Before few seconds I decided to write this post. So, thank you Benno, my friend, for instigating me doing that! The second thing which I decided was to ask all of you what do you think the human rights are? And why exactly are they called HUMAN rights? We all know that one of the UN goals are exactly those rights..., after which one of our blogging categories is named. But I will add this topic under the category of equality. Because the reason to start it were the all living being rights. Every creature must have rights, not only the humans. Even more, we are those, who created the term and must be responsible for the protection of those, who cannot speak for themselves - the animals.

Benno just sent me on FB the material with the petition underneath about the hunting of cats in New Jersey! Something more, shooting at cats!

Right now there is a debate underway about what to do with the feral cats there. Although there is already a successful trap-neuter-return poilcy in place, a certain few want to change the status of any outdoor cat- whether domestic or feral- into an 'exotic animal', and ban TNR.  This will very likely pave the way for hunting of loose cats as wild pests, aka varmints.

Article in Daily Record March 15, 2010 explains more about the question:

Jeannette Vreeland, acting chair of the Fish and Game Council, asked in 2007 if feral cats could be added to the list of animals that could be hunted, according to council meeting minutes. This week she defended the 2007 resolution. "When a cat is left to roam outside the house it becomes a character who kills birds and small mammals -- rabbits, chipmunks,'' she said on Thursday. "It's really not a natural, native animal.They are exotic and not meant to be outdoors.''

As one signer of this petition so aptly put it:

 "If you all legalize shooting cats including bow hunting, you are going to allow people to kill other people's pets who accidentally wander out. If anybody shoots my cat there will be law suits everywhere including against the STATE who allowed this animal cruelty. FURTHER if you all call feral cats "wildlife" you ALSO LEGALIZED CAT MEAT. Wildlife is eaten. CAT MEAT will be served as "chicken" dishes like they do all over China and in Chinese restaurants. " ( L.Swa_)

Unfortunately you cannot sign it if you are not a US citizen. But what you may do it is to lobby on international level for the stopping of cats' hunting! Just imagine that the next thing is that your own cat is beeing shooted and dies painfully from a bolt! And if you think this is the worst, I want to show you a case, which was the reason for Bulgaria to make changes in its Law against Animal abuse. 

Up to date the cruelty towards animals will be punished in Bulgara with 1 to 3 years in jail and fine between 2500 and 7500 euro. If the crime is made on extremely brutal or torturing war; over againd or in the presense of minor persons, the stay in jail will be prolonged with till 5 years and the fine - from 5000 to 15 000 euros.

The whole Bulgarian publicity took part in the campaign, which induced the government to do the change. The reason was the tragic story of a Bulgarian dog. 

Mima is an ordinary street dog. Dobromir Donchev was taking care for her and she was guarding his villa outside the town. Before some time, he saw that one of her paws was missing. He tought, maybe the animal got hurt while she has been into the forests. But then...

This petition, written by Bilyana Petrova, explains the rest.

On March 26th Dobromir from the bulgarian city Drianovo found Mima lying crippled near his home. All four paws of the 5-years -old female dog were axed. Donchev took Mima to the vet immediately where she was stabilised. He is sure the crime was done by a neighbour because of an old fight. But there is nothing he can do about it. There is no zoo police in Bulgaria and no proper punishment for such acts. 

Sadly, the monster who did this to Mima will likely go unpunished. Bulgarians hope to get Mima's story out as a message to the world that all animals suffer and feel pain just as we do and laws must exist and be enforced to protect them.

UPDATE: On April 16th, Mima left Bulgaria to Germany for treatment and rehabilitation. On April 20th, she has undergone surgery in Munchen, to remove some of the bones that were sticking out. She will later get her prosthesis and gain mobility from this prominent specialist:
http://www.hunderolli-tierorthopaedie.de/prothetik.html

One of our famous newspapers, "24 chasa", got a very nice title about the "price" of the people's crualty: Put on fire a cat = Cross on red light

Just try to read it with Google Translator. It shows that in Bulgaria you also can see/hear/do crimes to the defenceless animals like killing a cat with a bow or shoot at a dog with a gun; killing a kitty on a balcony with a staff; stabbing a dog in the city center of Sofia just because "it is a germ-carrier"; pour on a dog with an sulphuric acid; feed your dog on the street with a live cat by sticking its head into his mouth; kids killing a cat by throwing rocks at it...

This does not happen only in one country. It is an ordinary occasion everywhere on the Earth and I just wonder what is wrong with the human kind? Do we deserve to have rights at all when we use our freedom to hurt other creatures? I am not sure how could this be stopped...and I do not see equality between us and the other living organisms in the nature. Neither equality nor balance. But the human definitely chooses the cruelest ways for having fun.