Saturday, I went for orientation at the Humane Society. We weren’t able to start on time, because there was loose kangaroo running around Hampstead.

It had escaped from a petting zoo up around the lake in Pennsylvania and it commenced to head south. Presumably, it was trying to get back to Australia. Unluckily, it only got as far as the northern border of The Land That Time Forgot.

What strikes me as funny is that....

though the newspaper said the thing was first spotted at about 7:30 on Saturday morning, nobody called Animal Control until at least 10:00. I bet that at least 15 people got up with an aching head from the night before, looked out the window and took the pledge before it dawned on somebody that they really HADN’T partied all that hard on Friday night, and there actually was a six foot tall kangaroo hopping around a residential neighborhood.

I think I may fit in well at the Humane Society.

Anyway, the Animal Control officers did round him up and return him to the owner of the petting zoo at about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, two young women and I toured the facility after having heard “the facts of life” – that being that the Humane Society is not a “no kill” facility. I knew that already, and I suspect the young women did too, but the director said that many people are not aware of it, and it’s common for people to walk out when they hear it. She said she didn’t blame them, and the whole point was to work for the day when they could be “no kill”. However, at this point, they have a contract with the County and that means they have to take in everything: animals who are wild, gravely ill beyond the hope of recovery, animals who are crippled with arthritis or in advanced old age, who are injured, or who have been too badly abused or neglected to live with people. It’s a sad story.

Also, we were told, it’s “cat season” – the time of year when stray cats have kittens, cats go stray because they’re following their breeding instincts. The facility is just completing a new “cat room” with something like 45 new cat sized pens. They expect it to be full almost as soon as it’s finished.

So, anyone who is thinking of adopting a cat, go here. I can vouch for the fact that they have some very cute kittens. If it weren’t for the pair-a-tweeters, I’d have probably have come home with at least two, myself.

That may be the hardest part of volunteering there – leaving the animals “at work”