Tiger Hunt

Shinydome

Thursday morning Barb Westman stopped by on her way to the Humane Society to show us a kitten that had shown up on her doorstep. Seems that someone who didn’t want it had abandoned it nearby. This happens occasionally (both cats and dogs). It was a cute little guy, probably about six weeks old, but she already had two cats and a dog and did not want to increase her “zoo”.

As you may know, I put grape jelly as well as sugar water feeders on our deck to attract and feed the Orioles, but at night I bring them in so as not to attract raccoons. Thursday night about 9:30. I went out on the deck to bring them in when I heard “meowing” and other rustling sounds down below. When I looked over the railing I saw several more kittens. I went in, got a flashlight, and went down to investigate. What a surprise. There were at least a half dozen little kittens running all over. I went back inside and called Barb and asked her to come over and help me corral the little guys. (I knew it would be a mistake to involve Susan. She loves baby animals especially kittens, but she hates cats. She would want to keep them.)

Barb came over and for the next hour and a half we chased the kittens around the house, under the front door “bridge”, up and down the hill, and in the woods trying to catch them. It was almost impossible. We had trouble seeing them in the dark and the beam of a flashlight would scare them into running away to get away from it. We caught three which she took to her boathouse where she fed them. Meanwhile I continued to hunt for the others. I got one more and then learned that the mother cat was also present and was trying to round up her family.

Barb returned with some cat food and the idea that we might have better success tempting them with food rather than chasing them with flashlights. (She had learned how hungry the first three captured kittens were.) So we set up some food on paper plates on the pavers in front of the garage and waited. Before long we had two more kittens and the mother cat in custody. We took them to the boathouse to join the others. We now had the mother and her six babies in a safe place for the night. They obviously had been in the woods for a couple of days. They were very hungry and ate like pigs. The kittens were very thin but seemed in good shape.

Friday morning, I packed them all in the big dog kennel that belonged to Monaghan and took them to the Humane Society facility in Buffalo to join the seventh kitten that was already there.

It is hard to imagine that someone could be so cruel leaving baby kittens in the woods, but when you see the headlines and pictures of the prisoners tortured by our soldiers in Iraq, you realize that cruelty exists everywhere – even at Lake Sylvia.