Blind Love

I fired off a tweet asking, “Why are children taught that animals are put on this earth to entertain us?” This was along with a link to an article I wrote about abuse of animals at the circus. Mark Baratelli replied that his cat entertained him. I couldn’t argue with that. He later put out a call for help asking someone to adopt a blind Tabby cat named Smokey. Smokey was born without eyes. The Orange County Animal Services had put out an announcement that he needed a home. Mark, who re-tweeted the announcement also said he would donate money if this blind cat found a home. Though I’m not a cat owner, I tweeted back that I would match his donation if Mark’s buzz on twitter resulted in this cat getting adopted. I grew up with a gray cat named Smokey. I had to chip in. Thanks to this internet campaign, $400 dollars will be donated to the Orange County Animal Services.

Within 24 hours Smokey had a home when a mother and her son went in to adopt him. The little boy said the kitty will be able to sleep in his bed. Smokey still needed shots and to be neutered so he couldn’t leave the shelter right away. Mark texted me and asked if I would like to go to animal services to meet Smokey. I jumped at the chance. I got to Animal services before Mark and Brian Feldman arrived. Kathleen Kennedy greeted us all when we were all assembled. Mark shouted out as he hugged her, “What are you doing here?” “Living the dream.”she replied as she walked us back to the holding area. We walked by row after row of cages. Smokey’s cage was opened and she let Mark hold him. A baby kitty in the next cage kept pawing at Mark through the cage bars, trying to catch his attention. After a quick video interview and a flurry of photos, Smokey was put back in his cage.

As I started to sketch, one of the volunteers named Christopher, took Smokey back out and held him for quite some time. Smokey liked to feel the breeze on his face and he crawled up Christopher’s shoulder to sniff the fresh air. Later as I sketched the abandoned cats in their cages, another volunteer took Smokey out and held him. He is a bit of a superstar and every volunteer is happy he found a home. That didn’t detract however from the fact that there are so many cats that still haven’t found a home. Wide eyed cats stared back at me as I sketched, their future remained uncertain.