Cat Shelter Closure, Abandonment of Tame Rats Decried

This letter is for the irresponsible person or persons who felt it was all right to dump a family of tame rats in a Cypress field next to the Yamaha Corp. on Katella Avenue on June 29 or 30.

Did you think these innocent creatures would find happiness and freedom in the “wilds” of an industrial field? Did you perhaps think they would find food and water and did you think the cage you left behind would give them protection from the hot sun? Did you think the old coat and towel they huddled under would provide protection from the field cats that wander at night?

This was a very unreasonable act you made. This was unkind and unfeeling for a tame animal you probably bought in a moment of weakness. This little family of rats were not the wild, unpopular creatures that wander our alleys and dark places. These are deliberately made tame by years of breeding by man. We have a responsibility to these creatures.

I know in a world of disposables we tend to forget.

I know these are “just animals” and we can tell ourselves it doesn’t matter.

You weren’t there to see them peeking out of “their towel home” in a totally unfamiliar surroundings, knowing what their fate is. We don’t have shelters for tame rats.

I hope you think before you take on another animal; I hope you do not do this again. Life of any kind is too precious, especially when it is an innocent life, one dependent on man for its survival.

PATRICIA A. AKERS, Stanton