Friday, April 12, 2013

Please Don't Bring the Cat Sanctuary More Snakes

Right. First of all, although the Cat Sanctuary is not a Humane Society shelter and won't harass or bully you about why you might be willing to part with an animal, the decent thing is to introduce yourself and the animal before you release it into the yard. The animal may benefit from a period of quarantine...or the Cat Sanctuary may not be the ideal home for it.

As was the case for the King Snake someone apparently dropped off yesterday. A handsome young specimen, only two and a half feet long, it was just beginning to warm up and uncoil itself when the cats called me to see it. Now I know it wasn't that cold overnight at the Cat Sanctuary. That snake spent the night in cold storage somewhere. So someone brought it to us...and although I've grown fond of our resident serpent Gulegi, the important thing everybody needs to know about King Snakes is that they don't coexist for long. One of them will kill the other, typically within a week.

Gulegi does like other snakes. Sort of. After his fashion. Namely, he eats them. Please don't ever release any non-venomous snakes here...it's mere cruelty.

We can't accept dogs, either, although we now know several people who can, and can call them and confirm an opening before advising you where to leave a dog.

We can't currently accept chickens, either, although we love chickens. In order to accept chickens we'd have to build a new shed with a padlock. For many years bantam and full-sized chickens lived at the Cat Sanctuary, safely, in a wooden shed with a little wooden bar at the top of the door. That was before the resurgence of the local raccoon populations. Raccoons can open that door as easily as humans can.

Likewise, although we would like to have room for horses, we currently don't. Nor cows. A goat might be negotiable...but ask.

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