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December 15, 2018: My FELLOW Human Beings

There is something radically wrong with the human psyche. We supposedly pride ourselves at being at the top of the food chain, and yet we build these huge grocery stores with vast parking lots and fill the lots with cars. Happened here in Palmer, Alaska. You’d think that here, at the near end of the road, that we’d have come up with other, more environmentally and aesthetically pleasing, alternatives.

We have well developed pre-frontal lobes, so supposedly we can organize, prioritize, and legitimatize. But no, we just continue to run rough shod over the landscape. A case in point – we’ve gotten a lot of snow here. And out of the woodwork come the snowmobilers. These are not the machines

Raudi and Hrimm
Raudi and Hrimm

of old that puttered along, but fast, noisy, mean machines. It is difficult for those on foot, horseback, or bicycle to recreate when they are out.

Today I spent the day at the Mat-Su Animal Shelter, where I and twenty-or-so others participated in a day of volunteer training. It was tough and for the reason that I thought it would be – there were a lot of animals there in need of good homes. This included rabbits and guinea pigs, and cats, and dogs, and even turtles. I just find it hard to understand why people aren’t more responsible when it comes to pet ownership.

Meanwhile, the shelter director is working hard to keep the good ship afloat, to a large part depending on the largess of volunteers. I don’t see how the place can operate exclusively on the use of a staff. There are a multitude of details to attend to on a daily basis; it was for me, mind boggling.

The staff works hard to get the word out, that is that there are adoptable animals at the shelter. They have even have times when they reduce the price of the outgoing animals. My question is, what percentage of these animals go to good homes? People drop animals off on a whim and also pick them up on a whim.

I would like to volunteer, but am thinking right now that this would stretch me a bit thin time-wise. I have animals here that I need to tend to. And I need to get some writing projects done. I did entertain the thought of hanging out at the shelter and writing about it, but realized that because of confidentiality issues, that I would not be able to do this.

I’m glad that I did the training, and I am now knowledgeable about how our local shelter operates. Everyone should do this, for this would be an eye opener for many.

Next: 350. 12/16/18: Dog Blog

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