This forum needs more random cuteness

[Griselda]

We have a squirrel in the walnut tree behind our house. It can definitely take on our cat and win. We all watched the other day as the squirrel was eating walnuts and the cat was trying to catch it. First, the cat tried waiting in the trunk of the tree, but the trunk is wide enough that the squirrel just stayed on the other side. It went right past the cat, just out of reach, a few times before the cat decided to try the fence instead.

The problem is, the cat can move just fine on the fence posts, but can't balance very well on the slats in between. She tried to just walk along the fence to the squirrel a couple of times, but lost her balance and retreated to the fence post. The squirrel needed to go past her to get from the nut-eating spot to the tree. So, she'd have a chance, right?

Nope. :P The squirrel could either go along the side of the fence, underneath the cat and just out of reach, or it could jump the rather long diagonal between the fence and the tree to avoid the cat.

The cat finally gave up. The funny thing was, the whole time the squirrel was pretty casual about the whole thing, while the cat was in "battle mode" the whole time. It was good entertainment, especially once it became clear that the squirrel was not in any danger.

My last cat would bring home rather large rats and rabbits, but even he never brought home a squirrel. My other cat used to bring home (and release) live snakes. So now, the cats have to wait at the door to be let in.

-Griselda

[Scrape]

We have had so many cats at my parents' house. We basically would get a lot of wandering cats, and we would just feed them. Some of them would basically come every day. We always gave the cats the
chance to come in. Only a few of them have, and they became indoor/outdoor cats. Some cats we would take from litters that were being giving away, or from people that could not take care of them.

Currently there are three indoor cats (one is female, two are male) and two frequent outdoor cats (one of each gender). The three indoor cats are siblings, and the two outdoor cats are siblings. The three indoor cats are of the litter of the female outdoor cat. One of my sisters noticed the mother when she was pregnant, and decided she wants to keep the litter inside.

I happened to be visiting the house one time when the three indoor cats were just recently born. They were so cute, but it was so sad. Outside I could hear the mother crying. I just kept listening to her, but my sister wanted the kittens to stay, and the mother did not want to come in. (At that time, she was hard to catch anyway.)

Soon after the crying stopped and it seemed peaceful.

However, the mother became pregnant again. My sister kept meaning to get the mother spayed, but she kept putting it off. After the mother had another litter, all of which were given away to friends for free, my sister had her spayed.

The male outdoor cat was actually neutered a while ago. (Before the first time his sister became pregnant.) For a short time, he used to come inside. But that stopped. He is always hanging around right outside.

But as to the topic of catching animals, that goes back to a former cat. His name was Quincy.

He was an excellent hunter and rather large. He was not exactly fat, but just a big cat. He was the indoor/outdoor type.

He used to bring so many dead animals to the door on the porch. He biggest kill was actually a groundhog, which my father was not upset about because the groundhog would always explore my father's
garden.

He was unfortunately killed early at age. (The cat that is, not my father.)

And while I am still on that topic of killing animals, the female outdoor cat I mentioned above is a fairly good hunter. My father feeds the birds and squirrels every morning on and near the porch. This cat started
killing so many birds, but not any squirrels from what my father has told me. (The only cat we are aware of to successfully catch any squirrels was Quincy.) The mourning doves are the easiest for her to catch.

Because of this situation, my father stopped feeding them on the porch, and just in the surrounding areas. This has stopped the killing spree.

I certainly miss them.

I want to go home...

[CelticHound]

Originally posted by ShadowHM@May 27 2004, 03:28 AM
Possums can take on a cat and win????

We have possums here in So. Cal. Years ago, I had a roommate who had three cats, and early one mornong I was out in the back yard to see if any oranges were ready, and I saw a good sized possum sitting on the grass. At a guess, it would have outweighed the largest of the cats - two of whom were out and were studiously ignoring it.

It showed me it's teeth - nasty, sharp, pointy looking things - and slowly trundled away.

This was all long before the hounds, of course. I don't think I'd give any of the local possums I've seen good odds against them. But then I've also seen one sitting on top of a wall, just out of reach, taunting them for half an hour.

-- CH
(You want successful? Let's talk raccoons. I went to visit my old school campus, and I saw a family of them by the library. If they'd been any more successful, they'd have starved because their feet wouldn't touch the ground. Topologically similar to a couple beechballs and some basketballs.)

[ShadowHM]

Originally posted by CelticHound@May 28 2004, 05:55 PM

(You want successful? Let's talk raccoons. I went to visit my old school campus, and I saw a family of them by the library. If they'd been any more successful, they'd have starved because their feet wouldn't touch the ground. Topologically similar to a couple beechballs and some basketballs.)

For years we have had a garbage box out by the road at the cottage, to store the smelly stuff until the weekly pick up by the garbage truck. (Yes, I am lucky - most cottagers don't get this service.)

Until last summer all that was needed to keep the box closed was to swing the hasp from the lid over the half loop embedded in the main part of the box. But last summer arrived a raccoon with the right combination of size and smarts to figure out how to open that. :o The lid would still be down, but garbage would be strewn about of a morning.

One quiet summer night I heard the tell-tale bang of the lid dropping and caught the miscreant in the flashlight beam as he scuttered away from his meal. Well fed indeed !

So now it has an additional carabiner over the loop. But I am not holding my breath on it withstanding the raccoons. Hubby has been nagged.... err.... requested to make a new set of garbage bins this spring.

[Scrape]

Possums and raccoons, eh? We have them both back home. There have been more possums than raccoons at the porch.

I used to find a possum sleeping in one of the recycling cans, which were (and are) kept on the side of the porch.

Whenever we have left over bones from chicken or what have you, we usually leave that for the animals to gobble gobble. We usually try to leave some meat with the bones as well.

They are always gone by the next morning.

[Sirian]

Squirrels are a mainstay of the Maryland landscape, where I grew up. The first wildlife I became aware of were squirrels in and around the big oak tree at the first house where I lived, when I was yet aspiring to two years of age. White oaks are all over Maryland, and oaks in general, too. With oaks come... acorns! With acorns come squirrels.

Squirrels are not as evolutionarily successful as rats and generally restrict themselves to living in places where humans think it's okay for animals to be.

The squirrels in Maryland are quite savvy. Telephone wires are like global squirrel transportation networks, allowing the little beasties to cross some very heavily trafficked arteries, and to cross side streets at will. Maryland and Virginia are lush with squirrel-friendly woodlands, as well as big old trees in almost every yard. The squirrels are about as omnipresent in that environment as rats, although you are right, they don't tend to invade places people don't want them to (for the most part), and Griselda is also right in that they don't usually have much to fear from cats. Cats are on the loose all over, too, and some chase the squirrels -- usually the young cats who don't know any better yet, and actually believe they'll catch one.

If you come to the DC area, Jaffa, you might find it worth your while to spend some time in suburban Maryland, especially the northeast side of the city. DC has more parkland than any other major city, and the landscape is almost like a fusion between a metropolis and a forest. Squirrels aren't the only wildlife that has adapted itself seamlessly into the niches still available between all those bustling people. 8)


- Sirian

[ShadowHM]

Originally posted by Sirian@Jun 1 2004, 06:30 AM
Squirrels aren't the only wildlife that has adapted itself seamlessly into the niches still available between all those bustling people. 8)

Toronto also has a fair amount of parkland, mainly centred around the many ravines that wind through the city.

These are definitely through-ways for many animals. Others are provided by the six-hundred foot right of ways for the many electricity lines feeding the city. I have seen coyotes crossing the street to follow those routes.

We have a thriving coyote population within the city. And this is definitely a mixed blessing. There are the gormless among us who actually feed them, by dint of laying out food daily. A wild animal that is accustomed to being fed no longer fears humans and can and will approach and attack those who use the the parks.

There have been a couple of incidents in High Park where children have been approached by coyotes accustomed to being fed by people whose home border on the park.

[T-hawk]

On Long Island where I grew up, the joke goes like this:

"Why did the Long Island chicken cross the road?"

"To prove to the squirrel it could be done."

I swear, there's more squished squirrels than live ones around there...