A Different Point of View
By Anonymous
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

All of God's creatures have rights, a fact that most people don't seem to recognize. This includes both human and non-human animals, but not all of them can speak for themselves.

A Different Point of View
By Anonymous

I'm being taken somewhere but I don't know where.

It's dark inside this box.

I hear a door and know we're in some kind of building.

I hear dogs barking and cats crying. It's very hot.

Someone is opening the box.

It's the girl that found me in the street and brought me here.

I used to have a home. I felt loved there.

Then something happened.

They opened the door and put me outside.

Then they closed the door.

I couldn't get back in. I don't understand.

The girl is crying now. She picks me up and holds me.

It feels good.

I'm placed in a cage.

It's not that small, but I don't like it.

The girl leaves me here.

I look around and see other cats, just like me, in cages.

What is this place?

Where is my family and why wouldn't they let me back inside?

Another cat looks at me. He's very sad.

I don't think he was ever loved.

Maybe it's better that way.

I've been here for hours.

People walk past me and they coo and sigh,

but they leave too.

I think I know what's happening.

This is where we're put when no one else wants us.

Why did my family take me in the first place?

Underneath me is a new mother nursing three kittens, or are there four?

Why are they here? The kittens are barely a week old.

The girl who held me comes back and opens my cage.

She holds me again, and again, it feels good.

She puts me back and gives me a blanket and some food.

There is a tear in her eye. She's sad.

She wants to help, but there isn't much she can do.

It's dark now. Someone comes in and takes an older cat from his cage.

From somewhere in the building, I here him crying. He doesn't come back. I've been here three days now. Everyday, they bring in more cats.

Where did they all come from? I'm scared.

The mother only has two kittens now. Two of them are dead.

The dogs keep barking, but I can't see them. People keep walking past.

Some of them stop and stare at me. Once, I was held. But I'm still in this cage.

I feel lonely and frightened.

More cats are taken away and they never come back.

I hear them cry, and then it's silent.

I don't understand. Why don't people do something?

They have the power to stop this.

But they don't. Don't I count?

Doesn't my life matter?

It's dark again.

Someone comes to me and takes me from my cage.

I'm placed on a cold metal table. There is a girl with me.

She's holding a needle. And she's crying.

I guess it's my turn now.

I won't be coming back.


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