd just finished David L. Cooper's small book Animals and Misanthropy, which suggests that the ways we treat animals are ample cause to detest humans. Oh yes.
It leaves me so distressed.
Today, as I left for work, Anders was sitting in the garden. He'd been watching me finish making my preparations (getting a lot of food into tupperware containers - like he was watching TV). He seemed less scared. Even 'blinked' at me - a cat-relaxed signal. I'd already left his food out. He was interspersing his staring with washing. Seemed content enough. But I am so afraid of harm befalling him. So furious about what may already have happened to him. So upset by the dead animals on the roads and the billions killed annually to keep people like me in cat food...
I don't care that much about people. I really don't.
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