Police negotiating with Cuppy, the housecat who had had enough.
(Screencaps via ABC News 10)
Housecats. They cuddle up against us for warmth, mewl at us for food, purr at our touch. But do we really know them? When you look into your cat's eyes, do you see warmth and empathy, or darkness and a thirst for blood?
With the domestication of the housecat, did we simply populate our homes with time-bombs waiting to detonate?
One police standoff in Chula Vista, CA would indicate the answer is yes.
"He's vocal, and claws, and just a ball of fury," a neighbor speaking to ABC 10 said of Cuppy, the housecat that held his owners hostage in a bedroom for hours before the police arrived to confront the pet and hear his demands.
The call came in at around 4 AM, after a mother and her adult daughter had been held prisoner in their own home, hiding behind a bedroom door, protecting themselves from the animal they'd cared for as a pet for fourteen years.
"When the daughter would move, he'd swat, shredding up her nightgown," reports ABC 10.
A neighbor assisted police, providing them with a broom as "weapon." The standoff came to an end when police were able to coax the cat out of the house, speaking in the kind of high-pitched, nonsense gibberish that the beast could understand.
This incident might have concluded peacefully, but the question remains, who's to blame? The housecat for turning on the people who've fed him for fourteen years? Or the owners for thinking that a fanged, clawed killing machine that is capable of inspiring fright in giant bears can be tamed by something as fleeting and valueless as human affection?
In march of this year, a similar incident occurred when a family called 911 to be rescued from their 22-pounder. This isn't the first time this has happened. But will it be the last?
(by Bob Powers)