Caution Cat Owners -- A Raptor Carried My Cat Away!

Not really, but I can tell you, by watching my favorite bird, this could easily have happened.

I live in an area where raptors are flying free and happy. I love raptors – the eagle, the hawk, the osprey, the kestrel, the owl. They are magnificent flying machines and excellent hunters.

My cats love to go outside. They stay in my yard, because of a fence they cannot climb nor jump over.

Being an unaware, and yes, sometimes stupid human being, it never crossed my mind that the hawks flying overhead would be sizing up my cats nor would the raptors ever attempt to swoop down and carry one off.

Not until I saw a hawk stalking and swooping at a neighbor’s cat, did I realize my cats could be in danger, and be prey for those magnificent predators. To add to my wake-up call, I watched a harrier hawk pick up a rabbit, about the size of a cat. The hawk dropped the rabbit, but the thing that struck me was that the hawk tried.

If the raptor had been an eagle, instead of the smaller harrier hawk, the stories above may have turned out quite differently.

Lesson here – If you let your cats outside, be aware of the many dangers out there, including predators.