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At the moment, our cat Leu is busy killing a mouseskin on our bed. Not a real mouseskin, though, just a piece of fur ripped off a squeaking toy mouse. But it's an odd thing. Originally, bf's parents got two toy mice for the boys, a black one and a gray one, and for some feline reason they seem to like the gray one better. It was skinned in a matter of weeks, while the black mouse remains relatively intact after a year or so. They still love playing with the gray mouse's skin and the squeaky part - although the latter is so battered it won't squeak anymore :) Periodically, they lose one or both mouse-parts underneath the sofa, piano or some other furniture and seem to forget about them until they mysteriously reappear after a while.
I think a great part of the mouseskin's appeal lies in the fact that it's real fur, not fake. It was impossible to tell while it was still attached to the squeaky bit, but once peeled off, it's obvious. What makes the situation macabre is the fact that it's possible that it's actually cat fur, since they've been known to use cat and dog fur in toys made in China and elsewhere in East Asia. I don't think it feels or looks like cat, though. I prefer to think it's probably rabbit or something else.
As a sidenote: since the animal rights group Oikeutta Eläimille approached tv channels on Wednesday with shocking video material depicting maltreatment of pigs, chickens and hens on Finnish farms, I was once again glad I don't eat meat and use only organically produced eggs. I wonder how many omnivores lost their appetite for ham and chicken wings for good. Quite a few, I hope. I originally quit eating meat exactly because of the production-oriented and overtly efficiency-conscious methods of the mainstream animal farming industry. I still feel bad about eating cheese and yogurt made of cow's milk, since dairy industry could not exist without meat industry and raising cattle (i.e. cows) is a lot more energy-consuming than raising for instance pigs or goats. I should probably switch to goat cheese, but I like all the other kinds of cheese too! A girl's entitled to have one vice, isn't she? And in the energy issue I compensate with not owning or driving a passenger car. I don't even have a license :)
I think a great part of the mouseskin's appeal lies in the fact that it's real fur, not fake. It was impossible to tell while it was still attached to the squeaky bit, but once peeled off, it's obvious. What makes the situation macabre is the fact that it's possible that it's actually cat fur, since they've been known to use cat and dog fur in toys made in China and elsewhere in East Asia. I don't think it feels or looks like cat, though. I prefer to think it's probably rabbit or something else.
As a sidenote: since the animal rights group Oikeutta Eläimille approached tv channels on Wednesday with shocking video material depicting maltreatment of pigs, chickens and hens on Finnish farms, I was once again glad I don't eat meat and use only organically produced eggs. I wonder how many omnivores lost their appetite for ham and chicken wings for good. Quite a few, I hope. I originally quit eating meat exactly because of the production-oriented and overtly efficiency-conscious methods of the mainstream animal farming industry. I still feel bad about eating cheese and yogurt made of cow's milk, since dairy industry could not exist without meat industry and raising cattle (i.e. cows) is a lot more energy-consuming than raising for instance pigs or goats. I should probably switch to goat cheese, but I like all the other kinds of cheese too! A girl's entitled to have one vice, isn't she? And in the energy issue I compensate with not owning or driving a passenger car. I don't even have a license :)
