Contents
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The Mew-sual In this issue Suspects
‘Oscar’s actions would have been enough to land him a one-way ticket down under on the first fleet from Plymouth to Botany Bay in 1787’
om Briggs takes a lightT hearted look at the law as he unmasks some feline felons
E
ver since the ancient Egyptians made it a crime punishable by death to kill a cat, it seems that our feline friends have regularly featured in news stories of a legal nature. Whether they’re the purr-petrators – sorry – or on the right side of the claw – sorry again, I can’t help it – it would appear that cats love getting tangled up in a bit of legal drama.
Feline felons The most amusing criminal act attributable to our moggies is surprisingly commonplace; pet-ty – argh! – theft. Yep, search the internet and you’ll find that instances of moggies halfinching everything from exciting lingerie to not-so-thrilling garments such as woolly hats are alarmingly usual. But what drives these loveable rogues to a life of making off with people’s possessions? Perhaps there is a secret feline market for second-hand clothes, or maybe our moggies are going against the law to feed a strong catnip habit? Whatever the explanation, it seems that, as far as some cats are concerned, if it’s not nailed down they’ll ‘borrow’ it. Take Southampton resident, Oscar, for example; his actions would have been enough to land him a one-way ticket down under on the first fleet from Plymouth to Botany Bay in 1787, but his penchant for pinching pants has made him an international celebrity! Oscar, who was adopted from Cats Protection’s Southampton Branch by his owners Birgitt and Peter Weismantel made the headlines this summer after a spree which included a huge number of pairs of underwear! “Oscar seems to be very partial to gloves, especially heavy gardening ones, but he also loves socks,” says Birgitt. “On one occasion he brought back a small paint roller, a child’s knee pad, various soft toys and the other day he brought back a Teletubbies glove puppet! “He went through a phase where he brought home a lot of underwear and this was the reason we contacted the police as we felt sure somebody must be missing the items. Since the article appeared in the local press, the supply of underwear has stopped and he is concentrating mostly on gloves and socks now.” The one-cat crime wave has acquired well over 100 items to date and has found fame in such distant publications as the Was hington Pos t and the Sydney Morning Herald while he has also appeared in German, Swiss and Indian newspapers, a Spanish website, a German radio station and C’es t Dit, a French magazine. “We don’t know whether Oscar had a previous police record before he came into the care of Cats Protection, but our local Police Station has recorded his deeds under incident
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Celebrity interview The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson talks cats and comedy
38 Going for gold We meet am
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The Cat
Winter 2010
The mew-sual suspects
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Photo: iStockphoto.com/MaRussya
We take a light-hearted look at the law as we unmask some feline felons
number 1218!” Another cat to have made the national news i times is red point Siamese Jaffa from Market H Leicestershire. “Jaffa first brought a child’s toy August 2009 and, by the time I publicised his a local paper in September, he had brought hom varying from deflated balloons, toys of all size materials, socks and possibly the strangest – a food!” reports owner, Myra Cooper. Jaffa’s story was printed in The Sun and the Mercury among other publications and, accord being named and shamed hasn’t dissuaded him predilection for the eclectic: “He has continue things home at infrequent intervals since then slippers, a lady’s swimming costume, gloves an the toys he had brought home previously. All t purloined from the one house which he enters cat flap.”
Ridiculous rules
Sticking with the comical side of the law, most states and cities boast a veritable treasure trov ridiculous laws. Even funnier is the fact that th system is based on precedent, meaning that so laws exist simply because somebody, somewhe committed the ludicrous acts that formed thei managed to offend somebody sufficiently for to be called in. Before we have a look at the feline-themed me to share a couple of examples. In Florida, u women who parachute on a Sunday could be j is forbidden to cross the state line of Minneso on top of your head. But before I make my wa and make good my plans to befriend a delinqu
Feline Felons Oscar...
The expanding digital face of Cats Protection Our resident web 2.0 enthusiast reviews CP’s embrace of social media and digital technology
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The Cat Winter 2010
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Photo: iStockphoto.com/Steve Goodwin Photography
The Cat
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