Oursight and Inside Out - the Cats of Lendas
Outsight and Inside Out: Part 9 (Click here for 1-9)
Mon 19th Sep, 2005
East coast Elephant
The Sinister Secret of Lendas
Yesterday evening during a conversation with Herman - the Dutch guy travelling alone- the following horrendous secret came to the surface:
A Dutch couple, who are staying in rooms above the taverna - where I had visited the first evening when arriving in Lendas (apparently one of the best restaurants in Crete according to his Rough Guide) - found out during a conversation with a waiter, that when all workers leave Lendas at the end of the tourist season (end of Oct/beginning of Nov), the cats are taken to the hills in a sack and killed with a shotgun.
When I heard this, the energy in my stomach, which normally should move downwards, started to move up (Chinese medicine explanation of the act of throwing up). But it didn’t go that far to result in a mess, just the awareness of the change of the direction of the energy’s flow in my body.
I can only describe my guts reaction as the shock had blocked my thinking for a while. After all this was the first time in my life I had heard adult cats being killed intentionally by non cat eaters.
Herman who said he loves cats was trying to be ‘tolerant’ to ‘other cultures’ and the same old argument about some cultures, where pets are better fed compared to people in poorer parts of the world.
An argument I may have very reluctantly tolerated 35 years ago, but one which does not move me now.
The human centred attitude has created a world off balance, ready to crumble. Humanism that has no respect for the nature and other beings is just another expression of a species assuming himself intelligent, but being mainly mediocre when observed as part of the entire nature.
All species strive to survive but the self centeredness of the human race is beyond the issue of survival, as it is based on the exploitation of the earth and is at the cost of the survival of other species.
In this sense the human race may feel superior being more intelligent than other species but in terms of the natural ethics he is inferior to other species.
As there is an inherent strive in the nature to create misbalance in case of a perfect balance and to create balance out of misbalance the human race is in danger of making himself superfluous in the process towards relative equilibrium on earth.
An example of this misbalance:
There are now only maximum 4,000 wild tigers left on earth, half of which live and are killed in India with an alarming rate of one a day with three subspecies already extinct. Are these 4000 too many on an earth with circa 6 ½ billion human population?
On the other hand 90% of wealth in UK belongs to only 3% of the population. This means 97% are leading a stressful life in order to manage living with only 10% of this country’s wealth.
The 3% super rich could not only decrease stress amongst the rest of the British, but they could also contribute seriously to meaningful projects in the 3rd world to remove poverty and protect environment.
Once poverty is eradicated there will be more respect amongst the members of the world society for each other and for other species as well. This is a respect owed to animals as nature has promoted their development as species in their own rights.
By all means eradicate anopheles if you mean business, but there is no material profit in that is there? That’s why elephants are near extinction in some areas where anopheles never would be.
In conversation with Herman I mentioned the fact that there were so many myths around cats - and rightly so – that no one in Iran for example would dare to harm a cat (I mentioned the issue of the dogs briefly but emphasized the fact that I didn’t want to change the focus to poor dogs there, as this was the cats’ time and concern).*
He said he didn’t think that Cretans had the same kind of respect for cats as the ancient Egyptians did. But that they respected bulls.
‘But I haven’t seen any bulls anywhere in today’s Crete’ I exclaimed. He laughed.
Really, he was talking about the Minoan time (2600 BC-1400 BC) when adolescent girls and boys performed acrobatic dance on bulls like it can be seen on the walls in Knossos Palace’s remains, and can be read in Mary Renault’s book ‘The Bull from the Sea’.
M. Renault is a fiction writer and a scholar in Greek history. Eight of her wonderful novels are connected to Greek history and characters. They are real individuals fantasised and moving within real events or social structures (don’t miss the Persian Boy which is written in first person, the narrator being Bagoas the beautiful eunuch of Darius who became a companion of Alexander the Macedonian).
From my reaction Herman had instantly concluded that I was a cat lover.
I said that I was also concern about the state of mind of the shooter, as this wasn’t a hunting situation due to hunger. And that the cats roaming about in Lendas were trusting animals.
To abuse this trust and for someone to shoot them, that person’s soul would loose something that can not be regained. And that anyway ‘Lendas could become infested with mice’.
Herman insisted there were no mice in Lendas.
And we continued on this line. I also remembered that in one of the books I have with me there is a mention of Cretans killing the snakes for no apparent reason when encountering them in the mountains.
As the snakes in Crete are harmless creatures I now think that there must be an explanation for this in the fact that during the Minoan time, which is mainly seen as having been matriarchal, these kind of small snakes were kept in temples and put on the body for healing or meditative purposes. And later when Crete became Roman and was the first place in Europe to welcome Christian ideas this led to a kind of over reaction to the snakes which had become the symbols of earthly temptations as in the bible etc.
We walked from Internet Café towards the very same taverna in order to have some food.
Herman called one of the brothers who was waiting up on customers and asked him about the shooting. The guy who obviously knew Herman made a gesture which meant he didn’t want to talk about it or that he had nothing to do with it, but made it obvious that it wasn’t him who did the shooting. He said he liked cats except the big red one which hanged around the restaurant and who chose at will some empty chair to join a guest.
A bit later:
I had a break from writing and went for a swim. There is only one other person on the beach.
I was stung by jelly fish. Suddenly my left arm and the left side of my hip were burning as if from acidic needles. I swam back in a hurry.
I knew from a Greek woman in Alonissos – during a holiday there with friends in Sep 1983 - that urine was the best remedy for the sting - most likely because of the ammonia. Following that information my daughter had been stung at the time and the remedy had worked, so I smeared some on my skin as soon as I got out of the water.
It is recovering fast with a sensation like having been mildly stung by nettles. But my left arm has a lot of red little spots like a rash. I hope it won’t affect my mind, which is not supposed to do.
This is the disadvantage of a quiet beach in September. It’s mating time and Jelly fishes come close to the shallow water near the coast.
A third person has entered this small beach which is surrounded by the rocky hills (a mixture of soil and rocks).
It is after midday and I have moved to the shade under the tamarisk tree. The cool breeze comforts my skin and the sensations caused by the jelly fish stings are fading comfortably.
The third person has entered the water in full gear for snorkelling.
He is using an orange coloured float with a string attaching it to himself, as the sea is not very calm This is c lever; first time I have seen this done..
A bit later:
A group of 5 Germans have arrived.
Under the tree with its branches bent towards the sea; its leaves are in my vision. With the breeze they move softly above. A moving shadow of Chinese gardens on this white page, my towel and the ground. Looking at the leaves it feels like these leaves are blessing me; they swing so gently with the breeze and the sound of little waves hitting against the shore is the precise music for all those moments. And it feels only natural to want a tamarisk tree planted on my grave. I must remember to tell my daughter of this thought, as she may not read this in time.
What should be the epitaph?
“Under this tree I am in heaven
But you can go to hell if you want to”.
I see a couple of people on top of the hill probably aiming for this beach. Now I see now I don’t and now I see. The paths are bent and the rocks are protruded in some spots.
This beach is like a big stage with the rocky hill as its wall and the background, the sky as its curtain and the sea as a huge watery cushion for the sea creatures as the audience. The sunbathers swimming now and then mostly tend to look at this stage when in the water, as the sea is restless and a bit scary. This restlessness is mainly due to the west wind which of course is usually much stronger in the west part of Crete.
A short while later Herman appeared on the beach.
I told him about the jelly fish. He was very surprised and said he hadn’t heard of any in this island during all these 8 years he had been coming here and with a friendly tone that was one hair breadth away from becoming flirtatious he asked ‘how come that all animals come to you?’
I thought he sounded a bit more hopeful than I wanted him to be. That was a funny statement; perhaps my concern for the cats had actualized the issue for him. Somehow I being concerned made him feel less guilty that he wasn’t doing anything about it, but I think he felt satisfied with himself that he had passed me the news and that I was planning to do something about it.
The fisher reappeared in his snorkelling gear after having been for hours in the sea. Herman went to see the fishes which the guy had shot with arrows from a modern bow that looked rather like a broken sword.
I joined the conversation and found out that the fisher was an English man who had lived in the area for thirty years. One of the big fishes in his bucket had a bright yellow colour on one side.
A rare fish I would say - quite dodgy of him to catch. Herman had probably come to the same conclusion, as we had a comprehending look at each other. But I encouraged the fisher to continue talking in the hope to also find out more about the cats’ killings.
He said that throughout the years there were less and less fishes to catch, as some locals illegally put dynamite which would also kill mother fishes.
I had heard of this when staying in Loutro during the 90’s and was surprised that this was still going on especially now that Greece is a part of the European Union with somehow stricter regulations on wild life and the environmental issues.
We learned from the fisher that the schools were nowadays quite good on educating the younger generation and that it was the older people who didn’t care.
He also told us a story about a local man who had shot a dolphin in the sea just to show off while he was in a boat full of tourists who were of course flabbergasted.
And so was I. This is getting worse day by day.
I asked him about the shooting of the cats and this is more or less what he said:
A few years back the cats were taken to the hills and shot dead. As it happened they also took someone’s pet by mistake. Since then once the tourist season is over they ask pet owners to keep their cats indoors for a day while they spread poison mixed with food on the alleyways of Lendas for the rest of the cats (who are usually hungry and thin) to eat.
The Cats of Lendas
- I had noticed that there were no cats older than one year to be seen, so much so that when I saw the only older cat in Elpida’s taverna roaming around with other juvenile cats I had thought ‘this must be Elpida’s cat’ especially because she was as big (the right on word for very fat) as Elpida herself but of course in cat size proportions.
- The waiter at the taverna (perhaps part owner) when asked about the shooting pretended not to know and said ‘This year there are 34 cats in Lendas. That’s too many. I like cats but I don’t like that red one. I kick him when he comes’.
He had that soft smile and friendly attitude when saying this. It was a mixture of two sides of him at different times of his life. One was that kind of look that boys (9-12) can get when they are telling some gruel story to the girl next door with some joy. The other was the well brought up young man who thinks it’s not gentlemanly to worry ladies and they must be protected from their own emotions. The latter partly can flatter me on occasions when rats are concerned, but for cats I need hard facts.
-Herman explained later that some cats were getting on the table, but on the four occasions I was there I didn’t see this happen. It could be the guests who encouraged it.
- It was obvious that this otherwise nice guy (the waiter/owner) was not the shooter but belonged to the silent majority. He was fed up with too many cats but lacked imagination to either be a cat for a few seconds perceiving the hostility hence gaining insight or to be socially mature enough to explore alternative solutions.
- I had noticed with surprise that Ginger had come a long way for food when I was sitting outside my room.
I had seen him behaving as if at home while in the bar. But now this meant he was not fed there?
Now I understand. The cats are mainly fed by the visitors. This means the locals fear attachment or are aware of their wrong doing without the feeling of guilt. The way they relate to these cats is perhaps the way I have felt in the past when discovering mice in my flat and didn’t hesitate to try to get rid of them as fast as I could.
Lalla however is an exception; she said she had fed the cat (Ginger) with the fish remains the previous day. So I cannot imagine her being aware of this sacrificial ceremony for the sake of tourism in this artificial village. Yes if everyone leaves after the season this is not even an old village.
– Obviously the nature has made sure that every year at least a couple of cats manage to escape who then reproduce the kittens for the next spring. And no wonder they are overcompensating by producing litter after litter. In Iran where they are – unlike dogs - safe they never increase to this extend. The cats of Lendas literally walk up and down the alleys whenever I pass through.
– Herman who has been coming here for eight consecutive years - but did not know about this macabre story before - tries to be understanding towards the locals. My position of course is one should not even try to understand if the aim is to justify it. We have two sides here the local people and the local cats. It’s obvious which group cannot speak for themselves. At least not in the ways of communications the humans are used to.
– All they need is a vet visiting regularly and neuter (the right on word for a sexual mutilation) the poor souls one after the other, depending on which cat voluntarily comes towards the vet first. S/he only needs to sit in Internet Café in order to see them coming.
– In most other cultures that I have come in contact with, there exist taboos as a deterrent which most likely have been created by the witches of the ancient times intending - consciously or subconsciously - to protect certain endangered animals or trees from human abuse.
One of the most common is about the cats having seven/nine lives (which believe it or not they do), or stories about black cats etc.
Amongst Moslems one hadith about their prophet keeping cats has been good enough to protect the cats for the rest of Islamic era.
It is a shame though that the other hadith about him drawing water from a well in order to offer it to a thirsty dog has not been effective enough to protect dogs from harm by Moslems.
If he had fed and touched the dog, they would have been protected for centuries to come.
But he of course would not touch the dog that was likely to have fleas or skin disease in the heat of Arabia and it is for this reasons that the dogs were seen as najes (unclean), in a land that was always short of water for washing (in the case of absence of water in the vicinity, a Moslem, who usually must have a ritual wash of the face/ hands and forearms to the elbows/the dorsa of the feet and the middle line of the top of the head, is allowed to use desert sand instead).
Pigs were also najes having been the main carrier of the taenie solium which must have made them deadly when they turned to pork especially in the heat of Arabia.
Fortunately the taboo of eating pork has been to the advantage of the wild boars in Mazandaran jungle south of the Caspian Sea (north Iran) whose last natural predator - the Mazandaran tiger (Caspian tiger) was extinct in 1959.
– With Herman we discussed what would happen if the cats were left behind for the winter. Apparently the villagers fear they could become wild. And so what if they do –whatever that means - I haven’t seen any farms and chickens around here anyway. They could feed on field mice etc or even die of hunger but they would have their own adventure and life. I find the whole thing so macabre and have this sense of urgency. These cats have only six weeks to live.
This morning the situation here made me think of the sacrificial rituals of the ancient times.
My dream:
I hire a car, open the back door and shout BIAOW. All 34 cats come and get into the car. Herman may give a hand as he said he loves cats.
We drive towards Heraklion on the bending and the snakelike road crossing the rocky hills, and at the side of each village I open the car’s door and any cat that likes the village can get off. By the time we come near Heraklion there are still over 20 cats in the car who will disperse throughout the town.
But this was only a day dream of being a perfect human being accepted in the world of animals.
My night’s sleep was empty of dreams and full of thoughts to be matured by the morning. When I opened my eyes I knew that I had to make use of the internet at the Internet Café with its couple of old (young if they were anything else) computers, although originally I had no intension to get two dimensional during this break.
Not a perfect human being but a realistic practical one.
Project:
- Seek animal protection/welfare organisations in Greece
-Letter of complaint/ CC for a UK similar organisation (e.g. RSPCA) and the European Union environmental authorities.
And if someone from the third world asks why welfare of animals is important while there is still poverty in the world, the answer is:
Demonstrate for the rights of animals in a country that does not respect human rights and watch what happens.
For instance if some Iranians demonstrated on the street shouting: ‘Long live dogs’ (zendeh baad sag-haa), ‘Stop killing dogs’ (sag koshi bas ast) or ‘Life is the natural right of dogs‘ (zendegi hagh-e tabie-e saghaast), there will be an uprising in Iran soon after. Dogs are the key to unblocking the Iranians’ dazed mind. Similarly demonstrations for tigers in India will shake the caste system more than any specific policy run by the state. The same could be done in some parts of Africa for elephants etc.
Later:
First search result at the Internet Café:
Cretan Animal Welfare Group, Gayner Vlastou, the Haven, Xylamatheria, Malia, 70007 Heraklion, Crete, Greece telephone: 0944690368
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* In the meanwhile I saw a web page exposing the gruesome facts happening in a house in Tehran that keeps alley cats and trades in their furs/skin. As the webpage has disappeared let me only hope that it was because this trade has been closed down and not because of other reasons.