My
border collie (also a twitcher) and I rescued a crested pigeon from the
neighbour?s cat on Saturday evening around dusk. We live on a 2-acre block at
Highvale (around 35ks n/w of Brisbane cbd). The moggie was toying with the
capture up the back of our block and my dog came in the house barking for me
to take a look. Of course the cat took off as we approached and I was able to
rescue the CP. Unfortunately the dog was unable to catch the
cat!!
The CP
was missing all but 4 tail feathers and plenty of down feathers from around
the anal region. Very little blood though and no puncture marks so I dabbed it
with some Betadine in the appropriate places and took it off to our wonderful
wildlife carer for some R & R where it has lived through the initial shock
(which is the usual killer), and has survived to day 4. Hopefully in around a
month?s time I will be able to release it back in this
vicinity.
A
peculiar aspect of this episode though is to attest to the fact that the cat
was wearing a collar with bells and serves to prove a suspicion that I?ve had
for some time: -
I?m certain that after wearing these bell collars for some time, cats
learn to hunt and stalk without them
?ringing?.
Anyone
have any comments in this??
Cheers
John
