Cat People

Returning from the Cave yesterday, I swung by the mailbox and, as I passed the pool, I spotted something odd.

Turns out it’s a cage .... cat trap.

Some time ago, management posted notices to our doors indicating they were going to trap the stray cats roaming the property and turn them over to Animal Control.

First, they got rid of Cat Lady (rightly so, she was a menace). Now they’re after her cats, but I don’t believe for one second management will do something humane, like turn the cats over to Animal Control.

The joke’s on them, because there’s more than just that one Cat Lady here on the complex.

One, a friendly old lady who exercises daily by walking around and around and around the property with her walker, is like a pied piper ─ cats follow wherever she goes.

The other, who I think hit the blog once before as Little Linda, is a stone cold beoch ─ not very old, and a drinking buddy of the neighbor I recently blogged about being moved in with family because drinking got the best of her and she could no longer care for herself.

Little Linda is decidedly NOT friendly to people, but falls under the category of cat lady.

There’s probably plenty more cat ladies around here, but these are the only two ─ other than the original cat lady, that I'm aware of.

At any rate, figuring management’s plan to trap the strays wasn’t going to sit well with any of the cat people, I pictured that trap, and others I've not yet spotted around the property, being destroyed.

Surprise, surprise ... management was expecting the same because, on the notice was a caveat that, “Anyone seen tapering with these traps or seen trying to free any captured cats will be receive a lease violation up to termination of their lease.”

I wonder if the other cat ladies can use typos in that caveat as an excuse, if caught tampering with the cages ─ that they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong because they didn’t understand what “tapering” meant. LOL.

While I was photographing this cat trap, along comes a cat.

I began, in my mind, screaming at it to “DON’T GO IN THERE. IT’S A TRAP!”

Must have heard me because fortunately it didn’t.

Instead, the cat went under the chairs to take a nap in the shade.

Hopefully, the cat didn’t later ─ seeking water and food, get herself trapped.

How do I know it’s a herself, not a himself?

That’s because, the cat being a long-time fixture around the place, if she’s not seen for a while, I’ve encountered cat people out looking for her, asking if I've seen the “mama” cat.

The strays aren’t hurting anyone. They help to keep the lizard population down. So, I don’t know why the big deal about getting rid of them.

Residents wishing to save them may have to Anne Frank 'em ─ hide cats in their units until management gives up and gets rid of the traps.