July 9, 2009
-
The Prides… They Are a Changin’
There was a slight panic last night when for the third time one of my original six cats was missing. Over six months we were able to Catch-Neuter-Release forty-three cats by the river/boardwalk here in Xindian. I know every one of them by sight, and have named each one in order to keep track of them, even after the CNR ended. When we first started, there were six that were to be the first and main catches. We got five of them in the first two weeks and the last one took almost six months to catch. Of those six, they are all still there (except one still recovering from an eye injury). But this last week I couldn’t find Toughy.
I can’t pick a favorite down there as they are all great cats and I seriously love each one, but there is something a little more special about the original six. We have seen them go from wild street cat, violent loner or tough fighter cat to loving, adorable, street-smart Taiwanese street cats. Every time I am at the bridge to feed them, I always see the original six. I know their areas and their prides (there are four distinct groups, which I look at as a pride). Moustache, Wrong Place and Mouthy are in one, Mamacat and Crazy are in another, and Toughy roams a little between Moustache’s crew and her own area. It’s this other area I am worried about.
The area at the river bend by the parking lot has always had a lot of cats in it. After the renovations to the entire boardwalk were done, they began on the parking lot. It wasn’t much work, but I would say about a third of the cats we have caught are from this area. One of the best results from that area was Big Head. He was a tough, smart, independent and very scary cat who was our first trap catch. He would eat our food, but he would take your arm with it if he had to. Within a month of the CNR he was the most loving, affectionate cat ever. He would go for walks with me to find other cats, let me give him a good bum scratch, and he loved to talk. It was like another cat. We fell in love with Big Head. The week before Chinese New Year he wasn’t there. When I came back from the Philippines, he was still gone. We never saw him again…
The other prides have cats who come and go, but he prides stay intact with their leader (alpha-cat). Moustache rules the stairs, Mamacat rules the upper walkway, Security Cat has the bike path and security office, and a new pride is now forming in a bushed area with Stumpy, Fisher, Bridgecat and a few new faces forming the group. The Parking Lot has always been more of a rotation of cats. Big Head was in charge, then Toughy began working her way into the area as well, floating from the stairs to the parking lot. We also added a cat to the mix that was caught elsewhere and had no where to be returned to named NTU. For the last four or five months NTU has been more of the dominant cat there. She never trusted me enough to touch her, but she was always there, ready for food, conversations and walks to find others in the area. NTU was like one of the original six… always there.
The week we buried Angel, after finding her poisioned in the parking lot, I found NTU sitting on her grave, just silently looking at me. Our usual conversation didn’t take place, but there was a connection to her understanding what happened and why I was there. I fed her near the grave, and she walked with me after… silently, which was very unlike her. NTU has always been a special one for me because we added her to the prides. She was tough with the others, but mixed in well, holding her own with the Moustache’s, and Mamacat’s crews as well as never fighting within her own pride, a kind of understanding and respect between her and Toughy. NTU disappeared four weeks ago…
The parking lot was like a ghost town last night. Not a single cat came out. Toughy was no where to be seen and no sign of the old or new cats who usually came from the bushes, from under cars, or even from down with the fishermen. I could barley take it. Little Big Head, Big Sister, Wulai #2, Fluffy, Tabby Tail and other CNR’s were gone, and even some of the new faces like Shadow, George (of the Jungle) and Little Black were no where to be seen. I still don’t want to accept NTU has gone, but when Toughy didn’t come out, I knew something had to be wrong.
The pride on the stairs has stayed relatively intact. Princess, Wulai and Kangaroo joined the pride when the construction began at the river bend and fit in perfectly. Moustache, Wrong Place, Baby, Mouthy, Puffy and a few others are always there. The pride is almost exclusively male with the exception of Mouthy (Princess is a boy… just very girly).
Mamacat’s crew was just her and Crazy for the longest time, but additions have joined to the dismay of Mama. She is very protective of her territory and she is getting a little old and cranky… like the old woman who sits on her porch and yells at the kids playing in the yard. Calico, Crazymama, Jack, Sweet Mama and Little Mama are now in the crew as well. Bunny is still on the outskirts with a few other cats who roam in and out. Now Sweet and Little have kittens who have joined the area. The funny thing, this pride is almost completely female. The interesting thing to watch is how the two prides are very close to each other. If either of the prides mix, Moustache or Mamacat are quick to chase the intruder back to their own area.
Security Cat has one of the newer prides who have come together in an area that didn’t have many cats to begin with. He is the most talkative cat I have ever come across and can make a meow last over a minute if he wants. His pride is very young. Many are kittens dumped in groups under the boardwalk, an area people seem to think is a great place to get rid of unwanted kittens.. There are two different sets of orange kittens who stay with him as well as a new black and white and a tabby. One of he orange kittens has grown to be one of the largest cats in the area. I dubbed him Simba a while back and he has grown to really suit the name.
As I walked the different territories last night I thought about the cats I don’t see anymore and more and more it came from the river bend/parking lot area. I started counting the cats I was feeding. Seven on the stairs, four at the security office, another four in the bushes, nine in the upper walkway, and a few random loners who brought the total up to twenty-seven cats. Every name and face flashed through my head, but I kept thinking about Toughy. My girl… my tough little round calico butterball. She’s Mouthy’s mother and she’s like the mother figure to the stairs crew when she visits them. I called Brandy to tell her, and I tried to ask the old lady who feeds the cats if she has seen her, but I think she thought I was asking about Mouthy, who we still have in the holding centre under care for her eye.
I fed them all, six cans of food, which really isn’t a lot for that many cats, but a lot compared to the two cans I used to bring. I said goodbye to each crew as I left and gave Moustache a good belly rub and Wrong Place a big hug and massage, then headed for the washroom by the parking lot to wash my hands of the cat food. Moustache, Baby, Princess and Wulai followed me for the walk and as I threw the last two empty cans in the garbage and looked out at the desolate parking lot, remembering the faces of the cats who used to cal it home, I heard a little squeaky meow come from under one of the cars. I know these cats so well you could tape their meows and play them to me and I could tell you who they are. I stopped dead and called out, and there she came like nothing was wrong… my Toughy.
I had no food for her, but I spent more time with her, petting, playing and showing her affection than any of the other cats last night. I think she was a little confused as to all the attention, but she deserves it. I really didn’t think I would get to pet her again, so I made up for it. She rubbed, rolled and gave me a few little bites as if nothing had changed from the last time I was there. I wanted to somehow convince her to get out of the parking lot and rejoin Moustache’s pride for good, but I know she loves to sun herself on the roofs of cars and be the first to get fed when the feeding lady begins her nightly walk. I just hope that my cats, the original six, as well as the others are there for a long time, but I know the shelf life for a Taiwanese Street Cat is not as long as those I have cared for before. I only got two months with Big Head, one day with Angel… and now… I still don’t want to accept it…
I found Toughy, but I still keep listening for NTU and thinking she is going to pop out from under one of the parked cars, waiting for her canned food that she loves so much…
The only pictures of Big Head and NTU I have are both in the traps. I wish I had more of them, but I just never got any more. I think NTU is a part of the video I posted about a month or two back which I am going to go and check now. As for Toughy, I have some good shots of her, but I want more… more of all the cats. I wish I could get good videos of each pride, but it’s late at night and not well lit when I go down there. I am going to document these cats more. They have given me two different book ideas, I just don’t know which one to start first…
