Kitty and the Coyotes

(Wilton, New York) The ghost of Charles Darwin says, "You need a bigger cat."

From The Saratogian:

Weasel-like predators, called fisher, and coyotes are making meals of Wilton cats - even being bold enough to snatch a tabby from a backyard in broad daylight, according to one grieving Lake Elizabeth Estates family.

Now Alan Woodard of Ryanwood Court is asking the town to get a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to start trapping predators.

Woodard and his 15-year-old daughter, Jillian, visited 31 random households in Lake Elizabeth Estates and Mulberry Estates, a neighboring development, and learned that 31 cats from those households have disappeared in the last six years, most of them in the last three years. Neighbors on Plum Court reported nine missing cats.

They started the research after their three cats disappeared from their backyard one morning two weeks ago. Woodard later found one of his cats up a tree. Puddles, a 5-year-old male, wasn't there. Woodard only found Puddles' collar. He later went back into the woods and found some remains.

"It was very traumatic," he said. "I still have nightmares about it."

In another incident last winter, a woman was attacked in Schenectady County. No comments from PETA, yet.