A different cat this time. Some years ago we moved to live in an isolated rural community (I had taken up a teaching post there, sole charge of 19 pupils). My sons each had a cat, and the cats moved with us. Wendy was the junir (but larger) cat, and went missing.
We searched, we posted a Strayed notice in the school newsletter, we waited... we gave up.
Then one day one of my pupils phoned me to ask had we lost a large tabby cat? He had it in an unused rabbit hutch. We drove out (forty-five minutes further down the unsealed rural road) and there, sure enough, was Wendy. He took delight in telling us...
They had a pigeon coop across the paddock from the house, beneath the shelter of a windbreak of Huge pine trees. The pines gave overnight shelter to a flock of NZ native bush pigeons (beautiful birds, protected as they are rare; a "flock" ofthem evenmore rare!).
The young lad had noticed that over the last few weeks the number of bush pigeons was getting smaller, and feathers were found benealth the wind break and around the paddock. Something had been eating the bush pigeons!
Looking at Wendy we realised that, as she was in no way skinny, nor seemed to have come to any harm or starvation during her five months on the run, she was the culprit!
Talk about emBarassing!!!
Definitely not a suggested component of a cat's diet!
Go to the new zealand birds site to see how beautiful the bush pigeon is...
