A happy animal story from school

I pride myself with being a great animal-lover - at school, I am quite known to look after animals and speak to students about the importance of treating them well.

But I have a confession to make.

Last Monday, by 7 a.m., some students were already informing me that there was a kitten lying on the ground, in the sports-field opposite our main building, unable to move - obviously, something was wrong with her hind legs.

Besides my own precious cats, I have quite a few others under my care, outside my home. Emotionally, I am at a stage where I cannot face more animal cruelty, and unwittingly, I acted in a way that continued causing such cruelty around us. I did the worst thing imaginable for an animal-lover: I decided to ignore what the students were telling me and looked the other way.

Let fate take its course, I said to myself as I continued about my business. But an hour went by, and this time, young, 12-year-old Blaine came along with his teacher, to inform me about this kitten's plight. I was cornered. I couldn't say no. I went and saw this beautiful white kitten, lying on the dirty ground, helplessly unable to walk because her hind legs were terribly injured - no doubt through a car accident a few hours before. The cat was crying piteously, with fright and pain, and obviously terrified of the experience of not being able to walk at all, let alone escape from us.

Well, to cut a long story short, thanks to a lovely vet in the person of Anette Borg and her assistant Rose, whose practice is quite close to our College, we were able not only to save the cat's life but also to find this kitten a truly loving home.

Most probably, this cat will live a long life and will be a source of great comfort to its new family at Attard.

However, last Monday, young Blaine put a pontificating, bombastic teacher in his place through his example and deed. If it were not for Blaine, that kitten would be gonners by now. Blaine said he did nothing special.

He is wrong, you know.