I’ve held onto this story a while (there are usually three or four Caturday Felid drafts in different stages of production), but the March 8 New York Times had an article on “The Cat-Mayor of Carroll Gardens“. It’s about Petro, a 13-year-old Tom who was a Brooklyn house cat until a baby was born in his territory three years ago. Petro then took to the outdoors and became a “local celebrity”:
On nice days, Petro, his coat flecked with silver, patrols the block, from the corner of Clinton Street almost to the far end at Court Street. He delights children, greets strangers and friends, poses for photos, terrifies dogs (or imagines he does).
“He’ll sit in the middle of the sidewalk,” said Richard Fluker, who delivers parcels for the Postal Service. “You have no choice — you have to go around him. He’s not afraid of anyone.”
From Petro’s collar hangs an ID tag shaped like a fish. “We used to get four or five calls a week from people who ‘found’ him,” said Ms. Chi’s husband, Jason Glenn. “People wake you up at 1 in the morning holding your cat in the doorway. We felt like taping to the tag, ‘It’s all right for him to be outside.’”
For a short video of Petro, and more of the story, click on the first screenshot below:
When the weather is less agreeable, Petro makes house calls in his five-story brownstone.
“One time he somehow got into my apartment,” said Tommy Mulvoy, a teacher who lives on the top floor. “I turn around and this freaking cat is on the back of my couch. How my cat didn’t see him, I don’t know. He’s a sneaky dude.”
. . . downstairs neighbor David Sandholm came home. Petro slalomed between his legs and followed him inside.
“He’s the perfect pet for us,” said Mr. Sandholm’s wife, Carolyn. “We don’t have to clean out a litter box.”
The Sandholms have never met Petro’s owners.
Mr. Sandholm gave Petro some treats and sat on the couch with a sandwich. Petro got up on the coffee table to sniff it. After lunch, he took a nap on Mr. Sandholm’s computer keyboard.
Yes, I know that cats should be kept indoors, so you needn’t say that in the comments.
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From PuffHo we have a tale of religious cats:
Russia’s Optina Monastery is an Orthodox Christian center located south of Moscow that dates back to at least the sixteenth century. The sacred spot has reportedly welcomed many notable guests during its long history — including writers Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy.
. . . Optina uploaded a YouTube video on March 29 showing a band of cats following one of the center’s residents while he performed a ritual blessing.
In an email, one of the monks from Optina confirmed to The Huffington Post that the cats’ human leader was Sergey Kuzmich, a lay person who is living at the center. The monk said that the members of the community have an old tradition of walking around inside the center every day to bless the walls, gates and buildings with a cross. The monks take turns performing this task daily.
Kuzmich is the one who usually feeds the stray cats that appear at the hermitage. But this particular time, it seems that when it was their friend’s turn to do the blessing, the furry felines couldn’t resist jumping in.
“Cats know and love him and so they decided to take part in the whole procedure, though it wasn’t feeding time, which looked very touching and that’s why we filmed it and have shared this video on YouTube,” the monk wrote to The Huffington Post.
Voilà:
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And, from BuzzFeed, we have a story about a Russian cat named Maray: “This museum’s prank went wrong and now they’ve employed a cat.” Maray (or “Marai”) was a stray who hung around the Serpukhov Museum of History and Art near Moscow. He was adopted by the Museum staff, which became his staff, and Marai became the Museum’s greeter.
BuzzFeed goes on:
Last month, the staff at the museum thought it’d be funny to use Maray as a joke for April Fools’ day. They wrote his job application letter and sent a press release to local media saying they had accepted his application.
Here’s the letter. Anybody able to translate it?
Unfortunately, the media took the press release seriously and began contacting the museum for information about the employed cat.
So staff decided to make the appointment real, and declared him their official doorman. According to museum employee Nina Strelkova, Maray works from 9 to 5 each day with a break for lunch and a springtime walk. He even has a tent to sleep in at night.
Here’s a video of Marai:
And, of course, everyone loves him:
“All people who work in our museum love Maray. Many bring him food from home and take pictures with him. So he gets a little fat now,” she said. “And visitors love the cat too — lots of them taking selfies with him.”
Yeah, I’d say he’s a little bit. . . fluffy:
h/t: Greg Mayer, Michael
Pedro is just so cat napping on the man’s computer. Do lie right on the key board space and go to sleep. Thank You.
Marai somewhat calls to mind Garfield.
I think if more people tried it, it would turn out most or at least many cats would follow along on a walk. Through the years five out of six of my cats would follow me on walks. One would come and get me if I was running late. Another would also follow me to the dumpster and then race me back home.
Not surprising that the majority of the Optima cats are long-haired!
I dunno why they have to keep blessing the buildings and grounds every day. They’ve already been blessed with cats.
Application of Maray (the cat)
Since I am a direct descendant of the cat Marayevay, I ask to employ me at
yourour museum.Maray
me-eow
Thanks!
I’ll see if I can get the wife to translate. I an recognise bits of the Russian, but the handwriting is beyond me.
From the Buzzfeed link that Jerry gave:
Application. As I am a direct relative of [Anna] Maraeva, I ask you to give me a job in your museum. Maray the Cat.
cr
It says (with lots of orthographic errors): “Since I am a direct descendant of [Anna] Marayeva’s cat, I ask to employ me at our museum.”
Thanks Andrei, that does make a little more sense.
cr
RE the monastery; if Jesus would’ve had disciples like those, he’ve been way cooler.
What a question to wake you up at god-awful o’clock (*) :
Given : that sauropod dinosaurs were herbivorous, developed from eggs, and grew up – at least in the early stages – without parental care (fairly well established from the finding of sauropod eggs, nests and juveniles without associated adults) ;
Then how did they acquire their gut microflora. In particular, the anaerobic ones that live far down in the gut.
Hypothesis – Mummy sauropod dropped a great big steaming turd on top of the nest after laying, which ensured that the eggs and chicks would be fairly well coated in poo by the time they hatched.
Is this testable? Well, at least come crocodilians might still have similar brooding practices, which may be some slight evidence. The putative turd may well leave distinctive sedimentological marks (one for the ichnofossil people). Innoculation experiments with chicks and unusual microflora seem unavoidable (who could resist the idea of being paid – no matter how poorly – to make chickens that poo fluorescent green).
And there’s an irritatingly suggestive factoid lurking in my skull from somewhere – probably a ‘nature’ programme – that dung beetles comparable to modern ones first appeared about 100 Myr ago – around the acme of the sauropods. Hmmm, subconscious at work – I was searching a memory stick for bank statements recently and came across the “Tiniest Titan” editorial article/PDF from a recent number of Nature.
Urrgh. Back to bed. I’ll try to find Jack Horner’s email address later.
(*) Note to future biographers – this is a figure of speech, not sign of a death-bed conversion to belief in invisible unicorn riding sky fairies. All hail the One True Spaghetti Monster (Sauce Be Upon the Meaty Balls)!