A few weeks before Christmas, I was delivering a stop-off in Roswell, New Mexico.
After making the drop and heading off to Texas, I approached an intersection to U.S.Hwy 380.
That's when I saw him.
Walking through the tall grass was a beautiful orange-stripped tabby heading towards the road.
I caught the sight of a pickup truck heading east towards me and all I could think was "No, No, No, No, No"
The tabby made a dash for it and didn't make it-the pickup never even stopped.
I called Roswell Animal Control and they only have one officer who was on the other side of the county and looking at this poor animal, it was easy to see that his time was near and virtually nothing could save him.
All I could do was pick his shattered body up off the road and carry him back to the grass where I stayed with him, talking to him, petting his dying body through every convulsion and shudder until the life left his eyes. Thankfully, it didn't take long, not that I could have never gotten him to a Vet in time anyway.
As I looked at his now-lifeless body, I wondered how he came to such a pass, un-neutered, no collar. I wondered if he was a feral, if he was someone's barn cat or was he a beloved family pet that had been lost/strayed or cast aside.
I wondered what he might have been like as a kitten, if he ever had that "special something" that makes our cats so special to us and if he was domesticated, was he the love-bug that my Bari is or was he aloof, in charge and a top-cat?
I'll never know.
What I do know is, he ended up on that road because someone had failed him and I was the reluctant witness to his violent, painful and needless death.
I know that someone driving a pickup truck didn't see him in time, didn't slow down and didn't even stop-he just left him there to die all alone.
I named him "Roswell" and he didn't die alone.
In the last five minutes of his life, he had a name, someone there to comfort and pet him and he left this world and crossed the bridge with the sun on his body and the warm wind in his face.
I'm sorry I couldn't save you Roswell, I only wish that I could have done more. But when my time comes to join you, I will claim you as my own.
After making the drop and heading off to Texas, I approached an intersection to U.S.Hwy 380.
That's when I saw him.
Walking through the tall grass was a beautiful orange-stripped tabby heading towards the road.
I caught the sight of a pickup truck heading east towards me and all I could think was "No, No, No, No, No"
The tabby made a dash for it and didn't make it-the pickup never even stopped.
I called Roswell Animal Control and they only have one officer who was on the other side of the county and looking at this poor animal, it was easy to see that his time was near and virtually nothing could save him.
All I could do was pick his shattered body up off the road and carry him back to the grass where I stayed with him, talking to him, petting his dying body through every convulsion and shudder until the life left his eyes. Thankfully, it didn't take long, not that I could have never gotten him to a Vet in time anyway.
As I looked at his now-lifeless body, I wondered how he came to such a pass, un-neutered, no collar. I wondered if he was a feral, if he was someone's barn cat or was he a beloved family pet that had been lost/strayed or cast aside.
I wondered what he might have been like as a kitten, if he ever had that "special something" that makes our cats so special to us and if he was domesticated, was he the love-bug that my Bari is or was he aloof, in charge and a top-cat?
I'll never know.
What I do know is, he ended up on that road because someone had failed him and I was the reluctant witness to his violent, painful and needless death.
I know that someone driving a pickup truck didn't see him in time, didn't slow down and didn't even stop-he just left him there to die all alone.
I named him "Roswell" and he didn't die alone.
In the last five minutes of his life, he had a name, someone there to comfort and pet him and he left this world and crossed the bridge with the sun on his body and the warm wind in his face.
I'm sorry I couldn't save you Roswell, I only wish that I could have done more. But when my time comes to join you, I will claim you as my own.
