The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-07-05
CH,VALRY. EVEN In A CAT.
Won't Attack a Rat Which is Help
less In n Tran.


less In n Trap.
will n cat attack rat in trap,
or wait around until the captive is lib
erated" Ninety-nine people out Of a
hundred asked this question would re-
ply without hesitate IN, "Of course, it
will do either or both" Two st. Louis
gentlemen were discussing this question
few days ago, says the Globe-Demo-
crat, and, finding it impossible to agree,
made small bet, and decided to leave
the question to an expert in natural
history. The referee declined to act
and finally q number of dealers in
pet animals were consulted. All who
had seen cat tempted by n captive
rat agreed that for some reason best
known to itself the best feline rat
catchers kept as much space as pos
sible between themselves and their nat
ural enemies, when the latter Were
handicapped by being imprisoned in a
trap. 1t was only those who had not
had an opportunity of judging from
actual experience who laughed at the
question as foolish and said that cat
would certainly fight trap rs vicious
~ as Il terrier. One dealer, who has
been in the business for thirty years,
said:
RATS are a great nuisance to us,
ana we frequently catch them in traps.
That old cat you see there has caught
dozens OF rats in his time, though he
is getting to II and toothless now
for anything bigger than a mouse. But
he wO lI ncI+' go Far ap with q
rat in Ii, although I have tried him
again and again. I know of no reason
for this, but it Is IN actual fact, and
l quit trying years ago. Not only would
the cat refuse to watch the trap, but
it could not be held while the rat was
liberated. 1t may be that the cat was
afraid of the trap, but don't see why,
because he never noticed it when it was
empty"
An old river man who was lounging
the store when the question was asked,
added:
mo cat will face q rat in q trap.
I ha 1. seen it tried again and 4gain
on boats and wharves Down south
have known rats to destroy hundreds
of dollars worth of cargo, and have
seen many a cat drag in rat half as
sarge as itself. When we fund one
of the gnaWers in a trap we would
often hunt up q favorite cat and give
it chance for some sport But it was
never any use. The best Of them
would fight to get away and woulil re-
fuse to even look a second time at a
trap which had done it's work satisfae-
tOrily."
An old menagerie hand, who was
appealed to, not only confirmed the
statement, but advanced somewhat of
n philosophical theory to account for
1T The cat, he explained. not only be-
Songs to the same tribe as the tiger,
but resembles it in many Ways, nota-
bly, in stalking it's victims, springing
upon them from ambush, waiting pa
tiently for hours for coveted prey and
playing with its prize before killing and
eating it. A cat refuses to attack an
imprisoned rat, not from motives Of
fear, but from something more like
chivalry OF pride. Just in the same
way tiger would not, unless pressed
by intense hunger, eat an animal not
killed by itself Instances were on
record. he stated, in which men lost
IN tigeEinfested regions had escaped
being torn to pieces by Stimulating
death, and he doubted very much
whether cat would attack rat out
OF q trap if it appeared to be disabled
or seriously injured.