Sadness overwhelms me as I bury yet one more kitty good friend. Zorro, as I referred to as him, was a feral cat, untouchable and cantankerous, but endearing in his personal means. He was principally black with white rear toes and white whiskers. He was affected by a number of maladies, and he lastly succumbed to the final of them.
I additionally really feel anger as I dig his grave. You see, Zorro confirmed up on my property over 5 years in the past. He was one in every of many cats that I’ve been “gifted” with, animals who have been cruelly dumped over the years. Zorro and countess different deserted cats and kittens deserved so a lot better.
I do my greatest to take care of them. It is an amazing process and an amazing expense, each financially and emotionally. I do it as a result of I’ve a coronary heart for these undesirable creatures and don’t want to see them endure.
I reside in a distant space, so it’s unlikely that these cats simply wandered in. There have been many reviews in my township and past of individuals trapping cats and “relocating” them to this and different rural areas. While I try and notify people when a brand new cat reveals up, as a rule they don’t seem to be claimed.
My anger can also be directed towards my township officers. I’ve repeatedly gone to the Downe Township Committee, asking it to make trap-neuter-vaccinate-return a observe for feral cats. At the very least, they may educate the general public on spaying and neutering.
My final try and rectify the scenario was to request that the township submit indicators stating that dumping animals is a legal offense and topic to a $1,000 advantageous per animal. It would make people know that the township is looking out for dumpers. The committee refused.
There is not any excuse for this apathetic angle. Until actual options are discovered and applied, these reprehensible dumping practices will proceed.
Jamie Swain, Port Norris
Trump warned you, so don’t let him return
Former President Donald Trump, in a recent interview, acknowledged that, if he’s elected once more as president, he’ll use the Department of Justice to punish his political enemies — a listing that he’s reportedly growing.
Our democracy relies upon free expression amongst individuals and growing compromises which are for the overall good. Trump’s feedback are yet another instance of the risk to democracy that he represents.
Any notion that Trump is not going to comply with via along with his plans needs to be eliminated by how he behaved throughout his administration. He packed Supreme Court justice vacancies with nominees more likely to thwart the desire of the vast majority of Americans for girls to have management of over their our bodies. This majority of the general public was reaffirmed by the outcomes of recent elections, wherein anti-abortion candidates and poll measures have been broadly rejected.
Trump used a lot of his single time period to discover ways to use the levers of the federal authorities. If he’s elected once more, he shall be prepared to make use of these classes to additional his autocratic objectives.
I pray that the numerous share of the inhabitants that helps his 2024 candidacy will rethink that assist.
Wake up, America! World historical past is stuffed with examples of individuals falling underneath the spell of an autocratic chief who introduced eventual break to their nation. Just ask individuals who have been residing in Germany instantly earlier than the rise of Nazism.
Gerald Shambaugh, Glassboro
Terrorism struggle requires unity
About 22 years in the past, our nation, the best nation on Earth, skilled a horrific terrorist attack that took over 3,000 lives. In the times and weeks that adopted Sept. 11, 2001, Americans of all backgrounds put apart their petty variations. They stood collectively in satisfaction and unity in opposition to the terrorists, with different free nations all through the world standing with us.
Sadly, within the weeks because the horrific recent terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, evidently the thought of power and unity in opposition to terrorism has been forgotten.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have erupted on school and college campuses all through the nation, together with a sickening rise of violent Jewish antisemitism.
This divisiveness has to cease. All of us right here want to face behind Israelis within the identify of freedom as they fight to eradicate Hamas and its risk to the nation’s existence.
George I. Anderson, Vineland
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