I came back from the Spring Festival today and on returning to my desk I found that the mouse which I have been trying to catch since the beginning of the year, had been active again. It had got a snack off a desk, bitten a hole in the wrapper and sucked it out. All that was left was signs of gnawing, an empty packet and dirt where it had been burrowing. I have given up catching this mouse and as I sat there in contemplation I heard screams from the corridor.
It appeared that in our absence, a cat had given birth to two kittens in a box marked ‘Homework – Cherry’ which was on the shelf outside the Teachers’ Office. The screeching by the female staff sent the mother cat dashing down the corridor and out of the window leaving the two extremely small kittens behind. After about 4 hours I enquired about the kittens and was told they had been left where they were – no warm blankets to protect them from the cold now their mother had gone. Johnson kindly gave me all the cleaning cloths he had and I made them a nest to keep them warm and moved them into the very hot Teacher’s Office.
Frank and Wu Hong then tried to persuade the mother, who was crying in the bushes, to come to the kittens which they placed in a box outside the door. I don’t know what happened after that but I am not hopeful that it will have a happy ending. Why is it that we try to kill some little furry animals but try everything to save the lives of others.