This post has been deliberately précised into an infographic. I am summarising in a few words hundreds of years of black cat history. 😉 But that is the point. To try and focus on the knub of the matter. The ad hoc development of the moggie black cat in which random-bred cats with jet-black …
NEWS AND COMMENT: This story is very concerning to anybody interested in animal welfare and the welfare of children in this instance. In America there is a program called 4-H which is a network of youth organisations. Their mission is “engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development”. …
There are some strict rules for Muslims when praying. One of them concerns things happening in front of the worshipper when praying. The rules on this specific aspect of praying are nicely encapsulated on the Islam Question and Answer website (thank you). Remarkably there is a disconcerting distinction between a ‘woman, a donkey or …
Why do black cats have a reputation for evil? It appears that an overzealous and cruel German priest and nobleman, Konrad von Marburg kick started the superstitious link between black cats and Satan in 1232. The conventional view is that Pope Gregory IX “initiated the feline Holocaust in Europe” by denouncing the black cat …
Buddhists believe in reincarnation. They believe that as a part of the Samsara life-and-death cycle, cats and dogs as well as other animals such as elephants and horses can potentially be reincarnated as humans. This leads some Buddhists to perform full funeral rites for their pets including prayers for forgiveness with the intention of …
Ricky Gervais has weighed into the argument about the Pope’s hypocritical pronouncements about some people preferring companion animals over children. Many people have always preferred companion animals over children but this topic has become heated recently because of discussions about global warming and a recognition of the unsustainable and rapid rise in the world’s …
Katherine M. Rogers in her book “Cat” informs me that the domestic cat’s habit of constantly licking themselves “is repellent to orthodox Hindus, who consider saliva unclean”. Westerners like the fact that domestic cats keep themselves clean. They smell nice, sort of nutty. Westerners like to bury their head into their cat’s fur or …
Alabama is perhaps one of three US states in the category of the poorest in terms of Covid vaccination rates, quality of education, animal protection laws and general quality of living (plus most religious). Louisiana has a very similar poor ranking in these categories. Arguably, the veterinarian above would not have been so mindlessly …
