Courageous Little Tigger Chases Off a Black Bear in North Vancouver but It Was Irresponsible for His Owners to Have Placed His Life in Such Grave Peril

Tigger Squares Off with a Black Bear Who Had Ventured onto His Turf

 

"The bear was walking toward my cat. My cat was walking toward the bear."

-- Gavin Sturrock

Cats and bears are a very bad mix but yet some owners stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that frightening reality. For example, in North Vancouver, a town of fifty-eight-thousand residents located approximately ten kilometers from Vancouver on the opposite side of Burrard Inlet, Gavin and Cameron Sturrock have insanely placed the life of their two-year-old Bengal, Tigger, in imminent jeopardy by irresponsibly allowing him to tangle with a black bear.

Even worse, on June 21st they stood idly by and did absolutely nothing in order to protect him when a black bear strayed onto their property. "It took me some time to notice my cat. I looked to the right and I saw my cat just standing there facing off against the bear," Gavin later disclosed to CTV News of Vancouver on June 27th (" 'You Think I Could Do That to a Bear?' British Columbia Brothers Awed by Pet Cat after Caught-on-Camera Face-Off.") "The bear was walking toward my cat. My cat was walking toward the bear."

He first attempted to call off Tigger but that did not work. "He didn't listen to me, obviously," he told CTV News.

He next reportedly tried to reason with him by arguing that he was overmatched and surely would be killed. After that he threw in the towel on Tigger and commenced filming the encounter on his mobile telephone, the video of which he later posted on TikTok.

It thus seems that he was determined to have gotten something out of the incident even though only a moral degenerate would be willing to so readily sacrifice the life of his cat in exchange for a moment's worth of notoriety on the Internet. He is, however, far from being an isolated case.

For instance, Clare Smith and Iain Simpon of Quarrington in Lincolnshire apparently do not have any compunction about allowing their cat, Archie, to sleep in the A15 so long as they are able to electronically track his movements. (See Cat Defender post of March 29, 2017 entitled "Archie Is Allowed to Sleep Smack-Dab in the Middle of a Busy Thoroughfare by His Derelict Owners Who Are Content with Merely Tracking His Movements by Satellite.")

Mercifully, matters never got quite that desperate with Tigger in that his life ultimately was spared, not by Sturrock's obduracy, but rather the bruin's magnanimity. "Tigger, he stood his ground and then the bear stepped back," Sturrock continued to CTV News. "And the bear turned around, did a full one-hundred-eighty (degrees) and Tigger chased after him."

Although Tigger had more than abundantly demonstrated his foolhardiness by venturing anywhere near the bear in the first place, he belatedly demonstrated that he was endowed with at least a modicum of bon sens by electing not to have followed it into the woods and that in itself would tend to indicate that he is an extremely territorial cat who does not take kindly to interlopers on his turf.

Tigger Chased after the Bear but It Chose Not to Do Battle

Gavin then wisely gathered him up and took him inside to safety. He afterwards lamely attempted to excuse his abandonment of Tigger in his hour of greatest need to being yellow.

"Imagine opening your door, taking a few steps outside and seeing a bear like right in front of you," he explained to CTV News. "That's exactly what happened to me."

From there he went on to publicly admit that he had cowered behind Tigger's tail. "He protected me. You think I could do that to a bear?" he rationalized to CTV News. "I'm bigger, I'm human, but I don't think I could. It's crazy."

Of course not. The human-all-too-human way is to say the hell with the cat and to think only of saving one's own rotten hide. That kind of thinking and behavior exposes him as being little more than a rank coward who hid behind his cat. 

The behavior of his equally cowardly brother was every bit as reprehensible. "I was so scared, I thought Tigger would get hurt, but he managed to stand his ground and chase the bear off," Cameron confessed to CTV News. "I've never been that scared in my life."

Quite obviously, real men are difficult to find north of the border, unless cowardly mass murderers armed to the teeth with high-powered rifles are considered to fit that bill. (See Cat Defender post of January 21, 2018 entitled "Steve Ecklund's Savage Killing and Butchering of a Cougar and Vainglorious Gloating, Strutting, and Preening Are Resoundingly Applauded by Canada's Ever Obliging Media and Complicitous Universities.") 

Moreover, the Sturrocks' assertions are utterly ridiculous in that there is absolutely nothing in press reports that would tend to indicate that either of them were in any real danger and the mere fact that Gavin hung around in order to film the incident attests to that. Even if they had been threatened they always could have retreated to the safety of either their house or their automobile.

Individuals who reside in bear country need to be prepared ahead of time for such an eventuality and the fact that the boys were caught flat-footed was their biggest faux pas. Even so, they were hardly without options.

Tigger with Gavin and Cameron Sturrock

According to CTV News, they were busily carrying out boxes to their old jalopy in preparation for an out-of-town trip to a Nerf gun war when the bruin materialized seemingly out of the blue. As best it could be determined, Nerf guns shoot foam bullets and they accordingly could have trained theirs on the bear.

Since these toy guns are known to cause serious eye injuries, they should not under any circumstances have  aimed them anywhere near the bruin's eyes. Besides, a water pistol loaded with diluted vinegar would have likely worked just as well.

Secondly, they could have attempted to distract the bear away from Tigger by making themselves look bigger, waving their arms in the air, and shouting at it. Thirdly, almost any kind of loud noisemaker would have in all likelihood scared off the intruder.

Fourthly, if either of them had spent any time working on a ranch they possibly might have been sufficiently proficient with a rope in order to have lassoed Tigger and thereby pulled him out of harm's way. The one thing that they should not have done under any circumstances was to have offered up Tigger as a sacrificial lamb to the bear. 

Lady Luck was on Tigger's side on this occasion in that the bear was only looking for sustenance and therefore shied away from a confrontation. He hit the jackpot a second time in that the bruin was not accompanied by cubs; if that had been the case, the outcome easily could have been altogether different.

Back on June 4, 2006, a declawed, ten-year-old, orange and white tom named Jack from the Shady Lake section of West Milford, sixty-seven kilometers northwest of Newark in Passaic County, treed a black bear, not once, but twice in his backyard. He kept the bear out on a limb for a quarter of an hour and when it belatedly came down he promptly chased it up another tree.

Eventually, neighbor Suzanne Giovanetti alerted Jack's owner, Donna Dickey, as to what was going on and she tardily went outside and called off Jack. That in turn allowed the bear to escape into the woods and Jack, like Tigger, was possessed of enough intelligence not to have pursued it.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, the bear's gonna get him!'" Dickey later exclaimed to The Star Ledger of Newark on June 9, 2006. (See "Bear's Out on a Limb, Fleeing a Clawless Kitty.")

Tigger Does Not Tolerate Dogs on His Turf Either

It was theorized at the time that the onychechtomy that Jack had been cruelly subjected to may have contributed to his pugnacity. "He doesn't want anybody in his yard," Dickey added to The Star Ledger. "We used to joke, 'Jack's on duty,' never knowing he'd go after a bear."

Nothing further was ever heard about him so it can only be hoped that he did not ultimately wind up being eaten by a bear. If against all odds this courageous and handsome tom should still be alive today, he would be a whopping twenty-six years old. (See Cat Defender post of June 19, 2006 entitled "An Irresponsible Cat Owner Allows Declawed Jack to Tangle with a Black Bear in Northern New Jersey.")

The odds are even longer that the bruin survived to even the end of the year considering that the politicians in Trenton have been allowing six-hundred or more of its mates to be mercilessly gunned down by hunters each autumn in northern New Jersey for more than twenty years. Last year's slaughter was called off by Governor Phil Murphy but it is entirely possible that the carnage could resume as early as this fall. (See nj.com, September 15, 2021, "There Will Be No New Jersey Bear Hunt This Year, Murphy Says.")

At least for the moment, however, saner minds are continuing to hold sway. "Whether we like it or not, black bears are an integral part of the state's natural heritage and a vital component of a healthy ecosystem," Assemblyman Tim Eustace, a Democrat from Bergen County, told The Star Ledger on October 18, 2016. (See "Senator Seeks to End Bear Hunts.") "The state's current policy dictating multiple hunting seasons to control the black bear populations is inhumane. For thirty years New Jersey went without hunting black bears as a control measure and with the alternative methods we can do it again."

Since as far as it is known Tigger has not been declawed, that can be ruled out as the source of his aggressiveness. Although his precise genetic makeup has not been divulged, Bengals are hybrids that are created by breeding spotted Egyptian Maus and Abyssinians with Asian Leopard Cats (Prionailures bengalensis) and as such he is a wild cat trapped inside the body of a domestic feline.

On the positive side of the ledger, they are attractive, personable, loving, intelligent, and loyal cats. On the opposite side of the equation, they are extremely territorial and overly protective of their owners and it was in all probability those two personality traits that prompted Tigger to confront the black bear.

Regardless of whether the goal of such unnatural mating experiments is the creation of Savannahs, Toygers, Asheras, Pixie-Bobs, or other newfangled combinations, the entire process is cruel and nakedly exploitative. (See Cat Defender posts of September 6, 2005, April 13, 2007, June 28, 2007, and February 19, 2008 entitled, respectively, "Savannahs: More Feline Cruelty Courtesy of the Capitalists and the Bourgeoisie," "Killing and Torturing Wild and Domestic Cats in Order to Create Toygers Is Not Going to Save Sumatran Tigers," "A Rural Alabama Man Makes a 'Killing' Forcibly Breeding Domestic Cats to Bobcats in Order to Create Pixie-Bobs," and "Asheras Are the Designer Chats du Jour Despite the Cruelties Inflicted During Their Hybridization.") 

   

Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing about such barbarism that in any way protects and elevates the status of either wild or domestic cats. (See Cat Defender post of April 13, 2006 entitled "Once Worshiped as Gods, the Maus Are Now Being Poisoned to Death by the Egyptian Authorities.")

Jack, on the ground, Trees a Black Bear

Bengals, such as Tigger, also require considerably more care and attention than do regular cats who have not been genetically manipulated. First of all, the males are known to do a considerable amount of marking indoors and both sexes suffer from chronic diarrhea.

Secondly, they are genetically predisposed to develop Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency. Thirdly, they are energetic cats who require a good deal of exercise. 

Fourthly, if the males are not sterilized, they tend to roam and that in turn can get them, as well as all hybrids, into considerable difficulties. Most tragically of all, a Savannah named Chum was shot dead in Detroit in 2014. (See Cat Defender post of April 19, 2014 entitled "Doomed from Conception to a Lifetime of Naked Exploitation and Destined Never to Fit In Anywhere, Chum Is Gunned Down in Cold Blood on the Violent Streets of Lawless and Uncaring Detroit.")

Also during that same year, a bobcat-mix named Rocky who was owned by Jenny Fine of Stafford Township in New Jersey was outrageously placed under house arrest by local jurist Damian G. Murray. When he once again escaped from her house, Murray stole him from her and in turn gave him to the Popcorn Park Zoo in Forked River. 

In one of the most outrageous injustices on record anywhere, Rocky has been rotting in a cage at that wretched zoo for almost eight years and in all likelihood he will die there because nobody cares. (See Cat Defender posts of April 26, 2014 and May 29, 2014 entitled, respectively, "The Opportunistic Old Hacks Who Run the Show in New Jersey Are All Set to Unjustly Condemn Rocky to a Lifetime Behind Bars for, Basically, Daring to So Much as Breathe" and "The Odds Were All Against Him and His Enemies Were Well-Financed and Unscrupulous but Rocky Nonetheless Prevails in a Stafford Courtroom," plus USA Today, December 19, 2014, "Big Cat Escape Artist Rocky Gets Permanent Home at Zoo.")

A Pixie-Bob named Benny, also from New Jersey, once got into trouble for accidentally taking a nibble out of Santa.  (See Cat Defender post of December 19, 2008 entitled "Regardless of Whether He Is a Pixie-Bob or a Bobcat, It Is Going to Be a Blue Christmas for Benny after He Inadvertently Bites Santa Claus.")

Some hybrids have been known to run away from home while others make appealing targets for thieves. Still others are dumped at shelters once their owners find out just how much care that they require and that in turn has necessitated the establishment of rescue groups in order to take care exclusively of unwanted designer cats. (See Cat Defender post of February 20, 2008 entitled "Exotic and Hybrid Cats, Perennial Objects of Exploitation and Abuse, Are Now Being Mutilated, Abandoned, and Stolen.")

Clearly, caring for a cat like Tigger is pretty much a full-time job. Furthermore, his aggression is by no means confined to black bears, who are quite capable of killing any cat with one swipe of a paw, but rather it also extends to canines.

Unleashed dogs are, apparently, a major problem in the Sturrocks' neighborhood and they sometimes invade their property and that it turn provokes Tigger. They therefore are an even bigger threat to Tigger's life and continued well-being than the bears in that it is rare for the latter to kill a cat but it is sickeningly commonplace for the former, usually at the behest of their owners, to do so. (See Cat Defender posts of March 4, 2010, October 28, 2013, July 18, 2015, September 22, 2019, July 1, 2021, October 22, 2021, October 31, 2021, and April 15, 2022 entitled, respectively, "Seven-Month-Old Bailey Is Fed to a Lurcher by a Group of Sadistic Teens in Search of Cheap Thrills in Northern Ireland," "Slow to Recuperate from Life-Threatening Injuries Sustained in a Savage Mauling by an Unleashed Dog, Stubbs Announces His Intention to Step Down as Mayor of Talkeetna," "A Blackpudlian Thrill Seeker Who Sicced Her Pit Bull on Regi and Then Laughed Off Her Fat Ass as He Tore Him Apart Receives a Customary Clean Bill of Health from the Courts," "Sparkle Is Killed on the Front Stoop of Her House by an Unleashed Dog in the Latest of Centuries-Old Attacks That Bear the Unmistakable Imprimatur of the House of Commons," "Fourteen-Year-Old Mini is Ripped to Shreds by a Pack of Vicious Hounds but Those Responsible Never Will Be Punished Because the Limeys Value the 'Unspeakable in Full Pursuit of the Uneatable' Far More Than They Do Her Right to Live," "Condemned to Die as Dog Bait, Courageous Buzz Perseveres Just Long Enough Until He Is Able to Not Only Regain His Freedom but also to Find His Pot of Gold at the Rainbow's End," "The Arrest of a Dogfighter in Ayr Provides a Rare Glimpse into the Utterly Despicable Abuse That Bait Cats Are Subjected to but the Scottish SPCA Still Stubbornly Persists in Treating Them as Expendable Nonentities," and "Buddy Is Mauled Nearly to Death on His Own Porch by Vicious Dogs Sicced on Him by a Pair of Vile Black Kids in Philadelphia," and, the Daily Mail, April 3, 2015, "Shocking Moment Three-Legged Cat Was Mauled to Death by Two Passing Dogs as It Lay in Its Front Garden.") 

 Jack and His Derring-Do Live on, at Least in Cyberspace

As if bears and dogs were not sufficient in order to keep the Sturrocks tossing and turning each night, North Vancouver is additionally coyote country and they are even more prolific killers of cats than dogs. (See Cat Defender posts of August 28, 2007, December 4, 2007, September 15, 2011, and September 17, 2011 entitled, respectively, "TNR Programs, Domestic Cats, Dogs, and Humans Are Imperiled by Wildlife Proponents' Use and Abuse of Coyotes and Fishers," "A Grieving Widow Risks Her Life in Order to Save Cosmo from the Jaws of a Hungry Coyote in Thousand Oaks," "Ravenous Coyotes, Cat-Haters, and Old Man Winter All Want Her Dead, Buried, and Gone but Brave Little Half Mask Is Defying All the Odds," and "Coyotes, Swimming from Connecticut, Are Blamed for Killing Twenty Cats on Remote and Exclusive Fishers Island," plus KHOU-TV of Houston, June 10, 2022, "Coyote Versus Cat: Fierce Feline Narrowly Escapes Its Enemy in Surfside Showdown.")

 

Even when coyotes are not actually killing cats, traps set out by bounty hunters in order to catch them snare and cripple unintended felines. (See Cat Defender post of July 19, 2020 entitled "Beautiful Bobby Is Maimed by a Leghold Trap That Not Only Was Intended for a Coyote but Also Illegally Set Within the City Limits of St. George.")

Considering the myriad of dangers that the Sturrock brothers have knowingly exposed Tigger to, it is a minor miracle that he is still alive. Even under optimal circumstances, the life expectancy of a Bengal is only ten to twelve years and he most definitely will not be around anywhere near that long unless they promptly mend their negligent ways and start taking better care of him. Of particular concern is the issue of who watches out for his safety when they are away from home and out of town.

As is its custom, CTV News and the remainder of the capitalistic media are egging the brothers in the opposite direction but no one except a bloody fool would ever take anything that any of them have to say about feline welfare as the gospel truth. After all, they could care less if a million cats had to die so long as they got a story out of the slaughter.

The first order of business for the Sturrocks accordingly should be to install an electrified fence around their entire property. Since they likely paid in the neighborhood of between US$1,500 to US$3,000 for Tigger as a kitten, they quite obviously have disposable income and therefore the cost of the fencing should not amount to much more than a drop in the proverbial bucket for them.

Secondly, they need to not only purchase tamper-proof garbage cans but also to avoid leaving out any food that could attract bears. It is almost superfluous to point out but any fruit-bearing trees, vines, and shrubs also need to be enclosed within the perimeter of the fence.

Since no security system is foolproof, motion-detector alarms and motion-activated sprinklers are two additional tools worth considering. Some individuals also have reported success in deterring bears with Pine-sol,® Lysol,® ammonia, and apple cider vinegar.

For their own protection, the lads might want to look into arming themselves with pepper spray, tear gas, and flares. An electrified fence, however, would be better for both them and, especially, Tigger.

Overall, the picture of them that emerges is that they could care less whether he lives or not but that most assuredly has not always been the case. For instance, shortly after he came home from the breeder he was struck down by the almost always one-hundred per cent fatal Feline infectious Peritonitis (FIP).

The Lovely but Tragically Unlucky Lacey on August 14, 2016

Of all the maladies that plague felines, FIP is arguably the nastiest and most heartbreaking. "It breaks my heart seeing her (and) knowing she is dying slowly inside having her immune system attacked," Sarah Addley of Foulness Island, off the coast of Essex, tearfully said of her kitten, Lacey, in an interview with the Echo of Basildon in Essex on August 11, 2016. (See "Fundraising Campaign to Help Dying Kitten.") "She's a strong Maine Coon fighter who means everything to me. I just want her to have a chance in life and to get back to being a lively kitty."

 

Toward the realization of that noble goal, she spent practically every penny that she had and she even went so far as to procure a special license that allowed her to import the experimental drug Polyprenyl Immunostimulant (PI) from Sass and Sass of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Unfortunately, that drug is only effective in treating the noneffusive, or dry, form of FIP and Lacey had the wet, or effusive, variety.

Addley did everything in her power to save Lacey but it was all to no avail and she died on August 17, 2016 shortly before she would have celebrated her first birthday. (See Cat Defender post of September 15, 2016 entitled "Lacey and Her Devoted Owner Wage a Lonely, Terrifying, and Grossly Underfunded Battle Against Feline Infectious Peritonitis but in the End the Deadly Malady Refused to Yield.")

 

The Sturrock brothers had considerably better success with Tigger because they were able to have gotten their hands on an unidentified drug that cured him. If he were suffering from the dry form of FIP that drug could have been PI.

More than likely, however, it was GS-441524 manufactured by Gilead Sciences of Foster City, California, but better known to most Americans as remdesivir, an antiviral that is used to treat COVID-19. It currently is not licensed for sale to cat owners in the United States and therefore can only be obtained on the Chinese black market.

It additionally is very expensive with a twelve-week regimen of it costing US$10,000 or more. (See The Atlantic, May 8, 2020, "A Much-Hyped COVID-19 Drug Is Almost Identical to a Black-Market Cat Cure" and the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, January 15, 2020, "FIP Drugs Continue to Show Promise, while Being Sold on Black Market.")

"He was sick for a long time but then he got better, he actually overcame it," Cameron said of Tigger in his interview with CTV News. "He went from being super-sick to becoming a full-on bear chaser."

He and his brother are therefore deserving of nothing but the highest possible praise for their willingness to have stood by Tigger during his life and death struggle with FIP. That is especially the case considering that it would have been so easy for them to have either allowed him to die or to have returned him to the breeder who surely would have killed him off upon arrival.

Nevertheless, Tigger's penchant for scrapping with bears and dogs should not be either praised or condoned by them. Worst of all, both activities are destined to, sooner or later, lead to his savage and premature death and they have invested too much love, care, and expense in him in order to allow things to end that way.

Photos: Gavin and Cameron Sturrock (Tigger with the bear and a dog), CTV News (Tigger with the brothers), Suzanne Giovanetti (Jack with a treed black bear and by himself), and the Echo (Lacey).

Intentionally Blinded in Her Right Eye and Justifiably Scared to Death of People, Candy Cane Is Saved by the Combined Efforts of a Fosterer, a Shelter, and Her New Guardians

Candy Cane Was Robbed of Her Right Eye by an Unknown Assailant

 "When Candy Cane came to me, she'd lost her trust in humans and was very nervous. She would run and hide when I'd come into the room..."

-- Wendy Penfold

Contrary to what an awful lot of people in this world believe, injured, homeless, and frightened kittens are not for killing. On the contrary, all of them can be treated, socialized, and then fairly quickly placed in loving homes.

All that is needed is for individuals of good will to throw away their bottles of sodium pentobarbital, change their ways of thinking, and to be willing to invest the funds, time, and effort that are required in order to put back together the fractured lives of these cats and kittens. The stellar job that Blue Cross animal charity did with a brown kitten with black markings named Candy Cane is a rather poignant example of what is preeminently possible.

Absolutely nothing is known about her previous life before she wound up at Blue Cross's Rehoming Centre in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, sometime earlier this year. It was painfully obvious from the outset, however, that she had been horribly abused.

For example, her right eye had been ruptured and that necessitated that the charity's first order of business was to surgically remove it. That in turn automatically made her a member of this world's burgeoning legions of one-eyed cats.

None of the specifics have been revealed, but it is difficult to fathom how that a kitten could wind up with a ruptured eye unless she had been attacked by an assailant. Typically, the individual responsible for robbing her of her right eye never has been so much as identified, let alone arrested and punished.

The punks, ornithologists, wildlife biologists, gardeners, and other assorted low-lives who get their perverted kicks by blinding kittens and cats thus have gotten away scot-free with the commission of another of their heinous crimes. (See Cat Defender posts of February 26, 2022 and July 10, 2022 entitled, respectively, "Intentionally Blinded, Crippled, and Abandoned to Freeze to Death in a Locked Cage at a Rest Stop on Interstate 95 in Connecticut, Highway Not Only Perseveres but Now Has Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow" and "Unspeakably Mutilated and Then Dumped to Die All Alone with His Pain in the Bitter Cold, Highway Amazingly Defies the Odds and Now Has a New Guardian, a Home, and a Second Chance at Life.")

Although to have been robbed of the vision in her right eye was tragic enough in its own right, the attack and whatever other abuses and deprivations that she may have been subjected to also left her psychologically scarred on the inside as well. Blue Cross accordingly realized that before it could place her in a new home it first had to help her to overcome her, albeit totally justified, fear of humans.

Toward that end, it handed her over to Wendy Penfold of Kent who graciously consented to foster her.  "When Candy Cane came to me, she'd lost her trust in humans and was very nervous," she confided to Your Cat magazine of Bourne in Lincolnshire on June 9th. (See "One-Eyed Cat Finds New Forever Home.") "She would run and hide when I'd come into the room...")

The measures that she therefore undertook in order to draw Candy Cane out of her shell of fear and social isolation serve as a layman's primer on how to socialize kittens and cats with a minimal amount of effort and in a relatively short span of time. Her efforts also serve as a repudiation of all those who falsely claim that previously abused, abandoned, frightened, and standoffish cats cannot be socialized and therefore must be killed.

Candy Cane in Her New Home in Hampshire

First of all, she became a part of Candy Cane's environment. "...by the end of her time with me, she became more inquisitive to know what I'm doing and staying in the same area as me," Penfold disclosed to Your Cat.

Despite whatever proponents of TNR may claim to the contrary, such an approach also works with those cats that belong to managed colonies. It does require, however, that caretakers be willing to invest substantially more time and effort in them than just merely dropping off kibble and water once a day and then hightailing it back to their human retreats.

Au contraire, they need to spend several hours a day with the cats under their care. For instance, they could spend three hours with them in the morning when they feed them and an additional three hours with them when they feed them again in the evening.

They also could bring along with them treats and toys in order to keep the cats interested in them. The more time that caretakers spend with them, the more sociable the cats will become and the quicker that they can be moved into homes. For those individuals who become easily bored, they could put the additional time that they spend with their cats to good use by catching up on their reading; listening to a radio and gassing on the telephone is not only rude but demonstrates a lack of interest in them.

The fault that more of these deserving cats are not adopted rests with caretakers who are unwilling to spend time with them. Being actively involved in the colonies that they are supposed to be watching over also would help to substantially cut down on the myriad of crimes that are perpetrated against their charges by both humans and other animals, such as dogs, coyotes, fishers, raccoons, skunks, and foxes.

Secondly, since Candy Cane was prone to run and hide from her, Penfold improvised a clever way of making herself an indispensable part of her environment but in a non-threatening manner. "After the first week of hardly moving from her hiding hole, she discovered the benefits of the tall cat climber in her run where she was out of reach and could watch everything going on at a safe distance," she continued to Your Cat.  

Thirdly, Penfold artfully employed the services of her own cat, Rita, in order to help socialize Candy Cane. "I think Rita helped lure Candy forward in the pen as I would sit and stroke or play with Rita in a corridor so Candy could see I was a nice person with to be around cats," she explained to the London Metro on May 23rd. (See "Adorable One-Eyed Kitten Finds Forever Home.")

There are, of course, far more sophisticated and quicker ways of socializing cats but most of them involve bending them to their caretakers' will through starvation. That is a common tactic used by circuses and stage performers but it is cruel and exploitative.

With cats it is far preferable to gain their trust over an extended period of time by dealing with them in a caring and forthright manner. It is slower and more work to be sure, but the rewards are greater.

Candy Cane Has a Playmate Who Will Not Talk Her Ears Off

Penfold's stratagem has worked so well that Candy Cane has been adopted by an unidentified couple that resides somewhere in the county of Hampshire, located on the English Channel in southeast England, roughly one-hundred- twenty-three kilometers south of Hitchin. No other details regarding either them or Candy Cane's new life have been publicly disclosed.

"Candy's new owners are happy to give her the space and time to see how she can settle in a family home," Penfold added to Your Cat. "They understand she may never be a lap cat, but want to love her and let her know this is a safe place for her."

Although very appreciative of Penfold's fine work, the Blue Cross's Sarah Miller is a bit more cautious. "Wendy has done an amazing job for Candy Cane and even though the steps might seem small, they have been huge for her," she acknowledged to Your Cat. "We hope that over time she will build up a relationship and trust with her new owners."

In that same vein, hopefully both Miller and Penfold have impressed upon Candy Cane's new guardians not only that adoption should be forever but, just as importantly, that there are adverse consequences associated with bandying a cat about between multiple failed adoptions, various foster homes, and frequent return trips to a shelter. For example, a few years back Yorkshire Cat Rescue in Keighley, West Yorkshire, transformed Harvey's already traumatic life into a living hell through its inability to place him in a permanent home. (See Cat Defender posts of August 31, 2017, March 12, 2018, July 29, 2019, and October 27, 2020, entitled, respectively, "With His Previous Owner Long Dead and Nobody Seemingly Willing to Give Him a Second Chance at Life, Old and Ailing Harvey Has Been Sentenced to Rot at a Shelter in Yorkshire," "Much Like a Nightmare That Stubbornly Refuses to End, Harvey Continues to Be Shuttled from One Home to Another at the Expense of His Health and Well-Being," "Repeatedly Shunned, Maligned, and Bandied About from One Place to Another, Harvey Is Now Engaged in the Most Important Battle of His Life," and "Noble and Courageous Harvey Who So Desperately Wanted to Go on Living Is Instead Unforgivably Betrayed and Killed Off by His Foster Mother and Yorkshire Cat Rescue.")

Although the importance of proper socialization cannot be underestimated, all cats have their own unique personalities and past histories and consequently individuals need to learn to love them on their own terms. For true aficionados of the species, whether or not a cat is loving is of little consequence; just having it around is more than sufficient.

C'est-à-dire, keeping a cat magically transforms returning to an empty house each evening into a homecoming. "There is something about the presence of a cat...that seems to take the bite out of being alone," is how that Louis J. Camuti, who holds the rare distinction of being America's first cats-only veterinarian, once summed up the matter. (See his 1962 tome, Park Avenue Vet and his 1980 autobiography, All My Patients Are Under the Bed: Memoirs of a Cat Doctor.")

That which is difficult to comprehend is how that fosterers, such as Penfold, are able to so readily relinquish custody of their charges. They surely must realize that considerably less caring and knowledgeable individuals are destined to adopt them and, in many instances, to undo not only their meticulous work but also to fail to take proper care of them.

Perhaps they rationalize that by fostering innumerable kittens and cats they are therefore able to save many more lives than they ordinarily could do by adopting only a handful of those that so desperately need homes. Regardless of their motivation, fostering has become an invaluable tool in not only the socialization and healing processes of kittens like Candy Cane but, much more importantly, in saving feline lives.

Candy Cane has had a cruel introduction to this wicked old world but, hopefully, the worst is now behind her. All that she really needs in order to make a go of things is time and the fidelity of her new caretakers.

Photos: Your Cat (Candy Cane in an Elizabethan Collar and in her new home) and Blue Cross (Candy Cane with her new playmate).

Unspeakably Mutilated and Then Dumped to Die All Alone with His Horrific Pain in the Bitter Cold, Highway Amazingly Defies the Odds and Now Has a New Guardian, a Home, and a Second Chance at Life

Highway on February 24th after His Left Front Leg Was Repaired

"He is one strong and brave kitty!"

-- the Pet Animal Welfare Society of Norwalk

On a hot, humid, and very green July afternoon like today the bone-chilling temperatures, heavy snowfalls, and grayness of this past January seem like a distant nightmare. Hopefully, a handsome, two-year-old tuxedo named Highway is able to feel the same way. He certainly has more than ample reason for doing so.

Found abandoned in a locked cage at a rest stop on the northbound side of Interstate 95 in Darien, sixty kilometers northeast of New York City, on Monday, January 24th, his right eye had been ruptured by a sharp object, both of his front legs had been broken, and one of his front paws had been mutilated. Considering that he is believed to have been abandoned on Friday, January 21st, he surely must have been languishing in pain for at least the better part of four days.

On top of all of those miseries, he was without food, water, medical assistance, and human companionship. He additionally no doubt was shivering given that the thermometer had plummeted to 9° Fahrenheit on January 21st, 8° Fahrenheit on Saturday, January 22nd, and 19° Fahrenheit on Sunday, January 23rd.

The only tiny bit of Glück im Unglück that he had was to have successfully dodged several heavy snowstorms that had blanketed the northeast throughout most of the month of January. On the other hand, if he had been abandoned during any of them, he easily could have been snowed under and his cage destroyed by reckless and uncaring plowmen clearing the rest area as quickly and as profitably as possible.

After having been unconscionably ignored for days by the many employees who work in the rest stop's numerous stores and motorists alike, his desperate plight was belatedly brought to the attention of Allyson Halm, an Animal Control officer in New Canaan, nine kilometers northwest of Darien, and Lieutenant Jason Ferraro of the New Canaan Police. Upon arrival, the duo wasted little time in rushing him to the Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Norwalk where, despite not having so much as a sou to his name, the charity magnanimously did not hesitate to treat him.

Tragically, it was not able, however, to have saved his right eye and that in turn necessitated that it had to be promptly surgically removed. The only positive thing that can be said about that irrevocable loss is that Highway tolerated the surgery reasonably well and afterwards was said to have been feeling much better. (See Cat Defender post of February 26, 2022 entitled "Intentionally Blinded, Crippled, and Abandoned to Freeze to Death in a Locked Cage at a Rest Stop on Interstate 95 in Connecticut, Highway Not Only Perseveres but Now Has Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow.")

Later on February 23rd, the separated and broken bones in his left front leg were surgically aligned and stabilized with the insertion of a metal plate. After that, PAWS was forced to hold off on repairing his right leg for another six to eight weeks in order to allow his surgically repaired left one time to heal.

"With the love and care of PAWS' staff and volunteers, Highway will recover and find a loving home," the charity pledged a day later on February 24th on Facebook. As time and events were later to demonstrate, that was one vow that the charity more than fulfilled.

  

Shortly thereafter he was placed in foster care with one of the organization's veterinary technicians, a woman identified only by her first name as Karen. Somewhere along about the middle of April, Highway was taken to MedVet in Norwalk where his right leg was repaired by Jessica Baron. No mention has been made concerning his mangled front paw but it surely was repaired at some point.

Highway's Right Front Leg Was Mended in April by the Staff at Medvet 

"Highway's surgery went well and he is now on the road to recovery," the organization announced April 15th on Facebook. "He is one strong and brave kitty!"

Six days later on April 21st, PAWS was able to share with the outside world the heartening news that he had been officially adopted by Karen. "We wish you a lifetime of happiness together!!" the charity stated simply on Facebook.

As far as it has been disclosed, there is not anything amiss with his left eye so he should be able to function quite well with just one eye. That by no means, however, excuses what was done to him.

Purposefully blinding cats and kittens is a hideous crime that urgently needs to be addressed by societies all over the world. Moreover, it is by no means limited to owners with sharp objects but rather the practice  extends to miscreants armed with knives, bows and arrows, nail guns, ball bearing guns, and rocks. (See Cat Defender posts of August 26, 2005, March 7, 2006, June 1, 2009, March 5, 2020, July 6, 2010, July 19, 2010, and April 16, 2015 entitled, respectively, "Winky Sam, a Cat with Only One Eye and Steadily Going Blind, Finally Finds a Home in Port St. Lucie," "Little Dickie Loses an Eye in a Pet Rage Fracas That Culminates in His Owner's Murder by the Police on Staten Island," "Blind and Deaf on Her Left Side as the Result of a Bow and Arrow Attack by a Juvenile Miscreant, Valentine Is Still Looking for a Permanent Home," "Struck Down by an Archer and Shunned by an Uncaring Public for More Than a Year, Valentine Finally Finds a Home," "Grace Survives Being Shot Point-Blank Between the Eyes by a Monster with a Nail Gun but the Authorities in Sioux City Refuse to Even Investigate the Attack," "Grace Is Out of the Hospital and Has a New Home but Her Nail Gun Assailant Remains as Free as a Bird Thanks to the Authorities' Dereliction of Duty," "Molly Loses an Eye to an Assailant with a Ball Bearing Gun Only Later to Be Victimized by an Incompetent Veterinarian," and "Nelson's Odyssey from Being the Long Abused Cat That Nobody Wanted to One of England's Most Beloved Comes to a Sad End at Age Twenty.")

Countless other cats lose eyes to untreated infections that they are either born with or that develop shortly after birth. (See the Berlin Kurier, May 30, 2022, "Tragische Tiergeschichte: Diese Katzen-Mama hat nur ein Auge -- der Grund ist traurig! Wer gibt der sußen Lilly trotz Handicap eine Chance?")

Then there is the heartbreaking plight of those cats that are born without eyes. (See Cat Defender posts of February 23, 2007, September 27, 2007, and October 7, 2021 entitled, respectively, "Born Without Eyes and Later Abandoned, a Humble Kitten Appropriately Named Angel Has Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow," "Abandoned to Die in a World of Darkness and Without Even Teeth, Maxwell Is Saved by the Compassion of a Rescue Group and a Veterinarian," and "Keller and Anne Are Waging Heroic Battles in Order to Stay Alive but They Are Trapped in Cruel and Inhumane Sioux City Where It Is a Capital Offense for a Cat to So Much as Dare to Exist," plus the Daily Reporter of Greenfield, Indiana, September 23, 2020, "Cats' Tale: A Story about a Blind Cat and Her Buddy Could Lead to Prize for Humane Society" and WTHR-TV of Indianapolis, October 8, 2020, "A Tale of Two Kitties: Blind Cat and Feline Friend Win $1500 for Local Shelter.")

It is young punks, ornithologists, and gardeners armed with air guns, however, that are responsible for a lion's share of not only this world's one-eyed cats but the dead ones as well. (See Cat Defender posts of May 7, 2007, September 27, 2007, April 2, 2015, March 9, 2012, and March 13, 2012 entitled, respectively, "British Punks Are Having a Field Day Maiming Cats with Air Guns but the Peeler Continue to Look the Other Way," "Caged, Shot Thirty Times with an Air Gun, and Then Tossed in the Bay to Drown, Lovey Is Rescued in the Middle of the Night by a Good Samaritan," "A Cornishman Shells Out £10,000 on Private Peepers in Order to Track Down Farah's Killer but Once Again Gets Stiffed by Both the Police and the RSPCA," "An Amateur Ornithologist Guns Down Hartley with an Air Rifle, Feigns Remorse, and Then

Cheats Justice by Begging and Lying," and "The Sick Wife Defense Works Like a Charm for Cunning Patrick Doyle after He Traps a Cat and Then Shoots It with an Air Rifle while Still in Its Cage," plus the Augsburger Allgemeine, articles dated June 24, 2015 and June 25, 2015 and entitled, respectively, "Rentner schießt mit Luftgewehr auf Katzen" and "Schuss aus Luftgewehr verletzt Katze 'Klärchen'," the Bourmemouth Echo, February 16, 2017, "A Cat Which Survived Three Air Gun Attacks Is Killed after Fourth Shooting," "KTRK-TV of Houston, May 18, 2017, "Six Cats Shot with Pellets in Spring Neighborhood," The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2017,"Reward Offered in Moxham Cat-Shooting Case," Kent Online, February 10, 2022, "Feral Sheppey Cat Shot in Face Finds New Home in Faversham," and the RSPCA, press release of July 12, 2017, "Airgun Attacks Reported to Us Set to Reach Five-Year High.")

In one respect, Highway is extremely lucky that his assailant did not blind him in both eyes as was done to a Michigan cat named Ace. (See Cat Defender post of March 14, 2015 entitled "Ace Is Found Frozen to a Porch with His Eyes Gouged Out but the Authorities Are Too Lazy, Cheap, and Ailurophobic to Go After His Assailant" and Ace's Odyssey on Facebook.) 

Since neither PAWS nor MedVet have disclosed any of the particulars regarding the repairs that were made to Highway's front legs and to one of his front paws, it is difficult to speculate as to his current level of mobility. Normally, repairing a cat's broken legs is not all that much of a challenge for any halfway competent veterinarian. Incompetent practitioners are a different story. (See Cat Defender post of June 17, 2010 entitled "A Veterinarian Gets Away with Almost Killing Felix but Is Nailed by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for Not Paying Her Dues.")

If Highway should still be experiencing difficulties getting around, additional surgeries might be able to correct any lingering impairments. (See Cat Defender post of August 8, 2019 entitled "Hounded Down and Nearly Killed by a Hit-and-Run Motorist, Eli Desperately Needs Additional Surgeries in Order to Restore His Previous Level of Mobility.")

Highway Has Been Adopted by His Foster Mother, Karen

If worse should come to worst, prostheses and implants would be two additional options for him. (See Cat Defender posts of November 17, 2010 and November 20, 2010 entitled, respectively, "Penniless and Suffering from Two Broken Legs, It Looked Like It Was Curtains for Trace Until Geoffrey Weech Rode to Her Rescue on His White Horse" and "Celebrated as the World's First Bionic Cat, Oscar Now Has Been Turned into a Guinea Pig with a Very Uncertain Future.")

No details have been announced as to what kind of a life his new owner has in store for him but, depending upon his level of mobility, she very well may have decided to limit his activities to either the indoors or to a fenced-in garden. Hopefully, he has not been declawed but the severity and multiplicity of the injuries inflicted upon him make that a distinct possibility. Of course, he always could have been bound and then mutilated.

Sadly, the outside world likely has seen and heard the last of Highway. Depending upon his genes, the absence of any underlying medical issues, and luck, he should be able to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and be able to go on and have a relatively long, normal and, hopefully, happy existence with Karen.

"Highway is one of the lucky ones," PAWS told Newsweek earlier on February 3rd. (See "Cat Found Abandoned on Highway Recovering after Having Eye Removed.") "He is away from his abuser(s)..."

 

Quite obviously, his abuser hated him and, for that matter, all cats so much that he believed that killing him would have been too good for him. Instead, he wanted to first make him suffer mightily from his blindness and his inability to walk before finally succumbing to hunger, the elements, and human and animal predation.

Such hatred and diabolical cruelty directed at a cat is rarely witnessed except in the behavior of ornithologists, wildlife biologists, gardeners, and sadistic killers and whenever monsters of that ilk get a cat at their mercy almost any cruelty is a real possibility. (See Cat Defender posts of January 19, 2010, August 8, 2011, and August 17, 2011 entitled, respectively, "A Bird Lover in München Illegally Traps Rocco and Then Methodically Tortures Him to Death with Water and Pepper Spray over an Eleven-Day Period," "Ernst K.'s Trial for Kidnapping, Torturing, and Murdering Rocco Nears Its Climax in a München Courtroom" and "Ernst K. Walks Away Smelling Like a Rose as Both the Prosecutor and Judge Turn His Trial for Killing Rocco into a Lovefest for a Sadistic Cat Killer.")

Since PAWS has not publicly speculated about the identity of Highway's assailant, it is not known if he was abused by his lawful owner or if he could have been stolen and mutilated by a complete stranger, such as an ornithologist. It likewise has not been disclosed if his injuries were inflicted in one fell swoop or if the abuse was meted out to him over an extended period of time.

If the latter were the case, it would seem likely that Highway's perpetrator set out from the start to maim him limb by limb and organ by organ but for some unknown reason changed his mind before, thankfully, not finishing the job. One conceivable possibility could be that he earlier had been stopped by the police for, perhaps, some minor traffic infraction and afterwards realized that he had better get rid of the evidence before he was stopped again and someone found out what he had done to Highway.

While it is true as PAWS claims that his mutilator cannot get at him now, he nonetheless is still on the loose thanks to the unwillingness of the charity, New Canaan Animal Control, and the New Canaan Police to even bother to so much as to open an investigation into this matter. Consequently, the monster is almost certain to, sooner or later, attack additional cats.

The refrain is almost as old as time itself and by now everybody knows the lyrics by rote. Humane groups and the police stubbornly refuse to investigate cases of cruelty to cats. 

Highway Has Come a Long Way Since Those God-Awful Days in January 

On those truly rare occasions when arrests are made, prosecutors refuse to prosecute the obviously guilty. Instead, they as quickly as possible get rid of such cases by plea bargaining multiple counts of felony animal cruelty down to a single count of misdemeanor animal cruelty and that allows defendants not only to walk out of court no worse for the wear with minuscule fines but also to thumb their dirty schnozes at all cat-lovers, morality, and the anti-cruelty statutes themselves.

Even when cases are brought to trial and convictions are obtained, no-account judges adamantly refuse to punish the guilty. For their part, slick albeit dishonest politicians respond with beau geste.

For instance, in 2017 the Pennsylvania legislature in Harrisburg enacted a supposedly tougher anti-cruelty statute and the Tennessee legislature in Nashville followed suit in 2021 with another new law of its own but cats residing in both jurisdictions have yet to profit from their efforts. Worst still, that is precisely what the lawmakers had in mind all along.

Politicians may be a lot of things but they are not stupid. They know as well as everyone else that it is not going to make one whit of difference how much they toughen the anti-cruelty statutes if they do not simultaneously include some type of enforcement mechanism.

Therefore, if any of them were even the tiniest bit sincere about curbing cruelty to cats they would mandate that all local police departments and county sheriffs' offices employed at the very least one full-time officer whose sole responsibility would be to investigate cases of animal cruelty. Everything else that they have to say on the subject of animal cruelty is meaningless public posturing and nothing more.

Secondly, legislators need to take away the discretion that prosecutors currently enjoy to plea bargain away felony animal cruelty charges. Thirdly, they need to dramatically limit the sentencing authority of judges.

For instance, if a defendant is convicted of four counts of felony animal cruelty and the prevailing law calls for a term of imprisonment of between one and seven years for each conviction, the judge should be required to sentence him to at the very least four, consecutive one-year terms in jail. Choosing between one and seven years in prison is more than enough discretion to allot any sentencing judge; robbed buffoons should not be permitted, however, to continue excusing cruelty to cats.

Much hot air and ink have been expended in recent days discussing the connection between cruelty to animals on the one hand and the mass shooting of humans on the other hand and although not all animal abusers turn into mass murderers just as not all mass murderers abuse animals, there is sans doute some causal connection between the two groups of miscreants. For example, both Payton Gendron, the Buffalo gunman, and Salvador Ramos in Uvalde honed their crafts by first abusing and killing cats. 

It thus has become trendy in the media to designate animal abuse as a so-called "red flag" or one warning sign that certain individuals are going to perpetrate mass shootings. The obvious conclusion therefore is that society should be willing to rigorously enforce the animal cruelty statutes if for no other reason than self-interest. In other words, protecting animal lives also protects human lives.

Yet, that is not about to happen either now or in the future. The disturbing truth of the matter is that most Americans do not have any regard for either animal or human lives and one proof of that is to be found in the law enforcement community's indifference to what was done to Highway. 

Photos: PAWS.