Bless the Beasts

Watermelon Ranch

I spent our National Day of Service on Monday, January 19 at a very special place, Watermelon Ranch in my home town, Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Watermelon Ranch is a no-kill animal shelter that does not keep abandoned animal companions behind bars or caged as if they had committed a crime. As you may have guessed, my destination was the cat center. I read their literature before volunteering and knew that they espoused a special philosophy of shelter care based on the Utah model.

From what I observed, the technique was all about inclusion, for the animals, for the shelter personnel and for the visiting and adopting public. Each of the cats I saw had been either abandoned or placed in the shelter when their owner could no longer care for them.

I believe that animals, especially cats, are sentient in their own way. Tigger, my boy, can tell time, knows when I am upset and knows when I’m happy. He shows obvious disappointment when I’m on the computer and he can’t play or cuddle on my lap and he has been known to pitch a fit or two to get his way. If you listened to the description and remained unaware I spoke of my animal companion, I could just as easily described a recalcitrant child.

At the Ranch, the occupants are treated more like children and less like dumb beasts. There are open rooms with toys, perches and tunnels to hide explore. There are exits from the rooms to an outdoor playground where the residents can sit on a perch and catch a few rays.

Every one of the adult cats I encountered was beautifully socialized. There were no cats that hid from the human visitors whether the visitor was an adult or a child. Tigger has been known to head for the hills when toddlers arrive. These cats were perfectly comfortable with the small children and the adults.

I have in the past adopted shelter cats that were frightened, and unfriendly. It would take a long time to get them to trust me. In the end, even when they trusted me, they would not extend that trust to other humans they encountered. This group of cats easily trusted the strange humans not to harm. I hope they never lose that trust.

In my novel, The Sarran Plague, coming in April from Eternal Press, two very special cats help to save the universe. Cats are expert at ridding their domain of pests, see how Dr. Forrester’s stalwart Tigger, and Syn Sinclair’s very regal Duchess put their noses, ears and paws where they don’t belong and thus help the Sarran WarriorPairs and their beloved BondMates outwit the evil Zyptz.

Stay tuned for more on the Sarrans.

AC Katt

Tigger has a Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind

Tigger has a Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind

Wikipedia defines Close Encounter as an Ufology term describing the various kinds of interaction that could occur between an Earthen and an Alien being. The terms entered the public lexicon in 1977 via the Steven Speilberg Movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The terminology and the system of classification behind it was first introduced by J. Allen Hynek, astronomer and ufologist in 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. At the present time there are five classifications of an Alien/Earthen encounter.

They are:

1. Close Encounter of the First Kind - An encounter of this classification is described as a sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object. The object could be a flying saucer, strage lights in the sky or an aerial object that does not move in a manner consistent to human technology.

2. A Close Encounter of the Second Kind occurs when the sight of a Flying Object either has observed or struck with a physical after affect that can be attributed to the sighting. Heat, radiation, damage to the local terrain, human paralysis, radio or TV interference are all examples of Second Kind Encounters.

3. The Third type of Encounter was made popular by the movie of the same name. This classification entails the observation of an animate being of non Earthen origin in close association with the UFO.

4. A Close Encounter of the Fourth kind only occurs when the observer is actually abducted by the UFO and/or its occupants.

News from the Front

In my novel The Sarran Plague, soon to be released by Eternal Press Dr. Anya Forrester's feline companion, Tigger experiences a Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind.

High above the planet Earth in the more populated regions of the Milky Way galaxy; humanity wages a desperate war against an enemy who gives no quarter. The Galactic Council, ruling body of loosely aligned confederation of planets is engaged in a battle to save the humanoid genotype from an aggressive insectoid species, called the Zyptz. The only thing that stands between the humanoid species and genocide are the Sarran WarriorPairs. Can they succeed against a swarm? Watch for
The Sarran Plague by AC Katt, coming soon from Eternal Press.

Tigger, feline companion to Dr. Anya Forrester of Earth, meets the Sarrans on his own Terms.

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