New Addition
Posted: Tue 16 October, 2012 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »Over the weekend, the household gained a new occupant.
Alongside me, The Bengal, and The British Shorthair, I’ve now adopted an Egyptian Mau as well.
And that’s enough!
Wild and Free
Posted: Fri 10 August, 2012 Filed under: Animals, Stupidity, Television, Thoughts Leave a comment »Last night, Channel 4 had a documentary on the 2011 Ohio “Exotic Animal Release” called “America’s Animal Hoarder“. It’s not easy viewing, but it’s worth seeing.
It’s an amazing documentary, reflecting an episode I’d actually not heard about. Basically, Terry Thompson, a veteran of Vietnam, had amassed (legally) a collection of wild/exotic animals – Lions, jaguars, tigers, bears and more. On October 18, 2011, Thompson released his animals, and committed suicide. No-one really knows why – he’d been in jail, he was in debt, and (from the sound of the documentary) he had significant – and known – mental health issues.
In Ohio, there’s no law about the keeping of exotic/deadly animals. Thompson had also been a licensed “Class 3” firearms dealer (among other things) which allowed him to sell automatic firearms. He was a known “hoarder” – of vehicles, animals, anything.
It’s a really disturbing documentary, particularly if you happen to be an animal lover, or a fan of (particularly) big cats – and I qualify on both. They had to be shot dead – there was no other alternative, no way to tranquilise 50-60 animals and keep them safely. All the existing pens had been cut open – Thompson had cut the wire fencing, not just opened the doors.
The final toll was
- 8 tigers
- six black bears
- two grizzlies
- two wolves
- one macaque monkey
- one baboon
- three mountain lions
- nine male lions, and
- eight lionesses
You just can’t imagine having to kill that many rare animals – and knowing there’s no choice.
Really really sad – but as much of an indictment of Ohio law (and in some ways American laws in general) as of one individual with such obvious issues. Very, very sad.
Angry Bunny
Posted: Fri 13 July, 2012 Filed under: Animals Leave a comment »While the rest of the world has serious stuff to do, I suggest you spend some time looking at the angry rabbit face in the nose of this upside-down cat. It made me laugh, anyway…
Gone Huntin’
Posted: Mon 18 July, 2011 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 1 Comment »Over the weekend, Cricket (the silver Bengal) escaped from the house, and went walkabout.
It was my fault – a combination of an open bathroom window, and a door that hadn’t been properly closed – but it meant the little sod was out’n’about. She’s not used to it – we live near a very busy road, so the cats don’t go out as a matter of course – which meant I was pretty worried about her all told.
Thankfully, the back of the house rolls onto field, hedgerows, trees and the like, so the odds were that she’d stay on that side – and hopefully not stray too far in the interest of finding other New Fun Things.
We went out several times to try and see/find the little bugger, but with no real joy. Lots of bird alarm calls around the place, but no sign. At night I went out with a torch, and could see her eyes reflecting from way inside some of the undergrowth, but she wasn’t coming back ’til she was good and ready.
She did eventually come back – at 1am – and all’s been well. She spent most of Sunday trying to get out again whenever possible, but that’s no surprise.
Evil little sod
Neutered
Posted: Mon 4 April, 2011 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »Forgot to say, Cricket came back fine, and she’s been doing OK since.
The incision’s pretty much healed up, and the fur’s growing back, so all’s good.
And she’s a lot more relaxed again now, thankfully.
Cricket and Madgit, asleep and intertwined
Neutering
Posted: Tue 29 March, 2011 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »Over the last week or so, Cricket (the silver Bengal) has been going through her first ‘season’, and it’s not been good for her.
She’s yowled all round the house, sprayed, yowled, had the shits, and generally been deeply unhappy. I’ve found it really upsetting to see her handling it all so badly, and it’s not something I want her (or, selfishly, us) to go through again.
So today she’s at the vets, getting ‘done’.
Of course, that involves getting her into the cat carrier. Which, with a Bengal, is a bit of a struggle.
The first time round, she escaped from M’s arms, ripped all the way round M, and disappeared.
Second time, I got her, and held her tight while we got her into the cage. Her back legs were down by my right hip, and she was held tight. Somehow, she ended up twisting round and I now have a deepish cut from her back claws in the left side of my neck, and other clawmarks all round my left shoulder-blade. Impressive.
She’s at the vets now, and I’m half expecting a call saying “Can you come and get your cat out of the ceiling tiles”. She is emphatically Not Happy. And Very Sharp.
Cat Stand
Posted: Tue 8 February, 2011 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 1 Comment »About three weeks ago, I bought a ‘play centre’ for my cat, Cricket. It’s a cool thing, about 4′ high, on three levels.
Cat Activity Centre
The layer at the top is all padded as a cat bed, but for whatever reason Cricket never used it. Bizarre. Mind you, cats are never good at doing what they’re supposed to.
Anyway, I brought the stand back into the living room this weekend (it’d been on the stairs for while I was out at work) and she’s been on the sleeping pad ever since.
Cricket on the cat stand
I don’t know why she’s suddenly realised it’s comfortable and warm on the stand, but it’s definitely suddenly flavour of the month.