Food Chain

Benny is known for his love of food and trash but I know he doesn't have a particular knack for hunting.

However, just a few minutes ago he caught a poor little sparrow and brought it home in the rain =(

The cats occasionally catch unsuspecting birds but I'm never quite sure which one is responsible for making us humans schedule an unexpected burial. I was closing a window when I saw him with the unfortunate creature hanging upside down from his jaws. He set it down underneath the outdoor table and I could see that it was clinging to the last moments of its life. The slow and subtle rise and fall of its breathing. Having sensed my disapproval, Benny then transported his victim to the back of the house.

I know Benny was hungry because all of the cats are ever so impatient in the last couple of hours leading to feeding time at 7pm. But I also know that he's not going to eat that bird he just caught. It's just his natural instinct to kill.

I hope the little bird doesn't have anyone waiting for it to bring home dinner.

UPDATE:-

Sure enough, half an hour later we find him by the side of the house with Peekaboo standing by waiting for a lapse in Ben's concentration in preserving his kill so he could snatch it away and bat at it to his heart's desire. We tried to take it away from Ben but it was clear that he was not done with his fresh dead plaything. He ran off with it out of sight.

Not 5 minutes later I enter the kitchen to see him hanging around the cat dish. The winged thing was not within view. Knowing how the cats would not likely let a good thing go to waste, I was pretty sure the bird was in the house somewhere being presented as a "slightly used" gift. We found it scattered in a pile of its own feathers underneath the kitchen table. Symbolic, no? I guess Ben's an angsty artist. After all, he wears a broody expression with his black fur pretty darn well. If only he had let us take it from him earlier so we wouldn't have had to take out the broom. But some people like to make their gift giving a dramatic gesture.

Thank you, Ben.

And yesterday, Ben's momma, Kecik, brought a salamander in. All sleek and slimy and ALIVE!

The look on her face said something along the lines of "What? It'll go well with the sparrow. You haven't cooked it yet, right? I'm sure I saw it in the freezer".

Steamed Sparrow with a side of Salamander, anyone?

UPDATE 2:-

Its final resting place. 

And here lies a broken sparrow to be recycled and forgotten as per nature's way, under a heap of earth. The shovel temporarily marked its grave until we had to use it to remove cat poop on the ground. At least we didn't just chuck the poor bird unceremoniously into my neighbor's yard. Not my next door neighbor, but the evil one across the street. The mean retired man could have used something to do but he would have done it with hate and we felt that the bird should at least have had a prettier face to send it off to its grave.