Box Turtle Rescue

Yesterday, as we were returning home from our weekly jaunt to B.J.'s, we spotted a box turtle in the middle of the Oyster Rocks Road. 

This box turtle was about fifty feet from the very busy Coastal Highway (Route One) here in southern Delaware. He (or she) was purposely aimed towards crossing Route One. IF this turtle made it across Route One (which would be highly unlikely) there wasn't a suitable home for him. On the other side of the road is Hudson Fields, where soccer matches are held and occasional eleven hour loud rock concerts. 

I pulled over on the side of the road. Bill got out and interrupted this turtle's march to its doom. I told Bill to put the turtle on the floor mat, lest he poop or pee, at least I can wash off the mat. I've rescued wayward box turtles before and they do tend of soil themselves when rescued.

I told Bill we would drive to the end of Oyster Rocks Road, which dead ends at the Broadkill River, and relocate this wrongheaded turtle. The protected wetlands is a perfect home for this turtle, much better than the soccer field adjoining heavily trafficked Route One, especially in the summertime. That turtle would never had made it across Route One alive. I foresaw seeing a smashed turtle for weeks every time I returned from my shopping trips to Food Lion. That turtle was headed on a Journey of Death before we rescued him (or her).

At the end of Oyster Rocks Road I pulled over. Bill took out the turtle who was hiding in its shell. He gently placed it to the side of the road, next to the wetlands. 

One turtle saved. 

Cat Lady Arrested for Dumpster Diving

We have a little kerfuffle here in the neighborhood.  A lady who rescues feral cats and finds homes for them was arrested for Dumpster Diving.  She was looking for food for feral cats she rescues.

Here is the article that appeared in the Cape Gazette today:

MILTON — Linda Compton is hoping the charges lodged against her for trespassing in a supermarket Dumpster are thrown out.

The 63-year-old Lincoln woman was arrested June 13 after she was observed and photographed searching through a Dumpster behind Food Lion in Milton. She was falsely portrayed as a local restaurant employee searching for food for human consumption when the photo went viral on Facebook.

Compton says she was collecting bits of discarded lunch meat, expired food or whatever else she could get her hands on to feed several feral cat colonies in the area, just as she's done for the last eight to nine years.

She was charged with third-degree trespassing by Milton police and will appear in court Monday, July 16, where she plans to plead not guilty.

“I understand why a store doesn't want people going in there,” said Compton's husband, Willie. “Their concern is automatically if you take something out of there, eat it and get sick, you're going to sue. She in the past has gone in and talked to managers and, for the most part, once she explains what she's doing, they'll say to go ahead.”

The photo of Compton, where she is wearing gloves and standing on a milk crate outside of the Dumpster, was posted on Facebook with a message claiming she was the owner or an employee at the China Wok restaurant in Milton. Compton said she was contacted by Milton police a few days later and taken into custody at her home outside Lincoln.

Willie Compton said he doesn't believe the charges will hold up in court because a no trespassing sign was not posted on or near the Dumpster, and no one told her to stop. A Milton Police press release of the incident claims a Food Lion employee told her to get out of the Dumpster and provided police vehicle information.

“If you put something in your trash can and put it out to the curb to be thrown away, I can go to your curb and go through your trash,” Willie Compton said. “The same thing occurs here. It doesn't matter who owns it.”

Compton has searched for food for feral cats in refuse bins for nearly a decade throughout Sussex County because it helps defray the cost of feeding the cats out of her own pocket. While traveling for work with the Visiting Nurses Association, she said, she would often stop at supermarkets and other stores to feed feral cats that congregate behind them. She has since retired, but occasionally she still makes trips to feed the cats.

The food she pulls from the dumpsters is often expired or unusable bits and pieces from the deli, she said. In many cases, Compton said, she explains her intent to the store manager and many are supportive of her efforts. However, the turnover rate of store managers is high and, she said, she often catches a new manager unaware.

“Some of the managers are really nice,” she said. “Once they see me and what I'm doing, they know that I'm telling the truth. A manager always comes out with an employee to put the stuff in the trash and some of the managers tell [their employees] to give me the stuff instead of throwing it away.”

But feeding feral cats from local bins is only part of her work. She also provides food to more than 30 feral cats around her home and cares for newborn kittens in her guest house when the situation arises. She also take traps out to colonies in order to have them spayed or neutered. In the case of kittens, she tries to take them in quickly so they can be domesticated.

“In Sussex County, we're just overrun with them,” Willie Compton said. “SPCA has a no-kill policy, which is a good thing. You admire them for that, but also as a consequence, they have no room to take in more cats.”

If Compton is able to take in kittens within the first four to six weeks of their lives, she is able to care for them before sending them off to be adopted at a Pet Smart store. She is currently caring for 16 kittens, which hasn't been an easy task.

“In some cases they're not weened yet, so she ends up bottle feeding and hand-feeding them,” Willie Compton said. “In some cases, if you take them away from their mother they don't want to eat.”

Kittens born in the wild also tend to have medical issues, such as eye infections. While Compton receives some help with the cost of the veterinarian bills, she pays for a lot medicine and procedures out of her own pocket. She spent more than $750 last month. She also buys cat food to feed kittens rather than feed them food she's picked from the trash.

“I don't mind because it needs to be done,” Compton said.

She also receives some financial help from area feral cat and animal-control organizations. Willie Compton describes his wife as a soft-hearted woman who has a passion for caring for the many feral cats in the community.

“We feel like it's a community service,” he said. “It's very important to Linda.”

The Comptons' efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Compton said on several occasions she's found a box of unwanted kittens in her driveway because people know that they will be cared for. Ultimately, she said, it comes down to providing the feral population with a better life.

“When I go out there, I see that they are so thin and not healthy looking,” she said. “It's a hard life out there.”

I wish Bill didn't hate cats.  I would definitely take those two orange kittens.  


It just breaks my heart to hear and read about feral cats and kittens having to fend for themselves in this harsh world.  


I'm not a religious person but I do feel that there should be a special place in Heaven for people like this lady and all those who help our critter friends who all they want to do is survive in this world.  


A blogger friend of mine recently wrote a blog about how he is overwhelmed with taking care of about a dozen feral cats that his former neighbor used to take care of now they look to him for survival.


Survival is on my mind recently because I am now reading a book about the Bataan Death March and prisoners of war of the Japanese.  I read of the horrific conditions that these prisoners had to endure just to survive.  I recently finished a book about a Jewish woman who was a slave laborer for the Nazis in Poland during World War II.  Same story of survival that just broke my heart.  


Most of us have an easy life and don't have to do much to survive a good, comfortable long life.  The least we can do is to help those who are less fortunate than we are, especially animals like feral cats.  


Sometimes I get depressed about the selfishness of human nature.  I think a lot of this has to do with Mitt Romeny (The Liar) who is running for president.  Such a selfish man and so many like him (the Tea Baggers in this Republican Party which isn't your father's Republican party).  


I try so hard to not get depressed when constantly barraged with the evilness that "businessman" like Romney do to get their millions while the hell with everyone else.  And they still don't have enough,they want more.  And this is the man who put his dog on the roof of his car for a 12 hour vacation trip.  


I know, I know.  I'm all over the place here but I think the readers of this blog who are more serious about life will understand what I'm trying to convey.  Reading this news about this woman is the perfect antidote for all the bad news today.  Isn't it ironic that even though she is doing the right and good thing, she's in trouble?  That's the problem with this world today.  Do the right thing and someone will try and take you down.  

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Larry's Cats

"Cat Love"

Larry is my longtime friend.  Larry and I have known each other since we were both in third grade. We first met when Larry outed me to our third grade teacher.  I was giving a book report.  Larry "helpfully" told our teacher that I stole the idea from my story from a Scrooge McDuck comic book.  He volunteered this information in class in front of me, the rest of our classmates and Miss Ezrah, our third grade teacher.

Me, Miss Ezrah (our third grade teacher) and Larry in 2005

After school Larry thought I was going to beat him up (I was much taller than him) because he ratted me out.   As we were walking across the blacktop that was the "playground" of our Fifties school, I approached Larry.  Larry was waiting for the First Punch.  Instead I said "You have comic books?  You want to trade?"  That sounds like me, non-violent and looking for an opportunity.

The only cats I have now - my friend's cats - this one is Stormy - a cat that showed up on my friend Bob's doorstep one stormy night

I had forgotten this exchange.  Larry had forgotten it also until he started to write his autobiography.  We're both writing our autobiographies through another blog.  No doubt more memories will be unearthed.

Larry (standing in front of Miss Ezrah) and me far right third row with mop of hair) in third grade 1950

Larry

Me with my head partially hidden

Larry and I talk almost every morning by FaceTime.  Larry is my Friend.  Larry is not one of these so-called "friends" who only befriend me for what they can get out of me.  Larry is a real friend.  Real friends are rare. I am very fortunate to have a few real friends in my life.  Larry likes me just as I am.

Larry likes me just as I am.  Larry and I are at the opposite end of the political spectrum.  Larry is straight and I am gay.

There is a lot we don't have in common but one very important thing we do have in common is our love of animals. We both love animals, especially cats.

My Mom feeding her feral cats Molly, Rusty and Smoky

Larry and his wife Lois and his daughters Noell and Laurel and son Darryl have a couple dozen (give or take a few) cats living in their house.  All their cats are rescue cats.

Yesterday I was talking to Larry on FaceTime.  Larry swung his computer monitor around to show me a few of his "buddies" who were keeping him company while he was talking to me on FaceTime.

Here they are:

Kerouac - found as a scrawny kitten hiding under a car in the parking lot where Larry's son Darryl worked - named after the famous Fifties beat poet Jack Kerouac

Diesel - found in her car's engine by Larry's wife Lois as she was leaving her job at the Delaware Humane Association Shelter

"Mark" - was found as a kitten near the highway by St. Mark's School by Larry's daughter Noelle thus the name "Mark"

To be the true measure of a person is how they treat animals, especially animals who are in harm's way.  I know people who have no feeling for animals.  These people are not my friends.  Some start out as friends but once I find they have this dead zone in their character for animals, I am no longer friends with them.

These are cold, heartless people and if they treat animals in an indifferent or cruel manner they are less than human to me.  I know that sounds like a harsh statement from me, but it is true.

Whenever I talk to Larry on FaceTime and I see his collection of rescue kitties, I feel good.

Thank you Larry, Lois, Laurel, Noelle and Darryl for what you do to make life on this planet a little more bearable for some of our critter friends.

Dan's Pussy

Continuing on with my cat theme from yesterday............pictured above is my friend Dan's pussy...cat.  I would tell you the cat's name but I've forgotten.  Short term memory loss is one of the inevitable afflictions of a 69 year old.  I'm getting there.


Since I don't remember this cat's name, I will refer to him as "Dan's Pussy" (which I'm sure Dan will appreciate when he reads this blog.)  Hey, I tried calling him this morning to ask him the name of his cat but no answer. Dan's a busy guy traveling between his three properties; one in Landenberg, PA, another in Rehoboth Beach, DE and a third in Sarasota, FL.  Dan's Pussy travels with him to his home in Landenberg and Rehoboth Beach.  When Dan travels to his home in Florida, I guess he goes pussyless.


The first time I met Dan's Pussy was in October of 2009.  I was immediately struck by how big Dan's Pussy was.  I do like me a big, fat orange.................WAIT A MINUTE!  Dan just called on the phone.  


I'm back!  The name of Dan's cat is..................MAX!

So from here on out I will refer to Dan's Pussy as Max.


As I was saying before I like a big, fat, orange pussy cat.  I asked Dan where he got Max.  Dan told me that Max was abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex near Wilmington Delaware along with another cat.  Both of the cats belonged to an old lady who died.  When her relatives came to clean out her apartment, they put her cats out in the parking lot of the apartment complex to fend for themselves.    

This is the kind of mindless, thoughtless, selfish treatment of animals that I hate to hear about.  Sometimes I can hardly stand to have knowledge of this kind of heartless cruelty towards animals.  


Dan and his partner Dave rescued Max but were not able to find the other cat.  The poor animals, just try to imagine what they were going through.  Used to a life of comfort and security in an apartment of an old lady who apparently loved them, now to be tossed out into the unknown.  These kinds of stories just break my heart.  I try not to think about them.  

I asked Dan if Max ever goes out.  Dan said "Never!"  I suspect Max used up all of his remaining nine lives the time he was fending for himself in that parking lot.  


Well, he has a good home now.  Dan is a sweet guy and will take good care of him.  And I can see where Max is providing love and comfort for Dan too. 

Someday....someday I'm going to get a kitty cat for myself.  Just you wait and see.

A Whale of a Story

Occasionally I have the urge to post nothing but complaints on my blog.  I guess this is a natural urge that most people have and I am no exception.  In fact my first blog was nothing but bitching and complaining just about everything in my life.  Needless to say my blog postings were not well received.  I felt better because I was venting, letting steam off.  What little feedback I did receive on those blog postings was always negative.  It really wasn't a feel good blog.  And I have to admit that with all my bitching, I really didn't feel any better.


So I took a break from blogging for about year.  Then when I got back into blogging in 2005 I only did one post that year and that was about putting my house in Pennsylvania up for sale.  I managed to hit head first right into the Great Housing Crisis and was so consumed with just trying to survive and not fall into a financial abyss that I didn't post anything else that year. 


When I finally got back into blogging big time in 2007 at the urging of my non-blogging friend Bob C., my aim was to keep my blog posts positive and keep the bitching to a minimum (I wouldn't be me if I didn't bitch).  


With my aching back (which is better by the way) for the past few days I've been having that urge to post a blog of my whole litany of complaints.  But I held off.  I'm glad I did because someone (who I don't know) sent me this story today by e-mail.  This is just the type of story that I'm glad to end the week on.  It is a story of human kindness, grace and inspiration towards one of our fellow creatures here on this planet that we all share.  I love this kind of story and I hope you do too:

The Whale... If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

 A fisherman spotted her just east of the  Farallon   Islands  (outside the  Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them.

Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

 May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who 
will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

I pass this on to you, in the same spirit.
 


It's a good life

Morning Rescue

Mr. Box Turtle in Tom's lawn on a kamikaze mission to Rt. 1

On my way out early this morning into the heavy, warm and humid morning to deposit my empty Corn Chex cereal box to my trash can, I saw a familiar object making its way toward my neighbor Tom's lawn.  Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a box turtle ON A MISSION.

I rushed back into the house to get my camera.  I had my own mission this morning and that was to save this box turtle from its single minded kamikaze mission to reach Route 1.

The Turtle Rescuer's House - turtle located on bottom right

In my previous life when I lived in Pennsylvania I saved many a box turtle that were crossing the road to find new mating grounds.  In fact I sometimes put myself in danger by stopping and pulling my car over to the side of the road while the morning commuters whizzed by me, putting myself in danger.  Morning commuter traffic would not be a problem this morning.

After getting my camera and my work gloves I rushed back outside and saw that Mr. Box Turtle had made good progress.  He was in Tom's deep grass (Tom needs to mow his lawn.)  I reached down with gloved hand and scooped him up.  As I did his he gave me a quick "WTF?" look and retreated his black and yellow head and legs into his shell.

I proceeded to carry him across the dividing strip of land between the development I live in and the Oyster Rocks development behind me.  Oyster Rocks contains a big retention pond which is very popular with the local birds and other marine and small animal wildlife.  It's a wonder what that small body of water attracts.  I pass the pond on my daily walks and always take special satisfaction in witnessing the wildlife activity around that pond.

Every few moments Mr. Box Turtle would poke his head out to see where I was taking him.

In about ten minutes I reached the cattail lined berm surrounding the retention pond.  As I stepped down the embankment I saw a quick  movement in the tall grass undergrowth.  Ah yes, a snake.  Uh huh.  I'm glad I didn't step on it.  I like and respect snakes but I have no desire to be bitten by one.  I left my penknife at home. You know, twice cuts at cross angles on the snake bite and suck the blood out.  Not this morning thank you.  The snake quickly slithered its way into the water.  It was probably more afraid of me than I of it.

I took a picture of Mr. Box Turtle surveying his new home and gently put him down in the tall grass near the pond's edge.  

Mr. Box Turtle surveying his new home - "Yes, this is definitely better than Rt. 1"

Almost immediately he poked his head out and seemed to realize he was in safe territory.  In no time flat he was hauling his brown and yellow turtle shell towards the water.  I tried to take a parting picture of him but he moved too fast for me.  So much for slow turtles.

Score:  Route 1 Roadkill                                     -1
            Retention Pond wildlife addition             +1

The Oyster Rocks retention pond, Mr. Box Turtle's new home - may he live a long life