Thursday, May 3, 2012

Cobbles in Trouble

I haven't seen Cobbles in at least a week.  She came by this morning and I was distressed to see she is in serious trouble:


Cobbles has and eye infection - she could lose her eye like Jazzy if we can't get her help

I tried unsuccesfully to trap her.  She managed to go in the trap, eat the food, and get out without getting caught, which, doggonit, sometimes happens.

Cobbles snatched the food twice without releasing the trap door
But if we can't get her she could lose her eye like Jazzy, who we were never able to catch with the borrowed trap we were using at the time.

Jazzy lost one eye to an infection because we couldn't catch him to help him


Cobbles proved too clever for me - Sylvia, in foreground, looks on



It was just as I figured out to solve the problem, that two Cypriot workmen showed up to work on the house next door, and Cobbles, who is feral and nervous, ran off.  Plus Nik and I have to be careful, because traps like these which come from abroad are very valuable in Cyprus, particularly for hunters who don't want to play fair, which this country has no shortage of. 

We have seen so many hunters just stand below trees shooting sparrows like it is a pin ball game. I had to chase one out of our front yard once!! I asked him incredulously, "Bre, koumbare, what the hell do you think are you doing?!" And he smiled sheepishly, casually turned around, and walked off down the middle of the residential road we then lived on carrying his rifle on his shoulder. (!!??!!)  Another time I scoldingly approached a man at the park shooting sparrows in the trees with an airgun.

And these two men are definitely of that hunting generation.  You can spot them because they walk around everywhere, even go to work in, their camouflage hunting fatigues.  And they have small boxes on the back of their trucks where they stuff their huntings dogs  no matter how hot it is outside.

Then at the end of the season, a lot of these same men let their hunting dogs free to wander, abandon them to fend for themsleves, and the dogs either starve to death, or get hit by a car. 

Is it ignorance or cruelty?  I think it is ignorance.  There are plenty of Cypriots here who adore their animals.  One of our neighbors is too ill and overweight to walk his dog, so his wife does it and he takes the dog for a daily drive. 

 Cobbles, too lucky for her own good


Cobbles was very lucky and clever this morning, but I would think she was a lot more lucky and clever had she let me catch her.

Please send her and me your prayers.  I'll be looking out for her all day.



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