ARTICLE: ANIMALS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A PART OF MY LIFE

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS

First photo=Me and Candy~September 1956

Second photo=Me and Babette~My first cat

I think the title of this article is self-explanatory, as yes indeed, animals have always been a part of my life in one way or another. I often tell people that I've had cats ever since I was five, when back then my mother adopted a "tuxedo cat" from a shelter and it was a Christmas present to me. But in actuality, it goes further back than that, and was I quite literally surrounded by pets ever since I was in my mother's womb.

My father's side of the family were dog people, so consequently my parents therefore had a dog, in fact, there is a rare photo of me where I'm not even a year old, and there I am sitting on the floor and right next to me is a beagle dog, who was named Candy. You can see from the photo I include here that the date of the photo is Sep. '56. Obviously, my mother nor my father even dreamed of getting rid of Candy due to my arrival in the world. I say that, since I'm a crossposter over at Facebook in which I share posts of urgent pets needing to be rescued, especially from kill shelters, and one of the "excuses" people now make to get rid of a pet is due to "new baby". Why one even thinks to get rid of a pet due to this excuse I'll never know, and it's just one of many "lame" excuses people make to surrender their pets in shelters.

I also have a rare photo of me when I was about eight years old (also included here) with that tuxedo cat my mother adopted for me of whom we named Babette. (OMG--that goofy grin/smile of mine…ekk). She lived all through my elementary, junior high, high school and even my college years. When she eventually did pass on it was like a major part of my life had died.

It wasn't only cats though for the vast majority of my life that I've had. I've also had pet birds and a mouse…uh, yes folks a mouse. I'm obviously not squeamish or phobic about them. Around the 1980s I took a home study course from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. For a "lark" (no pun intended), I placed the decal of Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology on my mail box. I thought the average person would't even know what ornithology meant. I was wrong! For some reason people then viewed me as a bird "expert" so during those years past I rehabilitated baby sparrows that neighborhood kids would find and bring to me. Once they were old enough I was able to release back into the wild again. Due to my experience with those baby birds I then later got a pet bird, a grey-cheeked parakeet, whom I named "Cheeky". And yes, at the time, I had cats, but I'll tell you, that bird was THE boss; if the cats annoyed her, she'd let out a raucous squawk.

I think one of the beauties my folks instilled into me throughout my life was to have a great love for animals, all animals I might add. To this day I'm still of course an animal lover. I'm currently "owned" by two cats, Kissy and Ouija. My love for animals does however make me scratch my head in wonder how anyone could harm animals, as on a nearly daily basis, I hear of horrific animal abuse. I ask myself what brings people to harm an innocent animal life in such a manner? And that my folks is probably why as an animal lover, activist and advocate, why I'm the voice for the voiceless.

UPDATE: My 15 year old cat Kissy sadly passed on September 1,2015