I didn’t make it to jury duty because KITTENS!

Last night I got an email inviting me to interview for a job I applied for recently. Once again I had to call up and reschedule jury duty, but this was for a job at the ASPCA. Taking care of kittens. This is a real job! AND I GOT IT. I am going to be paid to take care of kittens! More specifically, neonatal kittens, in THE ASPCA’S relatively new Kitten Nursery (2014 was their first year). I still can’t get over it. I’m not giving up writing, I plan to write more books, but kittens!!! I am going to be paid to take care of kittens!

Coincidentally, the founder of the ASPCA, Henry Bergh, makes a brief appearance in my Blackwell’s book. Bergh was also one of the founders of The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It formed in 1874 after Bergh and Elbridge T. Gerry, counsel for the ASPCA, started looking into the case of an abused child named Mary Ellen. Interesting that the laws preventing cruelty to animals preceded the laws preventing cruelty to children (the ASPCA was founded in 1866). I’m sure that’s because there were at least stronger social restraints against harming children, and maybe people assumed that laws protecting them were already in place. Whereas with animals, you could do any horrible thing you wanted. I read a bunch of the ASPCA’s early annual reports and oh my god, I may never recover.

But here is my new place of business—this wonderful organization!

Stacy Horn

I've written six non-fiction books, the most recent is Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York.

View all posts by Stacy Horn →

12 thoughts on “I didn’t make it to jury duty because KITTENS!

  1. Hannah Shaw, the Kitten Lady, was in Lincolnton NC, this week training the shelter workers there on how to care for the teeny tiny neonatals. If you get to train with her, please post pictures!

  2. Thank you everyone! The fabulous Hannah Shaw won’t be training us. The nursery, which is fairly new still, has been in operation since 2014, so they have staff to train us.

    That said, would love to meet Hannah. She’s going to be in NYC next month, but I don’t want to pay to attend the conference to see her. I’ll take my chances that someday I’ll meet her!

  3. That is awesome Stacy! They must be pinching themselves to have found someone like you. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it.

  4. That is SO neat! I follow a couple bloggers who foster mom-cats and kittens, and they always seem to get such satisfaction out of doing that — not to mention the rescued cats/kittens saved. Be sure to keep us posted on your new job!

  5. WOW! Book-writing pales in comparison to KITTENS! That is the coolest thing EVER! Those babies are lucky to have you — congratulations and very best wishes for your new venture!

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