This white cat is clearly distressed. In the photos you can see him/her panting and he looks scared and distressed. It must be scorching hot and the cat is in trapped in the sun.

July 2, 2015 photo, Thai villagers parade throughout their village with a caged cat as part of ceremonies praying for rain in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The farmers believe the cat in the bamboo cage will produce much needed rain during a devastating drought, the worst in decades, in the Ban Lueam district, Thailand.

They march along carrying the caged cat while neighbors sprinkle water on the cat. They chant an ancient tune (it does no look that ancient to me!):

“Rain, rain come pouring down. We barely had any this year. Without rain, our rice will die.”

Photo: AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit.

The rains should have come in May but it has rained once since then. Twenty percent of the country has been declared emergency disaster zones.

I have sympathy for the farmers. However, I don’t think a rain dance based on superstition and which is very distressing for an unfortunate cat will produce rain. Why should such a superstitious rain dance incorporate a cat? Why did they choose a cat? Is this just another sign of how the vulnerable cat is picked on and abused and used anywhere in the world. I happens too often for my liking.

I don’t wish to be disrespectful of someone else’s culture and beliefs but I have to speak up when cats are abused like this. There is no need for it and it won’t work anyway. It is a sad indictment of silly human behaviour which hurts animals. There are other examples. It is time the world grew up and stopped being superstitious.

Science should be employed and we have to ask whether this is an example of global warming. We won’t know for sure until we get more and more devastating weather patterns which could only be caused by global warming.

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