It's The Way Of Nature

We call this section of our blog "Catsville."


My day didn't start out like I wanted it to. I had big plans for some great articles that were just busting to be put down on paper but my cat Rocco had other ideas. 


You see this big boy is beautiful, bold and a visious hunter. (this is a pic of my hubby holding him) And even though he is an indoor cat and only has access to a large closed in pen... that goes outside.... he still manages to catch something like he did today.


Squirrels sometimes wonder near the pen and his sneaky arms reaches out and grab them. This was one of those sad days that it happened. He grabbed the little girl squirrel and before I knew it he was running with her all over the place. I chased him (along with my other cats who wanted a piece of the action) all over the pen and all over the house knocking down everything. I had busted plant planters, flipped over chairs, lap top in the floor and desk papers everywhere. I tried to get the little girl out of his mouth before he killed her but I just wasn't fast enough. By the time I got my hands on him and held the little squirrel in my hands it was to late. I watched her take her last breath. It broke my heart :(


I burried the little squirrel under the tall oak tree in the back yard. :(
I really do hate to see things like this happen. I love all Gods creatures and even though it's a natural thing for a cat to do.... I still don't like it. 


Wikipedia tells us
Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. Although it is not certain, the type of strategy used may depend on the prey species in the area, with for example, cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds.


One poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human owners. Ethologist Paul Leyhausen proposed that cats adopt humans into their social group, and share excess kill with others in the group according to the local pecking order, in which humans are placed at or near the top. Anthropologist and animal scientist Desmond Morris, in his 1986 book Catwatching, suggests that when cats bring home mice or birds, they are teaching their human to hunt, or helping their human as if feeding "an elderly cat, or an inept kitten". Morris's theory is inconsistent with the fact that male cats also bring home prey, despite males having no involvement with raising kittens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat