Paws for a Cause

WRITTEN BY PAULETTE DEAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DANVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY

In May, we celebrate Mother’s Day. The very word “mother” brings to mind safety, warmth, care, and love. There are bad mothers, to be sure, but the vast majority offer unconditional love. In fact, all nature values mothers. There is a reason our planet is called Mother Earth.

At the shelter, we dread the times when obviously nursing dogs and cats are brought in as strays without their babies. If we know where the animal came from, we go and attempt to find the babies. Many times, we have put a mother dog on a leash, and she has led us to her puppies so we can rescue them.

Puppies and kittens adjust easily and quickly to shelter life if they come in with their mother. As long as they have her, all is right with their world.

Meet Sandy

People know to exercise caution approaching a mother animal that has her babies with her. Even some very trusting dogs and cats become nervous when a human picks up their young.

In the wild, most fights with a female are caused by a protective mother. Wild animal poachers and collectors know that in order to capture a baby or a young animal, the mother first has to be killed.

There are many documented stories about the care animal mothers give. In 1988, several female elephants brought one of their babies to a park ranger’s office for help. When the baby was hurt, they walked two miles to the ranger’s office, where the baby would be safe from other animals.

Cows are very maternal, and sadly, that leads to sorrow for them. Dairy calves are immediately taken from their mothers after birth, and the cows look for the babies and try to get to them as they hear the calves’ cries.

Mother chickens can recognize their chicks’ peeps, and sheep and goat mothers make sure their offspring play with others in their own age group.

Even some species of insects are raised by their mothers!

How grateful the earth and its creatures should be for the institution of motherhood. I know I am grateful for my mother.