#poormoggy

A mangled mess of light brown fur, brains and bones. Unrecognizable. A closer look reveals it is a pussycat. It’s bloody body lies in the same place on the wet tarmac on the highway where a hit and run driver ran into, and then over it last night. They probably didn’t even feel it, and forgot all about the accident a few minutes later.

It’s morning now. Motorists whiz by, carefully navigating around the dead animal and the pothole close by.

Was it a stray?
Someone’s pet?
So where is its owner now?
Do they know that their cat is no more?
Will they come red-eyed and wailing loudly in grief?
Will they take its body home and hold a wake?

This cat could have been a mother, or a father.
A brother, a sister, an aunt perhaps?

Will a Good Samaritan call the police’s emergency line?
And when the police respond, will they immediately jump into action?
And when arrive, will it be with flashing lights and a body bag?

Where will they take it?
Will there be a post-mortem report and appeals for whoever killed the poor moggy to come forth? Will they do a facial composite, or ask if anyone identified the hit-and-run car’s registration plates?

What about KCCA?
Do they pick animal carcasses and bury them in designated prohibited areas?
Or is that the responsibility of the district authorities?

How about the locals?
Will they wait for maggots to invade the remains, and for the smell of the carcass to become unbearable, and then decide that someone has to do the undesirable task of digging a hole and shovelling it into the earth?

Will there be a headstone saying, “Here lies “Name of Pussycat”, Born (….), Died (…..)?
Will there be an obituary in the papers?
What about on social media?
Will people post and say when and where they last saw the cat?
Will someone narrate how they cuddled the cat as a kitten in 2015?
Will they tell us what its last meal was?
Will the commenters "Like" the post and pray that its soul rests in peace?

Do we care?