cameroon log

Kitty Returns

Wednesday December 10th, 2003

One of the girls that I photographed during the school photography blitz brought kitty back today. She was totally filthy, somewhat feral, and even more skinny. I warmed up some water, and washed her… which drew meek protest. Then, I dried her off, and put her down. She took one step and collapsed. After a few hours, and some eggs, she is a bit better… two steps, and she falls over. She has trouble lifting her head up. I think its pretty much 50/50 that she survives the next few days. I’ll see what I can do. The girl that brought her said that she saw her in the market, where she had apparently been hanging out for a few days. So, the power of information dissemination in full view. The missing cat poster worked. People knew what she looked like, and where to bring her. I also think there was another benefit.. but this one is speculative. I believe that someone took her originally. She is a cute, friendly and healthy kitty, so somone snagged her. When they found out that she wasn’t a good Cameroonian kitty (she likes to sit on people’s laps, and likes to be petted, and fed) and that the white man put up a poster looking for her, they dumped her out the door, and she made her way to the market. I believe this, because there is no way that this kitten survived on her own for two weeks in the bush. There are bigger animals out there that would have her as a little snack. We have also had several brutal rainstorms. So, that is my theory on the unseen coercive effects of information.