Think out Laud

The Blue Jay

[Photo courtesy of terra incognita]

Today my cat caught a blue jay. I had never seen a blue jay up close up till then. But I have deepest respect for the species now that I have.

After Lightning (my cat) caught him, she brought him to the back door, as she usually does with her prey, to show us her prize and, we presume, to show OFF to our dog Poochie and the other cat Thunder.

Christine (my wife) screamed, as is her custom; I didn't have to ask why. Running over and seeing the blue jay fiercely struggling to get free, I distracted the cat, who let him go. He then flew off, but not being able to get very far off the ground, was quickly captured again by the cat who darted after. This time, she carefully inflicted a little more pain, I think. So by the time I got to her, the bird was motionless, petrified, but not stiff or cold. He was looking very intently at me and clutching the grass in a death grip.

As I held the bird in my hands, he looked at me with a peaceful, deliberate gaze that said, "You want a piece of me?" But he did not resist, chirp or even quake the least bit. It was almost unnerving. I very respectfully put the cat indoors and took him to perch on a bird feeder hanging from a rope in our yard. No way the cat could get to him there.

When I left for work, he was still perched there. All day I mused on that bird and talked about him to others. When I returned home, he was gone. There were exactly two small feathers under the bird feeder. Had Lighty again got hold of him, there would have been a large number of feathers there, and probably a carcass. So I assume he eventually came to himself, preened out the two damaged feathers and flew off. I doubt he will venture into our yard again.

I wonder if it is cruel to keep both cats and a bird feeder in the same yard. It may SEEM cruel, but no more than raising, say, fruit flies to feed a dart frog, or mice to feed a snake, or for that matter, chickens to feed humans.

And I wonder if cats are cruel? They are. I playfully called Lightning a "Murderer!" in the voice of Scar (in Lion King when he falsely accuses Simba of causing Mufasa's death). But she is only doing what good cats do: catch small animals and eat them. (And I DO allow her to eat whatever she catches, which of course taste much better than Purina.) Some question this.

But I don't. Life isn't fair. If a cat eats a blue jay (though this time she did not), or a man eats a cat or an alligator eats a baby antelope, it is both fair to the eater and unfair to the eaten. If all species were vegetarians, eating would always be fair (except for the plants, I guess.) But that isn't natural. Vegetarian humans are not usually very healthy. We need the protein. God gave man the animals as food in Genesis 9.

So whether we LIKE it or not, it IS fair for the cat to eat the bird and the bird to eat the worm and the cat to be caught and eaten by the fox, and so forth. Likewise, it is NATURAL and GOOD for man to eat a cow or deer or fish or worm or even a cat. That's How It Goes.

Posted by ckelly at September 20, 2007 11:46 PM