Anger as elderly Chinese insist youngsters give up their seat on public transport

On social media there are videos of young people refusing to give up their seats for older people on the subway. Some elderly people insist that a young person gives up their seat. The young person refuses and there is a clash. It's happened more than once and each time someone has videoed the clash. See Twitter/X video below.

It seems that some elderly believe that it is a duty for the young to relinquish their seat on public transport to the elderly and this cultural aspect of Chinese society is deeply engrained.

In contrast it seems that the young Chinese have divested themselves of this cultural obligation which they see as a courtesy. 

The old think it is a duty while the young see it as a courtesy. It is a clash of culture within Chinese society between young and old.

It probably reflects the modern evolution of Chinese society. I can bring cats and dogs into the discussion here because the old fashioned Chinese culture regarding cats and dogs is that they are utilitarian. This results in abuse. The modern trend is to treat cats and dogs are companions leading to better treatment. There are grass root animal welfare organisations in China run by young animal advocates for instance.

Giving up you seat on public transport to an elderly person is a courtesy not a duty. So these insistent elderly people have got a bee in their bonnet about their rights. It seems that they are angry and discontented. They are taking it out on the young.

There is internal stress in Chinese society it appears.

On June 16, security was called when a young man on a Shenyang subway crumbled after an old man demanded that he'd give up his seat for him. In a video of the incident, which soon went viral, the young man can be heard screaming: "Are you giving me money? No? Then don't bother me! I'm just happy to be sitting here. What's wrong with me grabbing a seat? - What's On Weibo.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion on Chinese social media about young people refusing to give up their seats for older people on the subway, sometimes leading to explosive situations. On June 16, security was called when a young man on a Shenyang subway… pic.twitter.com/C5lTvVNIiQ

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) July 7, 2024

Here is another incident:

Another subway incident went trending a week later. On June 24, a 65-year-old man started harassing a young woman on Beijing Subway Line 10 after she refused to give up his seat to him. The man became aggressive, started slapping the woman, and put his cane in between her legs, trying to force her to stand up. The incident caused outrage on social media and Beijing police later detained the man.

Another subway incident went trending a week later. On June 24, a 65-year-old man started harassing a young woman on Beijing Subway Line 10 after she refused to give up his seat to him. The man became aggressive, started slapping the woman, and put his cane in between her legs,… pic.twitter.com/khVr47hlJN

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) July 7, 2024

Does this indicate something more profound is happening within Chinese culture? Are the elderly generally unhappy and taking it out on Gen Z? Are stresses being built up in China?

---------------------

From Google Gemini:

Giving up your seat to an elderly person on public transport falls more on the side of courtesy than a strict duty.

There might be designated priority seating on some public transport that requires you to vacate the seat for someone who needs it, but in general, it's a social norm and a kind gesture.

Here's why it's seen as courtesy:

• It's voluntary: You choose to offer the seat, not because you're forced to.
• There can be exceptions: There might be unseen reasons why someone needs to sit (invisible disability, for example).

However, it's a widely accepted courtesy because it shows respect for someone who may have difficulty standing for long periods.

-------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Accident or assault? Metal bottle hits Novak Djokovic.

The man leans over the barrier with his left hand offered to Novak. His backpack is wide open and his metal water bottle is in it - at the top. Was this an accident or a very carefully orchestrated surreptitious assault on Novak? Was it an assault made to look like an accident? You decide. Novak has a lot of detractors. He is unpopular with a lot of people.

Being of a suspicious mind and having watched the video several times, I am beginning to believe and allege that this man did it deliberately and that it was not an accident.

• Why the metal bottle and not the usual plastic?
• Why did it fall from the backpack so easily?
• Why wasn't he shocked? Look at his reaction. Passive.

Here is another version:

--------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

A cat came dancing - Early Years (5) - Nursery Rhymes - Video

This is a departure from my normal sort of article. I want to show you a short video on YouTube and on the BBC website made for children of about the age of five which is the reception year at schools. It's nice to create an article for five year old kids. That does not say that any five year old kids will actually view this article. I don't expect it actually. It would be a near miracle if a five year old child or her mother clicked on a link to come to this page but, there it is, I am writing it nonetheless.

This is a charming video.

Below are the lyrics to the song.

A cat came dancing

A cat came dancing out of the barn,
With a fiddle under her arm.
She could play nothing but fiddle-cum-fee,
The mouse has married the bumble bee.
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house,
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house.

A pig came dancing out of the barn,
With a drum under his arm.
He could play nothing but diddle-dum-dee,
The mouse has married the bumble bee.
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house,
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house.

A cow came dancing out of the barn,
With a horn under her arm.
She could play nothing but tootle-tum-tee,
The mouse has married the bumble bee.
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house,
Play cat, dance mouse,
We'll have a jig in our good house.

Here is a little more on the nursery rhyme:

“A Cat Came Dancing” is a delightful nursery rhyme that features whimsical animals and their musical talents. Here’s the charming verse:

A cat came dancing out of a barn,
With a fiddle under her arm.
She could play nothing but fiddle-cum-fee,
The mouse has married the bumble bee.

The rhyme continues with other animals joining the dance:

• A pig comes dancing out of the barn, carrying a drum under its arm, playing “diddle-dum-dee.”
• A cow joins in, with a horn under her arm, playing “tootle-tum-tee.”

The recurring refrain is:

Play cat, dance mouse,
We’ll have a jig in our good house.

It’s a whimsical and playful rhyme that captures the joy of music and dancing animals. 🎶🐱🎻

If you’d like to listen to an animated version of “A Cat Came Dancing,” you can find it on the BBC Teach website. Enjoy the delightful rhythm and imagery! 😊

-----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Academically gifted postgraduate university student with a history of abusing cats is REJECTED

NEWS AND OPINION: This is a another story from China and as it happens another story about a Chinese university student. I've just written about a Chinese university student who was expelled because of his alleged abuse of his pet cat in an horrific manner. In this instance, the student who is named Xu is reported to have a history of abusing cats and as a consequence he was rejected by two top Chinese universities. China Daily reports on this and is the source of this blog post.

Academically gifted postgraduate Chinese student. This is a fictional creation. Not a real person.

It is alleged that he was abusing cats in his dormitory at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Like other cat abusers he posted videos of his miscreant behaviour online. This took place in February. In one clip he is shown putting a cat in a bucket of water and treading on the cat's head.

The videos were evidence against him. He was investigated and interviewed with his parents. He admitted wrongdoing and promised not to repeat it.

He is an engineering graduate. He was applying for a masters program at Nanjing University School of Physics late in 2023.

He had the highest total score among the applicants for the course but was nonetheless rejected because it his alleged cat abuse. It indicates that the University is taking a moral stance.

There appears to be no definitive statement from the University confirming that he was rejected because of his cat abuse but it is reported that "his abuse of cats may have affected their decision."

Chinese citizens commenting on the University's Sina Weibo blog urged the University to be cautious about enrolling Xu. The comment indicated that morality plays a role in selecting candidates. One commenter said: "Morality prevails over intelligence and academic performance".

The former editor-in-chief of Global Times wanted Xu to be given a chance. He said that posting the video of animal abuse was clearly a serious mistake but indicated he thought he had potential psychological problems. Notwithstanding that, he suggested that "society should provide the student with an opportunity for correction, allowing this young person to have prospects and hope."

Hu wanted the student to progress in life and be given the opportunity to do so. Comment: the big question here is whether Xu has the capacity to correct his behaviour because as Hu stated it appears that Xu has mental health problems. And therefore he needs treatment and he needs to be certified as being mentally well enough to participate in such a course before being allowed to do so.

Comment: The Chinese government needs to make that all important step of introducing general animal welfare laws to protect all animals. Laws can change opinions and attitudes as they gradually embue the citizens with a different attitude towards animal sentience and welfare. Animal welfare laws can indirectly set moral standards as is the case with the UK's Animal Welfare Act 2006

--------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cat takes mighty leap to successfully hit a Ring doorbell to be let inside

Determined and athletic cat leaps from parked car at the Ring doorbell to be let in. Where is the cat flap?!

The picture above comes from the video below which won't last long so enjoy it while you can! I can't find the original Ring.com video and I think this one is a rip-off. But it is okay. 

It shows how domestic cats are amazingly resourceful in getting their way particularly to get inside their home. They learn how to attract attention. 

These must be homes where there is no cat flap. The cats get left outside. I wonder about that and ask why owners don't install cat flaps if they intend to let their cats go outside unsupervised.

Here is another video of a resourceful cat employing the same technique to be let in:

There are many examples on the internet. All are a testament to the intelligence and learning ability of the domestic cat plus there athleticism and resourcefulness. Impressive guys aren't they?

-------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Experiences before and during stay at animal shelter leaves dog terrified (video)

This is not news. It is pretty obvious if you know anything about animal shelters and the kind of life dogs and cats can have before they are rescued. The combined experiences can leave the cat or dog terrified. It may be be that the shelter alone scares the dog because they can be scary places.

Perhaps they can sense that death is around the corner. If they've been placed on a list of dogs to be euthanised, perhaps some of them sense this and understand that their death is impending. We don't know. But dogs are very sensitive and intelligent. It's certainly plausible to suggest that they might understand that their lives are in danger.

Combine that with the small space they are living in. The sterility of the place. The noises. The unnaturalness of the environment and you might have a scared dog.

A dog might have come from a good home and then suddenly thrust into sheltered life which would be a great shock to them. Either way, the video we see on this page is not, in my experience of researching these matters, unusual. This dog looks terrified. She won't even turn her head towards the person petting her. You can see that they have covered her up perhaps to make you feel more secure.

One great problem with a dog becoming scared like this is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dogs that are scared and timid and hiding or trying to hide become unadoptable. This means that that they are earmarked for euthanasia.

Or perhaps their reaction will be aggression in defence of what they consider to be a hostile environment. This also can make them unadoptable.

It just looks to me as if like this video indicates a failure in dog domestication. This is what it has come down to in this instance. It shouldn't be like this.

Fortunately, I can report that this dog has been fostered and once they live in a foster home they often flower and their personality comes out. They behave more normally and become unadoptable. 

That simple step of going into foster care can save their lives. Perhaps you know all about this because it's quite common knowledge but if not this little video which I find very difficult to watch might be instructional.

Terrified dog at animal shelter. Screenshot.

-----

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Woman transitioning to a 'human cat' with many body modifications and more to come

The image and videos that you see are of a young 22-year-old Italian woman named Chiara Dell’Abate aka Aydin Mod who wants to transition to a 'human cat' through plastic surgery, piercings, tattoos and other body modifications. Does she look like a cat? The answer is no quite definitely. I don't know what her thinking is but to an outsider like me, she has not realised her objective; nowhere near. I find it very sad indeed that she has done this to herself. For me she looks revolting.

Chiara Dell’Abate aka Aydin Mod. Screenshot (modified) from YouTube.

Apparently, she is very excited about her transitioning to a human cat. She started the long journey at the tender age of 11 when she received her first body mod. She now has 72 piercings in her body.

Her body modifications include punched nostrils, 0.8 cm upper lip piercings and a 1.6 cm inner labia piercing. Her tongue has been split (see video below). Horror. I can't see that that is anything at all to do with being a domestic cat. Domestic cats do not have split tongues but snakes do. 

She struggles to speak properly. I wonder if she struggles to eat properly too. And what about day-to-day functioning? These body mods must get in the way.

But she is very happy with her body. She said, "I'm thinking that I would be a pretty cool cat lady".

In addition to the above, she has submitted herself to a blepharoplasty which, I'm told, removes excess skin or fat from the eyelids. Her eyeballs have been tattooed!! She has pointed ears, forehead implants and claw-like nails. And permanent eyeliner.

She added: "I think becoming a cat lady is more appropriate for me as I don’t really want to look like a cartoon character. I have always loved cats, and I think I’ll look really bold and fierce as a cat lady with the right body mods."

She is not finished. She was to become more like a human cat.

"To achieve the full cat-like look, I will need a cat eyes lift or canthoplasty — surgery to produce more elongated and naturally almond-shaped eyes — teeth reshaping, upper lip cut, more fillers."

And she said that she will employ something called a transdermal which is like a micro dermal to attach a tail and definitely more tattoos. 

She said that the procedures hurt a lot but the pain is temporary and not a big deal to her. Some people have slammed her for her desire to dramatically alter her appearance. For me, the alterations are very much to her detriment. She looks horrendous to me. But I am an old man with particular views. Perhaps I'm a bit old-fashioned but....she looks horrible...

Some people have labelled her psychotic and disturbed. Others have been supportive and praised her for living freely. She said that through her body modifications, "I feel free to stay true to myself, regardless of what people think."

I just wonder whether she wants to modify her body because she is unhappy with it. I wonder if she does have mental health problems. I am not saying that she does by the way. She sounds perfectly normal and rational but I also wonder whether she will think exactly the same way in 10 or 20 years' time. I doubt whether she will. I wish her well.

But because there is more to come, she'll get progressively worse until she turns into a monster. And what about the cost? And has anyone checked out her mental health? People should be protecting her.

------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hamas massacres entire family leaving nervous puppy behind who was rescued (video)

NEWS AND OPINION: Fox News report of the plight of dogs on the Israel side of this war. The first is a sweet-looking and nervous puppy held by the journalist Trey Yingst. Hamas massacred his family. He was the only survivor. They lived near the Gaza/Israel border.  I have three feelings. First: great to see the news media focus on companion animals for a while although, secondly the Fox News anchor says that pets are less important than humans which is the conventional attitude but not for me!

Thirdly it is tremendously sad to see this traumatised puppy. One hopes that he gets over it in due course.

In the second part another rescued dog is presented to the camera by Barak Levi Segal. The dog is a survivor of a kibbutz that was invaded by the Hamas terrorists. He is very scared for obvious reasons. 

The dog is peaceful and small. He got lucky because he was fortunate to be found by a person sympathetic to dogs. The journalist rescued three dogs in all and the families of two were reunited with their dog after the rocket attacks. He also states that dogs were shot dead by Hamas.

The short video tells the story of the Hamas attacks on the villages near the border with Israel. It is a different perspective and I like to see it. Although as mentioned it is sad to see.

Dog rescued from the Hamas terrorist attacks on a village and Kibbutz in Israel near the Gaza border. This puppy was the sole survivor of an entire family massacred by Hamas terrorists.

---------

Note: please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Shed a tear watching reunion of lost cat and caregiver who were deeply connected

The power of the emotion in this video is the deep emotional bond the woman has for her cat companion and I'd say vice versa. It shattered her when her cat failed to return. As you might have guessed he is now supervised all the time and is leash trained. Viola. And the world is so pleased that you are back together with your darling cat.

Two types of dog: who's the smarter or braver?

 The video says it all:

Comment: it seems to me that the dog who crossed the stream in the water is braver/bolder but less smart than the dog who finds the more elegant and safer route which took longer.

There are other issues. The stream-crossing dog may have been unaware of the bridge while the bridge taker knew about it.

Neither followed their leader/caregiver and used the fallen tree. Why, I wonder? Maybe it looked unsafe. The dog has an instinct to make these decisions.

For a moment it's just you, your dog, a sunset and some peace

We all have a need, on occasion, to remove ourselves from the human world to find some peace. To stop the clamouring of human activity around us. To stop the demands upon us. To walk away from the complexities of human life. And you can temporarily achieve some calm and some distance from humans by sitting on the beach with your dog as we see in the video. They look out towards the sunset. It is just them and the nature, the healer.

The man is with nature. Nature in the form of his dog and the sunset represents the universe.

A lot of people like to take up sailing so that they can be alone in the almost unimaginable amount of space the oceans offer. It is the sense of space that people sometimes crave; I do. And often they have to live in urban environments where there is a lack of space; I do. Where sometimes things just close in on you.

I think people buy houses by the seaside so they can look out towards the sea where there are no people. It provides an inner peace through visual space without interference of humans.

And this dude on the beach with his dog is temporarily enjoying such a moment. He is sitting with a great friend, perhaps his best friend and that feeling is mutual. The dog looks up to their caregiver as the alpha leader. They trust their human caregiver implicitly. They expect their human to behave like a benevolent alpha leader who guides and who is concerned for their welfare.

For a human to breach that trust is a terrible thing. It happens to often. And the cat looks up to their caregiver as their surrogate mother. It is very similar but with a slight difference.

We hardly ever see a cat sitting with a man or a woman on a beach looking out towards the sunset. But don't believe that it is impossible. You will see some wonderfully leash trained cats on the Internet who have learnt to behave like dogs on a lead and who are not frightened when a lot is happening around them.

Perhaps that should be the goal of millions of people today who keep their cats inside full-time. This training allows the owner to provide their cat with outdoor stimulation safely. That is one of the duties of a caregiver and it is expected of them by their domestic cat companion!

Want to get rid of your cat? Throw it out of a high-rise window. No problem. Legal in China

Chongqing, China - opinion: Yes, once again, I'm going to be highly critical of China in respect of their lack of animal welfare laws and their lack of respect on too many occasions for the sentience of domestic cats and dogs. They deserve to be criticised because the kind of cruelty we see on Twitter perpetrated upon these innocent animals is truly shocking.

The tweet:

#China: May 22, Chongqing. Pet cat was thrown to death by the neighbor. The owner: What kind of person can do such a thing? There's no legislation on cruelty to #animals. Those crazy people cannot be sanctioned.

Comment: I take that tweet to mean that the cat's owner threw their cat out of a high-rise window. I could be wrong but they threw the cat with such force that death was instant on contact with the ground due to blunt force trauma and catastrophic injuries. This happened by the way during Covid when some cat owners in China were anxious about getting Covid from their cat.

Without animal welfare laws, cat owners in China can simply throw their cat out of their apartment window hundreds of feet from the ground below. Job done. No problem. Within the law. There is no law. It is madness. It looks so completely wrong. It is completely wrong. The problem is that the people who do it do not see it as wrong. They see it as normal. This is because there has never been animal welfare laws protecting the general population of cats and dogs in China.

Cat owners and dog owners in China grow up without any real concept of what is legal and illegal in terms of animal welfare. There's just no norms to guide them on this. And their morality about cat and dog welfare is based upon a tradition that cats and dogs should be utilitarian. They should be useful. When they can't entertain anymore, they should be eaten.

This ancient tradition is gradually being eroded by modern life and the Internet no doubt has changed the minds of many thousands of Chinese people living in China but the vast majority of Chinese in China, it seems to me, just don't get the concept of animal welfare or that cats and dogs are sentient creatures.

If you asked them about the concept of sentience, they probably wouldn't know what you're talking about.

Horrible cruelty in China against a working donkey

The background music is obviously highly inappropriate but probably significantly in line with the attitude of the person that we see beating this donkey because they can't pull a weight which apparently is far too heavy for them (I can't watch it). This is a very difficult topic because it means we have to talk about cultural attitudes which are clearly in general completely different in China compared to the UK for instance.

The tweet accompanying the video from 'We Are Not Food' states:

Does this reflect China's attitude towards animals? Or would it be high time to start protecting these most vulnerable members of society? The choice of background music tells a lot - no respect for the suffering of a sentient being.

I have a nice article which I wrote some time ago which helps to explain these cultural differences and which you can read by clicking on this link if you wish. I think that it is a very enlightening article because it does mystify a lot of people in the West as to how people in China - I'm referring to some people in China - can be so brutally cruel to animals without any sensitivity towards their sentience.

It is a tradition. Culture is a tradition. And that is one of the great problems with relying on cultural attitudes to guide one. These cultures originate in a bygone era perhaps 2-3000 years ago. Attitudes then were far less sophisticated than they are now. A country's culture and attitudes must evolve with changes in modern life. This certainly applies to animal welfare.

Improvements in animal welfare are being made but too slowly. Traditional cultures are holding back improvement in animal welfare. It's time for change in that respect. It is time for a greater enlightenment about hanging on to old-fashioned cultures which foster animal abuse as we see in this distressing video.

Puppy needs IMMEDIATE rescue from abusive owner as seen on video (India)

We have the general address. Somebody needs to try and find out where this man lives and ideally arrest him for animal abuse under India's animal welfare laws which is unlikely but at least remove the puppy from him and take the him/her to an animal shelter for rehoming.  The tweet reporting this is dated May 16th. Something may have happened already but it unlikely.

The video (below) appears to have a reference to the location of the apartment in a URL (web address) and it tells us the name of the development. 

This is the address: 

Address: Survey No 25, Kondhwa-Undri-Saswad Rd, Near Undri Chowk, Katraj Saswad Bypass, Mohammed Wadi, Pune, Maharashtra 411060, India

India has decent animal welfare laws as the British introduced them when they ran the country although they need updating.

The man lives in Pune, India. He lives in a large block of flats. Somebody in an adjacent block of flats had the foresight to record his abuse on their smart phone and so we have a decent video in terms of definition (although it could be a bit better), which may help to identify him.

It is a distressing video if you are in any way concerned about animal welfare. Why he has a companion animal is beyond me. He is clearly unfit to own any animal. He is ignorant and insensitive.

The video comes from Twitter and the person who posted the tweet asks for immediate action for the dog to be removed and rescued.

All I am doing is spreading the word. I do not expect any success but unless we try, we never know. Please spread the word.

Video of cat's point of view as he traverses an 8-foot-high chain-linked fence

This is a video of a cat's point of view as he/she traverses an 8-foot-high chain-linked fence. This is a pretty cool little video. Nothing startlingly amazing but it is always nice to see life from the cat's point of view. This is an indoor/outdoor cat living in a perfect place for a cat. Well, it looks like that.

It seems that the great backyard is enclosed by this high fence. Fortunately for the cat there are trees in the garden and some of them are near the fence.

This makes traversing the fence quite straightforward. The big question is how does he get back. We don't see well placed trees on the other side to climb.

That said a lot of cats could climb that fence. Mine certainly could. There may be a tree out of view which is suitable positioned for the return journey.

As you can see, he jumped down into the other side. The soft landing would have made it more acceptable.

Tom's Guide EIC Mike Prospero decided to strap an Insta360 Go 2 camera, which is "smaller than [his] thumb," to his cat Mervin. It makes think about doing this to my cat as it would tell me what he does when he is outside. A good way to learn about your cat's outdoor behavior and check if it dangerous.

Strong-willed brave woman confronts ignorant man abusing his dog

I love this video. I love this strong-willed and brave woman who is confronting an ignorant man who is abusing his dog. The man can't speak half-decent English unfortunately. There is a communication problem here. And there is also an attitude problem with the man. 

Sad to say, in his culture, it is all right to tie a dog's forelegs together and leave the dog on the forecourt without water. This is what the woman is remonstrating with the man about. She, rightly, sees it is very cruel and cannot comprehend what he is doing. 

It goes against all social norms of decency in humankind's relationship with companion animals. He doesn't get that.

It is actually far worse than what you see because it is believed the man is killing dogs for dog meat. And this is the United States. It does happen in the States.

RELATED: Hawaii is Pushing for a Ban on the Consumption of Cat and Dog Meat.

This is the caption to the video:

This Asian man is rumoured to be slaughtering dogs to eat in USA??! Dog on his drive with front paws tied together & tethered! No water! Can u help @FresnoHumane ?  Address: 3080 East Thomas Ave. Fresno, 93701,CA !  📞 REPORT HIM  to Fresno PD (599) 621-1000 / (599)6212200

I think he says that he bought the dog that day and he's going to sell the dog soon. I don't know. I think she may work for a shelter and as you can hear in the video, she offers to take the dog there and then i.e. to rescue him or her. He refuses.

As the woman says in the video, it is illegal where she lives to tether a dog like that and to tie them up. That would be illegal in many countries because it is inherently cruel. In some states in the US there are rules about tethering making it illegal. But this is more than that. It is simply tying up a dog so that they cannot move.

And apparently it was a warm or hot day. The dog is panting as you can see and therefore requires water to help cool down. The water is about 12 paces away. The dog can't get to the water. It's ridiculous the woman says. It truly is ridiculous. Ridiculously cruel and abusive.

Like I said at the beginning this is an attitude problem. That attitude, I am reluctant to say, comes from Asia where dogs are more utilitarian. They are often not treated as members of the family or even as sentient. 

RELATED (read this as he explains the attitude problems): Brilliant, compassionate Ai Weiwei loves cats and finds them more interesting than humans.
By utilitarian I mean dogs must either be useful as working dogs or if they cannot serve that function should be killed and eaten. In which case they provide food for the human which means that they are useful and utilitarian at that end point in their lives.

Here are a series of screenshots from the video. These are here for SCO purposes so that Google can find the page better. When they are here to encase the video stops working. That's unlikely in this instance but it can happen.

Whimpering dog dragged to euthanasia room at city pound in heartbreaking viral video

This is a classic story of an animal pound killing a dog who did not have behavioral issues but it was claimed that he did. There is a petition on change.org which explains it all (relevant extracts below) and The New York Times covered this. 

Nathan Winograd writes about these events all the time. There are still 'shelters' in the US where they have poor policies and management on dealing with dogs and which ones to save and rehome and which ones to euthanise (kill). 

The Pitbull breeds are branded bad almost automatically based on their appearance when the decent thing to do would be to assess each dog based on their behavior and even if it is not optimal whether it can be remedied by basic socialisation and training.

Screenshots from the video below plus NY Times' headline. Thanks New York Times.

This dog was Maverick. It was reported that he bit his owner but we don't the veracity of that or the backstory. We do know that police Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC (New York City Animal Care Centers). Workers at the shelter said Maverick showed “serious aggression,” — leading to its decision to euthanize him.

This is taken from the Change.org website petition to:

Pass New York CAPA and Stop the Killing of Healthy and Treatable Shelter Animals!

“ACCORDING TO THE [NYPD] OFFICER WHO DEALT WITH MAVERICK…

Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC. Officer Teng said the son in MAVERICK’s family brought the dog who was wagging his tail out to the police car and MAVERICK hopped right into the back, and rode calmly with Officer Teng without incident to the Precinct, where he remained calm and friendly until ACC later picked-up MAVERICK. Officer Teng stated that only the father of the family had ever had a problem with MAVERICK, who had bitten the father once before. Officer Teng clearly described a dog who was not unmanageable or vicious in any way, and was not, and did not need to be restrained at any time the Officer was with what he also described as a friendly and calm dog.”

WARNING - SOME MIGHT FIND THE VIDEO DISTRESSING.

The video is not great quality because it was poor in the first place and I videoed it from my computer screen. Sorry if that has infringed someone's copyright but needs must in the interests of justice and decency. It is good enough to get the message. It is distressing.

Cindi Lyn who started the petition writes on Change.org:

A horrifying video was recorded on Thursday, May 9th, 2019, at the New York City pound in Manhattan. The video shows a 'euth tech' attempting to block the view of a rescue volunteer who bravely kept recording as uncaring ACC employees dragged a frightened dog named Maverick to the kill room. Maverick seemed to sense his fate and resisted his killers by lying down, showing no sign of aggression.

Rabbit digs to save a cat who couldn’t find their way out

This is a nice example of an interspecies friendship. Rabbits and domestic cats make good friends. We see it quite often on the Internet. In this instance, the rabbit thinks that their cat friend is stuck behind a corrugated iron barrier. They decided to dig a trench to allow the cat to escape. It's very cute. An act of friendship just like the kind of act of friendship which humans get involved in. Another example of animal sentience of which we should constantly remind ourselves to ensure that we respect animals.

If interspecies friendships interest you I have lots of them in many articles. Please click on this link to read about them. The two greatest interspecies friendships are human/dog and human/cat. We should remind ourselves of that fact too. Perhaps equal to those is the human/horse relationship which started 6,000 years ago. The dog/human relationship started around 20,000 years ago. We are unsure. Sometime between 14,000 and 35,000 years ago. The cat/human relationship started around 10,000 ago it is believed but once again we are unsure of the precise time. Rabbits were first domesticated around 1,500 years ago.

Loyal dog chases ambulance carrying their caregiver all the way to hospital

It is a remarkable video. This is where dogs can outdo cats by a mile. No criticism of cats; it is just that they wouldn't think about following an ambulance carrying their caregiver to hospital even if they were used to being outside with their owner. 

The difference is the group living of the dog's ancestor, the wolf. The caregiver is the alpha and they are followed. That kind of group living does not apply as I am sure you know to the ancestor of the domestic cat, the African wildcat.

So, here is this great little video. It reminds me of a dog who stayed outside a hospital for the entire time his master was inside. The man died of stabbing injuries. The dog remained outside the hospital for four months!! Phew. Dogs show immense persistence and loyalty.

The caption reads: "A dog chased an ambulance carrying its owner all the way to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital the loyal dog waited outside while its owner was treated and released."

I am pleased that the man survived and they were reunited. His dog deserved to be reunited again. A reward for their loyalty. It doesn't always end well, however.

Screenshot.

Mutual love gushing out of this feline-human couple

Mutual love gushing out of this feline-human couple. Screenshot.

This is a really good example of genuine love between human and cat. It is all over the screen. As I said it gushes out of each of them at any and every opportunity. They are made for each other and it is great to see. 

She says that she LOVES him and it is very obvious that she does. People say they love their cat or their human partner but don't always mean it truthfully or genuinely. But here it is genuine and absolutely true.

She says that in America they prefer to call ginger cats 'orange' rather than ginger in the UK. I have never heard that before. Ginger cats can be called 'yellow' or 'orange' or 'marmalade' or 'red'. The last one is the way the professionals refer to ginger cats.

RELATED: Orange, red, yellow, ginger or marmalade cats.

They are nearly always male. She relates to her cat as her man which I love. She seems to have given up on a conventional human-to-human relationship and prefers this sort which I can totally understand.

He makes her very happy. That is the measure of the relationship. If you see a human and cat getting a lot of happiness out of their relationship it is a big winner. It is all you can ask for in any relationship of any kind.

Her love for him means that she cares for him beautifully. Love brings respect and great caregiving. It all flows from that starting point.

As they say, if you want to know how to be an excellent cat caregiver: love him/her.  And of course, the nice touch is that he is a shelter cat. She saved a life as well. 

That is always a super starting point to a relationship. Cats show their gratitude.