And What About The Animals.....

בס''ד

Shavua Tov!

 

Baruch Hashem all day Friday and Shabbat the South was quiet. Residents of the South know this is just a temporary reprieve. How long will it last..a day or two, a week, a month. Who knows…your guess is just as good as my guess.

During this rain of missiles, a segment of Israeli society that the media did not report about are our four legged pets and farm animals.

Living on a Yishuv we have many dogs and cats.  The cats hid under cars and the outside dogs howl. These poor creatures are terrified.

There are residents of the South who have left their homes because of missiles and have unfortunately left their pets behind to fend for themselves.

We have a neighbor who ran away last Moetzie Shabbat and left their beautiful Labrador puppy alone outside.  On Monday, I saw the dog rummaging through the garbage and realized that she had no food.

I brought her a large bowl of dog food and a bowl of water. I never saw a dog eat so quickly.  She was famished. 

My friends who have dogs all say that their pets are suffering and that their behavior during this time is not their norm. Some have stopped eating, they need and want extra attention and others just bark morning, noon and night.

We have a sweet eight month old Beagle mix that lives in the house. Patches is traumatized, suffering from anxiety from all the noise. She is terrified of the sirens, booms and helicopters and barks like crazy whenever there is a siren or boom.

She is so afraid of being alone and doesn’t let us out of her sight to a point that she scratches and bangs on the door when we are in the bathroom or taking a shower. All Patches wants is to be patted and  played with all day long.

During this past week, every morning I have woken up to find Patches sleeping in my bed even though her bed is in my room…  She just doesn’t want to be alone. Last night was the first night she slept all night in her bed.

Down the street from us there is a family who raises chickens and ducks. The roosters ‘cockle do a do’ for hours after a boom. The chickens scurry all around the street ‘like a chicken without a head’ bumping into each other or anything in their way. 

I’m not a vet, but I’m sure they are reacting from fear.

Across the street from us is a Moshav that has farm animals. Usually they are very noisy only in the early morning and at dusk. During the day we rarely hear them. This past week, we heard the sheep, goats and cows all day long. They too are suffering from the terror.

Now I don’t know if the booms are causing the cows to produce less milk or the chickens to have less eggs but it wouldn’t surprise me if it does.

Why did I write this posting? Because I would like you to see that every segment of society, men, women, children, the young, the elderly, our pets, farm animals and strays are suffering one way or another from terror. Enough already….this is not the way for any of us to live.

Our elected government has a duty and responsibility to each and every citizen to keep us safe and not live in fear. The time has come for the government to prove they are worthy of being our government and put a stop to any future terror.

Until next time

Miriam