There are three felid-related bits and bobs today, including this parrot who has learned to meow like a cat:
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On to #2. We’ve had stories before about owls and eagles caught in car grills or windshields, but here, from the Daily Mail, is the tail of Muril, an Austrian tabby caught in the grill of her owner’s car, which was heading for the carwash. This is truly a cat’s nightmare:
It was only when owner Reinhold Pratl, 53, stopped to get petrol and switched the engine off that he heard a screeching noise and realised that his cat, Murli, was wedged behind the bumper.
But by that time Mr Pratl had already driven 15 miles from his home in the city of Hartberg in east Austria to the nearby town of Oberwart and put his car through a car wash.
He had heard the noise before but thought it was a noise from the car’s engine.
He said: ‘I wanted to wash my car, when I heard the noise and then realised it was my cat I was really shocked.
‘I have no idea how she got wedged in there – but they had to get the local automobile club to free her.
A spokesman for the Austrian Automobile, Motorcycle and Touring Club Gerald Kainz, who helped rescue the cat, said: ‘It was not an easy operation, we had to dismantle a fair bit of the car to get to the cat.
‘That included the bumper and lights.
‘It’s amazing really that she survived the trip from Hartberg to Oberwart and then the car wash unharmed.’
Fortunately the cat was unharmed during its ordeal.
Mr Pratl added: ‘Murli was still wet when she came out and smelled of shampoo – I put her in a box in the boot to take her home.’
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Finally, from Yahoo News via the Wisconsinrapidstribune, we learn that a woman call the policy on their emergency number (911) to report that kittens were having sex in her yard:
Sure, cats aren’t for everyone. But we can’t remember the last time someone called the police to complain about a pair of kittens.
But that’s exactly what happened in Wisconsin on Thursday when a woman called police after she reportedly witnessed two kittens “having sex” in her front yard.
. . . The Wisconsin Rapids Police Department included the truly unusual call in their public list of request calls received. However, there’s still no word on how the department responded to the unnamed woman’s call.
As skeptics, we must question whether these kittens really were old enough to make the beast with two backs. If that’s the case, then the woman was either a prude or religious!
h/t: SGM, Bob
Maybe the parrot thinks that if he acts like a cat, he will be treated as a cat, I mean as the ruler of the universe.
My cat came to have a look when she heard this parrot!
So did Baihu!
b&
So did my Charlie.
It trully is amazing where cats can crawl into. Last winter when I was filling screenwash liquied in my car, I found half-eaten mouse right on the top of my motor. The only explanation I have for this ist that cat went there for a snack some preious evening on top of the then still-warm engine.
I once saw a video of a parrot which had been taught to say “Here, kitty, kitty.” Truly diabolical.
Years ago when I was a child I had a cat named Elizabeth who was paranoid about people. Whenever anyone not in the immediate family came over she would run down into the basement and hide somewhere, usually behind the furnace. The doorbell was enough to set her scurrying off. We all lived in hopes that eventually her fear of strangers would wear off and she’d relax.
Alas, no. One day the furnace repair man came over and went down to fix the furnace. We forgot about Elizabeth. A lot of banging and pounding and metal sounds and finally the repair man left.
And eventually Elizabeth crawled out from her “safe” hiding spot.
No, she never did relax. Her fears had apparently been confirmed. Yes. Yes, it was true. They were ALL coming to get her.
I thought you were going to say the repair man ended up sealing poor Elizabeth in the furnace.
About 13 years ago, some friends of friends of ours in Camarillo, CA, were up in Ojai, about 30-40 miles away. When they returned home, they heard mewing coming from their car’s engine. Sure enough, a kitten had crawled up into their motor, and had made the ride from Ojai to Camarillo unharmed. Since none of them wanted a cat, we adopted her, and she’s still with us and doing fine.
We named her Kaz, after “Rock The Casbah” by The Clash, because of the line in that song about “the muezzin was a’standing/On the radiator grille,” which we figured little Kaz had just done!
note that cats do not make the “beast with two backs”. you’re thinking of humans. cats do it doggie-style.
From the same Wisconsin Rapids page:
“At 6:14 p.m. Wednesday, a village of Port Edwards woman reported a vehicle was going through an alley in the 100 block of Market Street, pulling into a parking lot, pretending it was going to hit the building, then leaving the lot and starting the process over.”
Wtf? Learner driver practising??
As a skeptic, I must also question whether cats really do it in the missionary position.