Cats: Caressing the Tiger Page #4

Oh, hello, Peter.

Good morning, Marjorie.

Have the cats caught

anything this week?

Yes, I have a body

for you ready and waiting.

Thanks very much. Well, that's nice.

Yeah, that's field vole.

Who caught it?

Eccles.

Eccles again?

Yes, the black-and-white one.

Quite a good hunter for us, isn't he?

Yes. The others don't seem to

be catching very much.

Laziness, I would say.

Here you are, Peter.

I think it's a wood mouse,

a field mouse.

I was very surprised at how cooperative

the owners were in the survey.

I think a lot of people don't like the

idea of picking dead bodies

and putting them in polythene bags.

But most of the people in the village

gritted their teeth and did it.

And some even went as far as

to put them in the deep freeze,

which was nice, because,

as you can imagine,

at the end of a week in the summer,

often the dead bodies

were getting rather smell.

And it was pleasant to have them put

in the deep freeze

before I got hold of them.

...take it to work and look at

it under the microscope.

That's Wednesday.

When the specimens were labeled and

the numbers of dead totaled,

Churcher and cats of

Felmersham made headlines.

if the cats in Felmersham caught

the course of a year,

we know there are about

five million cats,

domestic cats, in Britain.

So that means that 70 million

small mammals and birds

are caught by cats in a year.

And so, domestic cats,

in spite of their reliance on man for

food and a lot of other things,

are still remarkably independent.

And I think what our survey has shown

is that they're also very important

as predators on the ecological stage.

Churcher does not propose

that cats be confined indoors.

Others insist it is essential,

not just for the wildlife,

but for the safety of

the cats themselves.

While debate continues,

one thing is certain:

In every well-fed cat by the fire

lies a dormant tiger primed

for the thrill of the hunt.

Because cats are seen

as self-sufficient hunter,

many people feel no qualms

about abandoning them.

Nationwide, millions

are dumped every year.

Near Oxnard, California,

animal welfare activist Leo Grillo

has tried for weeks

to trap two cats living in this jetty.

Such brutal conditions are a death

sentence for cats,

and he devotes his life

to rescuing them.

When the winter hits, these rocks

are really cold and the waves

are cold and the mist is cold

and the fog is cold, The cats are cold.

And everybody thinks they have

a fur coat, they're going to be fine.

And it's always like this,

and when it's a bad winter especially,

it's really pitiful.

Here, at the farthest tip of the rocks

the cats have retreated

from the taunts

and bottle throwing

of uncaring strangers.

But they are also completely cut off

from fresh drinking water.

So Leo baits his traps with it.

Hi, Jet.

He has named the cats

"Marina" and "Jetty"

because of where he found them.

Come on, Jet. Com on,

Jet. Come on.

It is not uncommon for Leo

infinitely patient

to return to the same spot week

after week.

Marina

To Grillo,

these cats appear relatively tame.

Clearly, they were not born wild,

but raised in the

comfort of a human home.

But these same humans abandoned them.

The cats no longer trust.

For Leo it is always a waiting game to

see which is stronger, thirst or fear.

Attaboy. I'm coming down.

All right, Jet, all right. Here you go.

When I get a cat,

and those traps are set,

and I get a cat to go in the trap

and that door comes down and slaps,

that is the most exciting feeling.

And that little saga,

that little story,

the trips to this one

little rock to feed that

one little cat is now over.

It has an ending.

After weeks of failed attempts

this day would finally bring success.

Tired but exultant, Leo would trap

both Marina and Jetty

and bring them back to a

world of care and love.

Grillo runs four licensed

shelters in California.

But they are only for animals

he himself has rescued.

An ever-changing number of cats

and dogs live out their lives here.

If it gets too crowded, he says,

I just expand.

Leo and family live

nearby with 60 cats.

This ranch house is home to

more than 150 at last count.

Dry food seven tons a year

is left out at all time.

Canned food is fed twice daily,

totaling more than

All of this is paid

for by private donations.

There we go. Come see Jetty and Marina.

After a trip to the vet for shots

blood tests, spaying, and neutering,

Marina and Jetty are

ready to meet the others.

But only from the

safety of their cages.

J.J., Junkyard, come on.

Come see your friends. Come on.

This cat is in ecstasy just

to have food,

real food.

Yeah, look at that.

Beautiful thing is they were

caught together and they can

tame down together, comfort each other

For many people the cat is all

but hypnotic

soothing and calming just to behold.

Through the ages,

an uncounted number graceful,

beautiful, and mysterious

have captivated the human mind and eye

Scientists learned that simply petting

a cat lowers human blood pressure.

Now, some go further and suggest cats

may actually benefit our longevity.

In a small town on Long Island,

one innovative woman is playing a role

in the sweeping changes in health care.

When her cats helped her

cope with an illness,

Joan Bernstein was inspired

to reach out to others.

I became ill.

I developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,

at that time not knowing what it was.

The disease was not

defined at that time.

And there were days

when there was no way

I felt like getting out of bed,

crawling out of bed literally in pain,

and feeding the cats,

changing litter pans,

and doing everything else

that has to be done.

But I did it because the cats

insisted that I did it.

Sometimes they'd just by my

hot-water bottle or my comforter.

Whatever I needed them to be,

they became.

So I became very aware of the

value of the cats as a therapy.

Lonely, often forgotten,

the institutionalized elderly

have been cut off from a

lifetime of friends and memories.

Ladies and gentlemen,

one of the most beautiful

Grand Champion,

champagne mink Tonkinese...

At the Brookhaven Health Care Facility

Joan's Tonkinese cats

are eagerly awaited every month.

Bred for their stable temperament

and sociability,

they offer therapy at many levels.

The warmth of the cat

on her lap is very important.

Just holding the cat in her arms.

First of all,

it's good exercise for her;

she's utilizing the muscles

in her arms and her hands.

So we have the physical aspect of it.

Look what I brought you.

You think she's trying

to tell you something?

Come on. Okay.

She'll stay right

there with you, Mr. Hook.

Patients who have

difficulty with recall,

with recall of the present, okay,

in other words remembering

the present from now to tomorrow,

or now to next week,

or now to a month from now,

they will remember the cats.

She's a lot like the one

I brought here one time

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