It doesn't do much as far as I can tell.

But it immediately brought Sherry and L.Cat to mind.

So I post this here for them and any other cat lovers out there:

CLICK HERE

Enjoy.

I'm off for a run with Lindsay.

My brother John owned a horse for many years, Salem's Choice. She was stabled on a riding farm about an hour north of Toronto. Linda and I were living in Northern Ontario at the time, but I would occasionally go riding with him when we came south.

I would usually get Lazy Buckets, a gentle old mare, to ride. John would go galloping off along the trail while I would bounce along on Lazy Buckets, hanging on for dear life.

Still I enjoyed it and looked forward to our rides. John eventually met Rita, who was interested in more sophisticated things than horseback riding, and eventually sold Salem' Choice.

That was my main brush with horses, beyond a little group trail riding with friends in my teens. Still I hold an affection for horses and fond memories.

So it came as a shock to read the recent reports in the Canadian media of how we treat our horses at the end of their lives, their inhumane slaughter for human consumption. A practice banned in the United States but big business here in Canada.

According to a Toronto Star report--Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, representing an animal rights group, is calling for an all-out ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption in Canada – a practice that has increased here since it was stopped in the United States.

Ruby called the slaughter of horses in Canada "shockingly inhumane" and said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency does not properly police such slaughter for human consumption and it should be banned.

At a news conference at Ruby's offices, representatives of the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition showed a graphic video which it says shows horses being slaughtered at Natural Valley Farms in Neudorf, Sask.

The organization says the video demonstrates violations of Canada's food inspection act including: the transportation of animals on double-decker trailers; horses transported with their horseshoes on and not separated for their own protection; the transportation of horses across the U.S./Canadian border and unloaded at night without supervision.

The group also said the video showed evidence of the transportation of injured, blind and emaciated horses (including a horse with a tumour on its face and another with eye cancer) as well as the transportation of a very pregnant mare and the discovery of a full-term foal in a rendering pit that had been eviscerated by animals.

The group also alleges that the horses are not being provided food or water as they wait overnight in pens, are too densely packed and are being improperly stunned before they are killed.

This year alone, at seven federally licensed facilities, an estimated 102,000 horses will be slaughtered in Canada for human consumption in Europe and Asia, the organization says.

It wants a total ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption and, in the meantime, for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to shut down the Neudorf plant to end a "senseless, inhumane slaughter" of horses.

A CFIA official, who didn't want to be identified, said the agency plans a thorough investigation of the plant and will be asking for an "independent external animal welfare expert" to accompany agency officials during their investigation.

A spokesperson for Natural Valley Farms said the company was not commenting yesterday.

For those Canadians on the 'stream who are interested there is an on-line petition to end the practice of slaughtering horses for human consumption in Canada HERE

I may not have the skill to write this without a preamble that outlines my intent. This is not a story about the death of my grandson, Alexander. I will write about him another time.

This is not a sad story but a joyous one. It is about the generosity of people. A generosity of such overwhelming proportion that it lifted up a family at a time of unimaginable grief. It's about community at its best.

You expect families and friends to come together for support at a time of loss. Perhaps especially when that loss involves a five month old baby, suddenly dead due to a previously unsuspected heart condition.

What you don't expect, or at least we didn't, is the generosity of acquaintances. You don't expect acquaintances to be so moved that they had to do something, even where there was nothing that could be done.

It takes time for acquaintances to even hear the news. Alexander's death, although a profound and horribly life changing event for all of us, was unimportant in the grand scheme of things and not the stuff of modern news coverage.

So people on the edge of our lives only learned the news by word of mouth days and even weeks after the funeral, long after donations to the Trans Canada Trail had been received and forwarded. Most of these people didn't know Alexander. Some hadn't known he'd been born. But they all knew my daughter and had watched her grow from girl to adult. They were touched and wanted to do something, something tangible.

So we spoke to my daughter and she suggested they plant a tree in Alexander's name. So when people asked, that is what we told them. And when more people asked and when more people asked. And when our dentist asked, and our dry cleaner, and our neighbours, we asked them to plant a trees in his memory.

Trees were planted in Australia, in the United States, in Great Britain, in Sweden, in Israel and in many, many parts of Canada.

In May of that horrible year, the staff at Linda's school planted a sugar maple tree, in his memory, in their habitat garden at the front of the school. They also ordered a large granite rock and had the words, "Alexander's Tree" carved on it.

In talking with my daughter last year about how she survived such a devastating loss, she told me it was because everyone everywhere had done everything right. Even in her loss, she had never felt more supported.

Heather is now the mother of two more children, Natasha and Griffin. Her sister Kathy is expecting a daughter in September.

They came out in their thousands to celebrate the opening of the latest section of the Trans Canada Trail. Mothers carrying infants in pouches and pushing carriages, fathers dressed for African safaris, skate boarders, dog walkers, police, serious joggers and children everywhere.

This new section stretches from Port Union 5 km along the shores of Lake Ontario to East Points Park in West Hill.

One of the big fire boats from Toronto Harbour sat off shore blowing huge streams of water high in the air, a great ferris wheel lifted excited children above the roof tops, local bands gave back to back concerts, a tipi had been erected on the high point of the park and food was being consumed at a furious rate. A splash pad was filled with screaming children and booths of every kind advertised local activities.

Linda and I walked the Trail to Highland Creek and back. Once we left Port Union Common, the crowds dropped away dramatically and we were often alone, being passed infrequently by dedicated joggers, bikers and the rush of roller bladers.

It was a bitter sweet time for us. On the death of my grandson nine years before, my daughter had asked for donations to the Trans Canada Trail in lieu of flowers. Well the flowers came anyway, but so to did donations to the Trail. So this project, that is being built in connecting parts by local Municipalities, Provinces and the Federal government, that stretches from Newfoundland in the east to British Columbia in the West and up to the Arctic Circle, holds a special place in our hearts.

The cost of building the Trail doesn't all come from government money. All along the Trail are Pavilions to give shelter from the weather. And the walls of the Pavilions are covered with plaques commemorating the donations of thousands of individuals and groups. Many of those are touching memorials to loved ones.

Twenty meters of Trail in the little village of Caledon were built with the money raised after Alexander's death. And as Linda and I walk the path beside the waters of Lake Ontario, the ground beside us beginning its slow rise to become the Scarborough Bluffs, we think of him and the short little life he had, as a stream of pretty girls on roller blades glide past us, laughing and excited and full of life.

He would have been nine years old now. But in his passing and in some small part due to the generosity of friends and relatives, something very special is being born across this country. And today we are part of its celebration.

At 11 am today the newest link in the Trans Canada Trail will be opened, connecting the community of Port Union with the West Hill Community where I live. It will wind its way along the waterfront to Highland Creek and then climb above the beach where I take Lindsay for a run.

The creation of a Trans Canada Trail was announced as part of Canada's 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992. At 18,078-kilometre (11,233 mi), it is expected to become the longest recreational trail in the world.

It has its counterparts in other greenway routes like the 12 EuroVelo routes and the USA's East Coast Greenway.

To date it has been funded largely by Canadian federal or provincial governments. However, there have also been corporate donors and individual donors.

Nine years ago, rare form of cardiomyopathy took the life of my 5 month old grandson In their grief, my daughter and her husband requested donations to the trail in lieu of flowers. But the flowers came anyway, in overwhelming abundance, and so too did the donations which were sufficient to pay for 20 meters of trail. Alexander's name is engraved on a donor's plaque at one of the Trail's Pavilions in the small town of Caledon, Ontario.

The connection with our grandson has made the Trail project very precious to us.

The Trail is still under construction and is now about 70% complete.

Linda and I are looking forward to the celebration today and to walking the new section of the trail. There will be concerts all day, events for the kids, and a giant ferris wheel donated by our new Morningside Crossing shopping center, that will give a view of the bluffs all the way to downtown Toronto. I will let you know our impressions tomorrow.



For more on the Trans Canada Trail, click HERE