Human exceptionalism imposes horrible costs on other animals

[Judi Lynn]

Human exceptionalism imposes horrible costs on other animals

One of the most remarkable cats I have ever lived with was an all-white female with one blue and one green eye. She was hard of hearing, though not deaf. She came to us from a local animal rescuer along with her sister; the pair, whom I named Kayley and Hayley, joined the large outdoor-indoor enclosure for homeless cats in our side yard.

The sisters made good lives for themselves for eight years, spending much of their time together. Kayley was the more adventurous, taking evident enjoyment in climbing to the top of green leafy bushes to bask and doze in the sun. She weathered the partial surgical amputation of both ears owing to cancer.

Then Hayley died of cancer. We laid her body on a tarp in the grass. Several cats sniffed at it briefly, but Kayley acted unlike anyone else. She stared long and fixedly at her sister from a short distance away. For the first time in her life, she was without her closest companion.

When more cats in the enclosure grew old and died, we brought Kayley indoors. Unwitnessed by us, she sustained a complex fracture of her femur, then escaped her carrier as we brought her home from the vet. Experienced cat caretakers, we felt guilty and terrible. For a month, we searched for her in wintry conditions, finding her at last, filthy, thin and hungry. Indoors again, she not only healed, but also warmed to living with us, reclining on our sunroom couch or inside a woven basket, prancing in place as we rubbed her neck. This summer, 13 years after she came to us, she died of abdominal cancer.

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