For about 6 months the admiral has been feeding a mob of birds from a pair of bird feeders in our courtyard. The small birds, mostly finches, are clinging 8-12 at a time to a net bag and plucking small black seeds out too much. The mid-size birds, there are about 20 of these, are pulling larger seeds and nuts from a foot long plastic tube with holes in it, beneath each hole is a perch, beneath the tube is a pile of seeds too large for the middle sized birds. The large birds are on the ground cracking open the larger seeds and getting fat. Most of the large birds are morning doves with as many as 10 to 15 on the ground at any one time.
Then, there's the cat. I'm not sure where the cat is from, but I've found two morning doves in bits and pieces on the ground. I guess they aren't quick enough to avoid a house cat. Step one was to leave the door to the courtyard open so that Misty could smell/hear the cat. There were multiple charges out the door with the cat quickly escaping over the one low wall and outside the courtyard. But, it just wan't working. More birds were turning into cat food. It wouldn't bother me if the darned cat actually ate the birds, but it just pulls them apart and leaves them damaged. It is hunting for fun or entertainment. Not good.
Today Misty and I ran Operation Cat Scare, and nearly succeeded.
When I saw the cat had crept into the courtyard and was hiding under a lounge chair, I called Misty. Following her extensive combat training (she's had none of it) she obeyed my orders to exit the house through the back door and take position on the outside of the courtyard wall. Upon confirming that Misty was on station (she's not good at radio coms) I entered the courtyard and moved slowly towards the lounge chair. The cat, not realizing that I knew it was there, stayed still assuming I'd walk by; which is what I've probably done many times without knowing it. But this time I grabbed a broom and slammed it down on top of the chair. The cat shot out from under the chair and hurtled over the courtyard wall thinking it would be safe from me. I couldn't see exactly what happened.
But from the sounds Misty made the cat must have landed pretty close to her. From the sounds the cat made it was clearly SURPRISED to meet 100lbs of German Shepherd who things it's food. Within a few seconds the cat jumped the wall again back into the courtyard. I took a swing at it with the broom and missed. The Cat ran the length of the wall with Misty barking just below it, and then hurdled over the dog by about 4 feet. Frankly, I didn't want Misty to eat the cat, just scare it. While Misty usually catches a ball that is thrown her way, for reasons I'm not quite clear on she decided not to take out the cat on-the-fly.
The cat hit the ground and went up an oak tree 30' yowling down at Misty who stopped barking and started circling the tree, eyes locked on the cat.
That was two hours ago.
Misty is still sitting just below the tree, cat is still yowling occasionally. I'm not sure how long this will go on, but the cat is getting a pretty good idea of what Operation Cat Scare is really all about. Eventually, I'll call Misty into the house and let the cat get away. I sure hope it learns from this. I'd much rather have it learn than box it up and take it to the pound. For all the cat lovers out there, this one has no tag or ID around its neck and doesn't belong to any of our near neighbors. Indeed, our nearest neighbor has been trying to shoot the thing, but he's a lousy shot. Ah yes, life in the country.
I figure based on the success of Operation Cat Scare, Misty deserves one of those US Marine Corp attack dog vests with the radio and the armor plate
