Friday, March 25, 2011

On Animal Lovers

There are a few regulars here who love animals. Old DQ, when she's not feeling all maternal, is one such example.

I'm a bit of an animal lover myself, particularly chicken and prawns.

But, as every sensible person knows, there are limits. And those limits are smashed to oblivion when someone makes a facebook page for their cat.

It may be a bit sexist to say it but I can't imagine a bloke doing it either. A, my eldest, has created one for their cat, something I excuse entirely because she's my daughter and therefore normal rules don't apply. But adults? No way Mr Mourinho.

So the other day, when I received a facebook friend request from a cat, I rejected it quickly and efficiently, like James Bond killing a bit part villain, not the main bad guy of course, that's a much bigger deal. I don't mean that I killed the cat though, even I wouldn't have done that.

If I owned an elephant I'd start a facebook page for him though, that would be cool, though arguably cruel to own an elephant. Particularly in Kingston, Surrey. But I do have a spare room, so maybe we could make it work.

It's a funny old thing. As a child my Dad and his family used to own a working elephant. For as long as I can recall he's regaled us and his granddaughters with nice grandfatherly stories of the elephant, of the things it did and what they got up to. It's a bit like a Sri Lankan version of Skippy the Kangaroo or Lassie; totally engrossing. I've always intended to write a post or two to tell you about them but never got around to it.

Those days, probably sixty or even seventy years ago, a family in Gampola having a working elephant was I suppose quite normal, maybe even a bit enviable. It's funny isn't is, how it would be so wrong now to so many, how we've become much more aware of the world around us, of the welfare of animals and the natural world.

Just some thoughts.

Have a grand weekend out there!

4 comments:

thekillromeoproject said...

As far as I know, there still are families who own working elephants in Sri Lanka

dramaqueen said...

My cat is terribly annoyed at you and calls you felinist. I'm just happy I got a mention.

Whether or not you like the furries , read this blog:

http://havendogslanka.blogspot.com/

Beautifully written.

Magerata said...

I love my dog (mine while I play or run with it, someone else' for all other matters) I don't know about facebook but he loves faces as he licks every face he comes across! He also gives horse rides to neighbors kids when they come over to our place. He himself is a bird and squirrel lover. (he has been banned from campus grounds (without a leash) for being cruel to squirrels, the ground office did not buy my story about he only wanted to kiss the squirrels. So now we both chase squirrels, he first and me at the end of the leash, like Angelina.

There is a Korean family living about a block away, very nice nice people, gives us kimchee and other stuff. Once we got invited to watch a traditional Korean folk song recital. Which was like a one hour of wailing to me and my Mom had me pinned to the seat, even when I told her I really had to go to the restroom. Later we learned the meaning of the song, their daughter sang and it was about animal love, specially dogs. But in the way you love chicken and prawn. After that we were bit worried when they try be nice to our dog, Brad (he has Pitt-bull blood from some where, thus the name). Later the family convinced us that they truly love pigs, cows, chicken and prawns and they only wanted to pat our dog. But my Mom still checks if they lick their lips while patting our Brad, like Angelina does when she sees her Brad.

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

TKRP - Yes, I believe you're right, but not as many and probably more "working" in the sense of peraharas and the like, not so much in that old fashioned labouring way.

DQ - Thanks I have had a look. Thank you for the "beautifully written" also. I try my best!

Magerata - Isn't it funny how we happily eat some animals yet baulk at the way other nationalities eat other ones? Just doesn't make sense really.