Years ago we had a cat we named "Haku", which is Hawaiian for "master" – an entirely appropriate name for this fellow. He was one mean hombre of a cat!
He was a street stray that we took in (it's sort of a hobby of ours) and took care of. He lived in an outdoor cattery that we'd built to house the kitties we'd rescued that didn't have the right attitude to live indoors. Haku was very friendly with us, and got along with the other kitties just fine. He was enormous, but not at all fat; he was all muscle. Being white, his hair did little to protect him from the sun. Eventually all the exposure caused skin cancer in the tips of his ears, and at our vet's recommendation we had them amputated. This did nothing but enhance his already ferocious look!
Haku had one ability that always amazed us. On more than one occasion when we visited the kitties in the cattery we discovered a bunch of feathers all over the ground – and Haku looking very pleased with himself. It sure looked like he was catching pigeons and eating them – but how could he do this from within the cattery? Finally one day we watched it happen. Haku was curled up, apparently asleep, about eight feet from one wall of the cattery. A pigeon strutted stupidly around just outside that wall (sort of like a politician at work, don't you think?). Then when the pigeon was about 18 inches from the wall, Haku moved at relativistic speed across the cattery floor and extended one front paw an impossible distance through the wire fence that made up the wall. Claws were extended, of course – and they snagged the pigeon quite handily. A few minutes later, nothing but feathers – and that big, ugly grin on Haku's face!
Click on the small photo to get an album of Haku photos...
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