We had the joy of taking care of 4 little kittens and its mother until a week ago. They were housed in a small cubicle-like ventilation shaft near the staircase of our apartment floor. They didn’t belong to anyone. The mother cat had given birth to them on one of the floors above us (I don’t know when) and brought them down into this shaft almost 3 weeks ago. The kittens had grown a little by then; but they were still on the mother’s milk and too small to venture out anywhere on their own.

So we had been feeding Mama cat all the time she was there. She even let us pet her little ones. Maybe she decided we were safe. My 2 yr old kept insisting on going to the staircase every now and then to watch.

It was amazing to see her love for her little bundles. She was always nuzzling and licking them clean and I could feel my heart burst with these little displays of affection. A mother’s love is such a powerful feeling.

Until a week ago.

When we had to witness acts of cruelty by human-beings toward the helpless. Our horrid watchman took all 4 of them and gave them away to some boys who proceeded to torture them. All my shouting and screaming did nothing to deter them. They just laughed at my anger and ran away grabbing the poor little babies by their tails and swinging and flinging them around.

I cannot imagine what must have become of them. But we are now left with Mama cat crying piteously for her babies; she’s constantly going up and down the stairs looking for them and keeps coming back to stare into the shaft.

We are left with rage at the cruelty that human beings are capable of inflicting. I do not blame the boys. They are young. But I am angry at the watchman. He knew what would happen. But he still went ahead and let it without a moment’s thought. Washed his hands of the responsibility of leaving strays in the building.

What does it take to show some kindness? Is it so hard to be a little considerate? Very hard to pity the helpless? To just let them be? They would grow up soon and go away, anyway.  Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. With all the terrible things happening in the world that even innocent little children are not spared, what place do tiny kittens have?

Watching Mama cat now breaks our heart. She keeps approaching our door, probably in the hopes that her precious babies are in our home. I do not open the door any more when she comes crying. There is nothing I can do to help and I can’t bear to see her loss.

This is a picture I took of them when they all popped their heads out one by one to get a lick from her –

And now, they have become only a memory that will soon fade.