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Singhsth the Tiger

Cat of the Month ~ August 2019


Singhsth (aka Tiger 57)
caught on camera, sheltering in a cave in India

Photograph: © David Yarrow

After more than two hundred hours spent in the humid furnace that is the Ranthambore National Park, India, this image of the elusive tiger was finally captured.

Ranthambore Park is a wildlife sanctuary containing a huge variety of animals, birds and reptiles within it. These include Tigers, Leopards, Striped Hyenas, Sambar Deer, Hanuman Langurs, Macaques, Jackals, Jungle cats, Caracals, Common Palm Civets and Desert Cats.

The well known 4 year old ‘Singhsth’ had retreated out of the heat of the day into the cool, dark recess of a cave. Vipul Jain could just see the tiger in the cave mouth and he then passed the message on to his companion, photographer David Yarrow.
Luckily the sunlight was just strong enough to light up the tigers face in the shadow of the cave…. “if it was a foot further back in the cave, there would have been no shot” recalled Mr Yarrow.

Tiger 57 image
Singhsth prowling in his usual domain

Photograph: © Amit Vyas

Credits

Image 1: David Yarrow

Image 2: Amit Vyas

Ranthambore National Park, India

Original Article is here

The good news is that, after many years of decline, the Indian Tiger census is showing rapid population growth. This was reported on the BBC ‘Tigers in India’ News Webpage

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Fluffy the Miracle Moggy

Cat of the Month ~ February 2019

They brought her in like she was a snowball!

Fluffy’s fur was matted with snow when her owners found her in a frozen ball and unmoving in a field in northern Montana, USA. Fearing the worst, they called the local animal hospital.

The veterinary team arrived soon after, and the poor creature was rushed to an emergency room in the local Animal Clinic of Kalispell. Here, the skilled vets used warm blankets and a hairdryer to slowly bring the feline back to life from her frozen slumbers.

Fluffy is hardly recognisable as a Cat

Photograph: © Animal Clinic of Kalispell

At long last, after a few tentative hours, Fluffy started showing signs of recovery. The clinic then made a Facebook post about Fluffy’s recovery, which subsequently went viral….and it’s no wonder! The post explained the story of this poor but lucky feline.


“…in an amazing success and survival story from this week. Some clients found their injured cat buried in snow.”
“They brought her to us essentially frozen and unresponsive. Her temperature was very low but after many hours she recovered and is now completely normal.
“Fluffy is amazing!”

The story was posted alongside pictures of Fluffy’s incredible recovery, including the image below of a vet using a hairdryer on the cat’s fur.


Fluffy is starting to dry out with the help of that hair dryer

Photograph: © Animal Clinic of Kalispell

Many hundreds of well-wishers commented on the Facebook post, which has had thousands of likes & shares since it was posted.

The final image showed Fluffy looking the picture of health with a completely snow-free coat.


Fluffy comes fully back to life, ready for some more adventures no doubt

Photograph: © Animal Clinic of Kalispell

Oscar and I concur that Fluffy is indeed one heck of a miracle moggy,..and a beauty too. We’re sending our love to her and to her family, on the other side of the pond.

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Pitch black cat

It was John Acres who broke the news to the Wolves and Everton fans, and went on to fill nearly two minutes of prime-time television.

Black moggy
Our black moggy proved to be bad luck for Everton

Photograph: Getty.

 

John’s quick fire commentary of the cat’s movement across the Wolves penalty area, including the descriptive “it looks like a fully grown… cat. He drops a shoulder, jinks one way, goes another” and “the steward’s after the cat”…. “, but the cat knows it and puts in a turn of pace…”

Pitch Black Moggy
Pitch Black Moggy, what a star!

Photograph: Getty.

Eventually play was able to resume – with referee Lee Mason adding seven minutes of injury time at the end of the game.

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More Loveable Rogues

Hi Reader,

As promised, and following on from last weeks post , here are some more beautiful cats from the Greek Island of Kefalonia. We crossed paths and lingered with these cats whilst on our Summer hol this year. Hope you like em.

garden cat
Aww pleese, just a small bit of cheese?

When not hunting mice and small rodents our feline obliged with random appearances on the garden fence.
Boat Cat

This creature lived under and around an old fishing boat in a place called Ketellios. He was well supplied with food but was also a shy soul. He did like to play though, so came to investigate our bit of string snaking through the grass.
The creature then adopted this cute pose after I told him he could make it on to the blog in England, if he came up with the goods.
Is dinner ready?

An oft time cat trait caught on camera here…waiting at the dinner table for his portion to be served.
Curious Creature
Curious Creature…thinking “who you lookin at”

Another eating house cat… ready to charm the customer.
Cool Cat
Keeping cool in the shade and on the cold concrete. Who’s a clever kid!

A well cared for domestic moggie here shot at his front door, in the streeet, whilst we were walking up to the 12th century Byzantine Castle Agios Georgios (Saint George).
Tiny Cat, with a poorly left ear. Burnt by the sun or torn off in a cat fight perhaps

This little sturdy black mog we met on the seafront in Ketellios. He was smalll in stature but seemed to be fairly healthy. That black coat must be hot in the midday though.

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Loveable Rogues

Reader, here is a collection of stray Greek cats we crossed paths with on our holiday in Kefalonia this year. These waifs and ne’er-do-wells were spotted in and around our resort town of Skala on the south of the Island.

Buster the cat
Buster – Love the eyeliner kid!

If I had to pick a favourite it would have to be Buster here, a name we quickly gave him after he turned up outside our hotel room. He was so tough and sturdy, and the poor creature had ears burned to a crisp by the fierce greek sunshine. He was well fed though, so that’s something….but we had to chip in with some treats of course (a pouch or two), as you do. He kept coming back for more…and loved to hang out in the ‘air con’ of our room. o.k. its a fair cop guv. but we felt sorry for him in that heat – all the live long day.’

Bar Cat

This little Kitten liked to lie around out of the sun, on the cool grass …. and after the lawn sprinklers had stopped, of course.

More fish cat
Mr Bib wanting more Fish no doubt

Mr Bib was begging for something at this point.

Breakfast Cat
Breakfast Cat

A regular ‘customer’ at breakfast was this tabby… but there were ‘turf wars’ going on for sure with the other early risers.

Good Morning Puss
Good Morning Puss

….and ‘sister’ was never too far behind either…

In general it seems that these creatures were managing to scrape a living together on the streets of Skala village. A barman confided that if it wasn’t for his bar snacks (bits of which were donated by holidaymakers like us) these cats wouldn’t get fed at all. Who knows how they cope out of season.

Buster (again!). There to greet us with a purr at all hours of the day or night.


Thats’ all for now… Part Two next week …