The catfish who lived twice

[spaghetti]

Well I brought my daughter to the supermarket the other day, and the unxpected happened.

At the fresh fish sector we saw this box full of catfish under ice. One of them was still moving his gills, frantically, desperately trying to stay alive. :hungover

Girl said: daddy, this one is alive. We can't live him this way. :waterwork

I asked the clerk to put it in a sack and then we ran as hell to home. There we dropped the catfish in our Aquarium (there were no other fish at the moment) and the little critter started to swim and jump.

He's alright now, better than under ice or in a cooking pan with oil and spice.

We called him Baffo (moustache). Our project is to release him in the pond early in spring. A second life for the catfish who lived twice. And a chance of redemption for a well-known serial fish slinger...

 

[foxfish]

He looks like a nice fellow, certainly did not deserve to die, god bless your daughter.

 

[spaghetti]

He looks like a nice fellow.

he does!
As for the girl, I can forsee the tears she'll shed when we'll drop him in the pond. I'm already brainwashing her little head with the bla bla bla about freedom (but I suspect that Baffo is not born wild: there are commercial catfish aquaculture activities over here for the food industry...)

 

[Scoobaru]

Good on you or doing this. And well spotted by your dayghter

 

[cdavis]

Hi Spagetti,

Good sentiment, but check something before you release Baffo. Is that species of catfish native to where you plan to release him? If not, don't. A huge amount of pain, suffering and environmental damage has come from sentimental releases of critters into places they weren't intended to be.

Connor

 

[spaghetti]

Wise words Connor but Baffo's destination is a small artificial pond where catfish are already there. He will not make more damage than what is already done.....You raise a serious problem though: in italian lakes and rivers the bilance of native and non native fish is 50/50 because of the scarce environmental awareness people had in the past decades. American largemouth bass and Danubian silurus are the fiercest invaders I enjoy to sling some steel at with no guilty feeling. But Baffo is under my protection and will live. :thankyou

 

[foxfish]

I think Baffo is an American channel cat & they are already every where across Europe anyway!

 

[ReefTroll]

What a lovely story!! Bravo!

 

[Bill]

It seems that we are 'birds of a feather'. Over a year ago, a small feral cat picked me as his last chance for survival, when he lost his mother. I couldn't say no and now a three kilo, rock-em, sock-em tomcat keeps my acre of land free of rodents in exchange for two meals a day and at dusk, with a full belly, will pretend to be a pet even though he is not allowed in the house.
You and I also enjoy doing something to please our daughter.
Aloha Spag.

 

[bobdonny]

nice going

 

[BatRay]

That's a heartwarming story. Sometimes it's nice to give a critter a second chance at life. I was going to ask why you were going to release him, until I read that channel cats get very large indeed.

He's alright now, better than under ice or in a cooking pan with oil and spice.

You're a poet, Val