A Salute to Furfighters

Now that fur season is coming to an end, Annie's husband, Hugh, will be home a lot more, which always brings a smile to Annie's face. Being quite a furfighter herself, running the shelter and all, she knows how hard it's been on Hugh, down in Southern California all summer, fighting all those wild furs. Listening to bits and pieces of their conversations through-out the summer, we've managed to learn quite a bit about all that Hugh and all those other furfighters go through, in those beautiful but remote hills and canyons of Southern California. Hugh said when those Santa Ana winds blow, the fur really flies. Our imaginations are left to fill in a lot of the blanks, but we have come up with a pretty clear picture of what it must be like down there during fur season.
Hugh said there are a lot of big, fancy homes down there, and we figure that's where a lot of the big Angora and other long-haired cats must live, sunning ... and shedding ... away in the blazing hot summers we're so famous for this time of year. Worse, it seems our own little Hugh Jr. has had a hand in it somehow, because Annie always asks, "Was it ar son?" when Hugh gets home, and at least half the time, he just sadly nods his head yes.

Hugh said that up to 80% of homes destroyed in the furs could be saved if people would only keep the brush cleared out from around their homes. Now, that just stands to reason! If everyone would gather up all those brushes and use them on their kitties at least once a day, that would stop a lot of that excess shedding and that would really cut down on all those wild furs, too! In the end, a lot of it just comes down to good grooming practices, doesn't it?

Another problem Hugh and the other furfighters encounter in Southern California is a lot of people seem to like to build their homes right on the edge of the hills. They say the view is better that way. But it makes it almost impossible for the furfighters to protect homes built on the edge of the hills like that, and when those big old furballs come roaring up the hillside, the house is almost always a goner. Apparently a lot of these wild furs could be purr-vented if the homeowners would exercise a few reasonable purr-cautions (and better cat grooming practices, of course). It seems like the only right thing to do, seeing how Hugh and the other furfighters put their lives on the line for us each and every day.

Before closing, let's take just a moment and recap:

1. Clear all brushes away from the front of your homes. (And use them ... no matter how much your cats complain!)
2. Don't build your homes on the edge of a hill where raging furballs will consume your house and put the furfighters at even greater risk.
3. Make your drive ways wide enough so that the fur engine can safely turn around while the furfighters work to protect your homes from all that fur.
4. And last but not least, if asked to evacuate your homes, GO! It makes the furfighter's job so much easier! (And don't forget to take your cats with you, too!)

Remember, the furfighters are our heroes! For example, last night our very own Hugh delivered a little baby while he was on duty at the fur station! ... that's pretty darn special, don't you think?.... and that's just one of the many other wonderful things that our furfighters do for you and me when they're not fighting all those gigantic furballs in the mean Santa Ana winds.

Remember ... Only YOU can purr-vent forest furs!

(As that old tom Smokey always says)