My dad and his animals
I've been thinking of my dad a lot lately. He died 64 years ago, when I was 14, but I remember him as clearly as if I'd been with him yesterday. He was an animal lover, and I can still picture him walking down the sidewalk surrounded by cats, some feral, some not.
He didn't drive after he retired from the Army (he had no depth perception which meant we had thrilling times in Japan riding with him in the Army jeep), so in Alliance, Nebraska he walked the twelve or so blocks from our home to the railroad depot, where he worked as a telegrapher. We later had a car, but Dad preferred walking, probably to see his cats, so he didn't ask Mom to drive him. He took a cab home at midnight, but the cats found him, and he took care of the strays, carrying them one at a time in his arms to Dr. Brandt, our veterinarian way across town, to get shots and neutered. After neutering, he went to get them with our Radio Flyer wagon in which he'd made a kitty bed.
When I was 10 , I won a baby duck at a carnival and chose the one with a twisted bill. Dad helped me take care of Lucky, who used to follow me around like a puppy, and when Lucky grew up, Dad asked Mr. Maxwell, the park zookeeper, who also founded and took care of the park bird sanctuary (when Mr. Maxwell died it became a building for kids' parties), if we could let Lucky go in the outdoor pond to be with other ducks. By then, Lucky could feed himself just fine. Mr. Maxwell said yes, and we three, with me crying, watched Lucky swim off with the park ducks, happy to be a real duck.
Dad's love for animals included all animals. I remember the time he splinted a cricket's broken leg with a dried weed stem and sewing thread. The cricket lived for only a couple of days after that, which made me sad. And the time in 4th grade when I swiped a nest of newborn mice from the garter snake jar at school (my friend Phyllis swiped the snake and let him go in a ditch) and Dad helped me make a shoe box bed on top of the piano for them and feed them formula from the vet with an eyedropper. He later made a screened pen for them from an orange crate. When they were old enough, Mr. Maxwell let us free them in the park too.
Dad later took sole care of our vicious miniature chipmunks, which a friend from Fargo, North Dakota had given us because of their orneriness. After months of the little critters regularly biting Dad's hands bloody whenever he cleaned the nice pen he'd made them, or rescued them from the toilet when they got loose, Mr. Maxwell welcomed them to the park too.
Dad's last at-home kitty, Harold, ran away after Dad died. Mom and my sister and I searched and searched for him, but we never saw Harold again. Dad was only 52 when he died. It's not fair. I'm sure the animal world would agree.
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And what a beautiful legacy.
Ty for sharing him with us through this lovely tribute!
reading my post and for your responses. I really appreciate it. 
I forgot to add that although my dad was a true cat person, he and dogs liked each other too, and our two doggies were strays that had followed him home.
I believe my dad's animal-loving spirit lives on in my family. My elder son once saw a young deer on the side of the road who was struggling to stand, so he stopped his car and picked up the deer. He was afraid to call law enforcement, or whomever, for fear they'd shoot the deer. He put the deer into the back seat of his car and took him to the vet. The deer had no broken bones or any other serious injuries, and after a few days in wildlife rehab, the deer was fine and was returned to the area where my son had found him. My younger son live-trapped mice in his storage shed to keep them from chewing holes in everything, and every time he caught one he drove it to his carefully chosen place in the country and released it. One day, his wife, who'd been waiting for him in the car while he checked the shed for another caught mouse, wondered what was taking him so long, so she went to check. She told me she found him making a bed for a mama mouse who was having babies.
I am glad to know that lots and lots of people care about animals. 
