This ginger tabby-and-white domestic cat living on the Surf coast, Victoria, Australia, is quite fearless in the defence of her/his territory. We don’t know his gender so I’ll refer to him as male as he is called ‘Sam’ although it could be short for Samantha. He has been described as a psycho, canine-hating feline terrorising the suburb where he lives but that’s unfair although I sympathise with the dog owners.
He is probably defending his home range like his wild cat ancestors. It is purely instinctive. As an ailurophile (I like dogs too) I can’t help but be impressed by Sam’s fearlessness in attacking dogs larger than him. He has turned the tables.
He has been criticised extensively as has his owner but do dogs get the same level of criticism when they attack and sometimes kill cats? They do not. It is considered almost normal for dogs to chase and injure cats but turn it around and there is hell to pay. This is speciesism. I feel I have to defend the domestic cat. I am compelled to admire Sam for his courage. I would describe it as defensive cat aggression i.e. defending territory or perhaps taking proactive steps to defend against a potential attack from the dogs.
It is reported that Sam has attacked 10 dogs and is the subject of at least 10 complaints. His owner faces a AUS$81 fine for letting him wander the neighbourhood. One dog owner said that her dog’s eye had been scratched by Sam.
Most of the dogs were on a lead when Sam attacked them. One woman said that her Staffy was scared of Sam and would not go near the home since he was attacked by Sam.
The environment and general manager of the Surf Coast Shire said they were investigating. He said that the council had received one complaint.
Note: there is probably more to this story but I am unable to access the info. The info that I have comes from the Daily Maine online.
Hi Albert. I hope you are well despite this damned pandemic. Keep safe and thanks for visiting.