Friday, March 10, 2006

It's wild out there.

I was out and about early this morning, taking Horton to the vet for his neuter appointment, and stopped at the local P.O. to check the mailbox. As I left, a flash of bright orange caught my eye from the newspaper box for the Ithaca Journal. So I had to go fish .35 off the floor of my truck to buy one, in order to read this article about a young man in my area who ended up wrestling a coyote to save his cat.

Not the cat in the picture. The cat he ended up rolling on the floor of the garage with a coyote to save, is apparently shy or feral. I laughed out loud (perhaps not the most understanding response, but I love a good turn-of-the-phrase) at the caption of the photo:
Charlie, being the least domestic of the Wigsten's cats, could not be located at the time that the photograph was taken.

Now, there's a statement that sums up some of the changes in attitude toward unpettable cats. "The least domestic of the Wigsten's cats..." Nonetheless, worthy of going out in the middle of the night to look after, when you hear him yelling bloody murder.

I've heard people describe their cats as "barn cats," or "feral cats," or just "a real nasty bastard." But I like that: "The least domestic of their cats..."

What a change. Some day it may be considered less than insane to care for cat that isn't necessarily a couch adornment.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the poor coyote having his leg snapped while just trying to make an (honest?) living?

Just playing devils advocate here - but really, who is to say who has the right?

Wildrun said...

I worried about the coyote out there with a broken leg as well, however I think under the circumstances the kid can't be blamed from trying to cause as much damage as possible. And this is, unfortunately, how natural selection occurs. Animals who do unwise things end up getting injured, and fail to pass on their genes and their lessons to their young. Being in a garage hunting cats is very unwise.

It is also incredibly unusual for a coyote to jump a person. Even if cornered. In a garage you would think the coyote would have had room to go around and flee. Rabies definitely would be a concern in this situation, or it's possible he was handraised and released. Or semi-tamed by someone giving him food. He could just have been an alpha animal who attacked after being startled, but again, it's highly unusual.

Strayer said...

There was a middle aged WA state woman whose cat was attacked by several coyotes right out back of her place. She too fought the coyotoe, tooth and nail, for her cat's life, coming away with many many injuries and the cat was severely injured also. Both owner and cat survived, however. All three coyotes did, also. One gutsy woman, to take on coyotes, one with her cat in his mouth, in hand to hand combat. Her cat is now indoor only. This was an urban environment where this occurred. In Oregon here, coyotes kill a whole lot of cats. I also love that phrase "the least domestic of their cats". That is a winner!