Trapper John

Thank goodness for each of the generous new feline lovers who have donated to this fundraiser and preserved my faith in humanity after encountering him.

Actually, I do not know his real name. He was just some old fart (about my age) in line at Tractor Supply. He was purchasing a book on trapping and rambling on about his trapping expertise.

The cashier jokingly asked if he trapped armadillos and he said very seriously, “Ain't no money in them. I'm trapping beavers right now.”

Then he glanced at me and asked what I needed the cage/kennel for that was on my cart. I said I was trapping cats to help manage a colony.

Well… that set him off.

He said, “I can't stand cats! I shot 16 of em!”

I said, “Awwww I don't wanna hear that.”

He said, “Then don't hear it! I can't stand cats! They carry 21 diseases.”

I said, “Thats a myth.”

He said, “Ask any veterinarian!”

As Trapper John grabbed his trapping book and headed out of the store he turned back halfway out the door to make one last jabbing remark at me about cats.

Needless to say, he raised my blood pressure and its probably good that Monday and the cashier screwed up my checkout and she had to call two others employees to straighten out her mess which took 15 minutes to resolve because had that not happened, his and my conversation may have continued in the parking lot and that would have been as productive as arguing on Facebook.

As I left the parking lot I wondered what could have happened in Trapper John's life to have convinced him cats are harbingers of a plethora of diseases just waiting to be unleashed on humans and spawn the walking dead and thus all cats deserve to be shot?

I'll never know, but he was a good example of yet another hidden danger awaiting outdoor cats including your pets allowed out to roam. Besides traffic, cat killing dogs and animal kill shelters, this human threat believes and harbors totally inaccurate information about cats as if it were truth and is waiting to take the lives of all outdoor cats who come into his sight and he is probably one of ya'll's neighbors.

The Henderson colony may be in just such danger with property ownership changes and uncertain intentions about the cats, so they need to be trapped, fixed and relocated.

However, relocation is only considered as a last resort because it creates its own risks for their lives.

I typed this post while having lunch and thinking about that old trapper in Tractor Supply and how a parking lot conversation might have gone with him had I tried to change his mind about the incorrect “truth” about cats that he clung to so fervently that it made him an animal executioner for no reason except his mistaken beliefs and prejudices.

As I opened my fortune cookie it said, “The truth is always bearable when told with compassion.”

The parking lot conversation I imagined having with Trapper John would not have been a compassionate one, so thanks to Monday and a distracted store employee detaining me, I never had that less-than-compassionate conversation.

The truth about this fundraiser is that your donation will directly help improve these Texas cat lives as we seek to assure their health and safety and keep them out of the gun sights of Trapper John.

Please give what you can whether $5, $10, $20, $100 or more and make a difference.

When you give, they live.