Between my residence hall and the city center, I pass many stray cats waiting on the side of the road where they are fed daily. As an animal lover, I always say “ciao” to the gatti as I walk by. One day, I met the man who feeds the cats and had a very interesting conversation about animal rights laws in Italy as compared to the US. He said he admires the American justice system as it is more efficient and has stronger laws than what he finds in Italy. However, the only area where he thinks Italy has the US beat is animal cruelty.
I learned that in Italy, the animal shelters do not euthanize cats or dogs even if they reach capacity because it is illegal. The man said it is important to him that he helps keep the number of homeless animals down in order to prevent that law from changing. He thinks that if the number of homeless animals were to grow, the Italian government would see no choice but to allow euthanasia. Thus, he does his part by bringing all of the homeless cats that he can find to a vet to get them spayed. He said he also wants to keep the number of homeless cats down so that the shelters are not overwhelmed to the point that they give up their animals for product testing.
I really enjoyed speaking to him because I think what he does for the cats is really admirable. He puts out food that he pays for out of pocket for the 120 stray cats in Sorrento. He is working for a cause that he believes in and proves that one person can make a difference.
Since I did not know the technical legal words in Italian and he did not know them in English to discuss animal laws, this conversation was good practice for rearranging thoughts in my head in order to utilize vocabulary that I do know. It was nice seeing my Italian getting put to good use so that I could have an intelligent conversation about a topic I find important.
It is hard to believe that my five weeks in Sorrento are wrapping up as I leave this weekend to go back to the States! As always, thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Jane