The Very Feral: One More Thing

To be honest, I left something out of my last blog post. There was something else that happened during that same period of time. So right around when I had started feeding Very Feral in the last blog post, I get a knock at my door one afternoon.  My next door neighbor at the time is a really really nice older lady.  She'd been managing all kinds of wildlife on her acreage for years, but she couldn't really do much anymore.  She gave me open ended access to her acreage on the conditions that A) I would help her TNR (trap-neuter-return) the feral cats on her property, and B) I would respond and bring a gun if she had any kind of trouble with anything.

So anyway, she's at my door one afternoon saying she's hearing "strange noises" coming from the woods. She can't be too sure, but she thinks she heard muffled whimpers for help and possibly a rattlesnake.  I packed up a couple "things" and went out with a friend to where she said she heard this.  We walked around for probably 20 minutes, never heard anything.  No ground sign of anything either.  

So fast forward a couple days and the coyotes were extra close late one night.  Two different packs of at least four coyotes a piece were howling. One pack sounded like they were near or right behind my neighbors house - the same general area we had checked a few days before and found nothing. The other pack sounded about a quarter to a half mile away, towards the lake.  

My roommate and I checked out the first location near her house, again nothing. Another let down. Obviously the wildlife had found a quick out, or an area to bed down in that we just couldn't find.  We moved on. We had two Q-Beam LED spotlights constantly searching the night.  You have to be there to appreciate how pitch black it is during a new moon when you're away from city lights in the middle of nowhere. We were giving it our best trying to find whatever was there. Back in the truck, we continued down the dirt road. About halfway to the lake there was something in the middle of the road.  We couldn't exactly tell what we were looking at, so we got out and started our approach on foot.  I employed the blind-the-shit-out-of-it technique as we walked up slowly.  Didn't take too long to realize it was a dark colored feral cat, but the cat had something in-front of it.  It was the tiniest feral kitten I had ever seen in the wild.  So my thought process is I'm staring at something that will probably be eaten by coyotes later tonight.  Best case scenario, tomorrow night.  If this kitten has any chance at life, it has to leave with me.  The adult cat takes off when we get close.  The kitten, still being blinded by my 11 billion candlepower spotlight doesn't know which direction to run.  It waits until it hears me start running toward it to pick a direction... Too late. I reach out and grab it. 

This is what I grabbed: 

His body from his head to tail was the width of an adult palm. Eyes nearly crusted over from some type of infection, plus literally hundreds of fleas.  Everyone that helped de-flea this cat couldn't believe the amount of adult fleas this poor little guy had on him.  When we gave him his first bath, the water turned pink from blood leaking from all his flea bites.  We gave him four baths that day in total.  Took him to the vet, got him some medicine and his shots. Now I hate to get a little philosophical on y'all, but I'm a firm believer that if something finds you, for lack of a better word - it's your responsibility.  Sure I could just fix him up and release him back into the wild, but it didn't feel right.  Even being an outside cat seemed out of character for him.  So I kept him. 

On November 25th, 2012 I tweeted THIS:

The tweet reads "I love my Gizmo. You don't want to know where I found him."

With this picture attached:

I named him Gizmo. He's one of the sweetest cats I've ever met.

He's awesome because his father is awesome. His father is Very Feral.

The Very Feral

So since national feral cat day was this week, I wanted to relay one of my personal experiences with feral cats.  Most people are very unfamiliar with feral cats and their behavior.  Hopefully this will shed some light on them, and help people understand the mentality surrounding feral cats and stigmas aimed at feral cats.

Here's a little background... I was originally contacted by a staff member of a feral cat TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) program in 2011.  The situation was basically that an older land-owner in the area had ceased to maintain his 800 acre tract. Among roaming packs of coyotes and feral hogs on the property, there was a feral cat colony that was spilling over into a nearby neighborhood.  Nobody was doing anything about it.  The neighborhood HOA didn't want the cats to be slaughtered, but it was obvious they were breeding constantly.

Up to this point I had trapped plenty of times before, but never a cat and never a whole colony of anything.  It seemed straightforward enough... these were wild cats showing up in people's backyards in decent numbers.  They were never someone's pets, they were never someone's "outside cats."  The only human contact they had ever known was running away from humans.  They literally lived in the woods and were being pushed into the backside of this neighborhood by predators on the same tract of uncleared land they were sharing.

I set up my first trap around sunset one night... Nothing special, just a medium size Little Giant single-door trap with dry cat food inside.  Within 3 hours I had my first cat in the trap.  I can't accurately describe how pissed off and terrified a feral cat is the first time you walk up to the trap and they realize they can't run away. Imagine the cartoon tazmanian devil in a trap. It's basically the same thing. A short trip to the nearby vet, and the cat was spayed and its ear was clipped so anyone in the future knows that TNR has already taken place.

This process repeated itself about 10-15 times within a month or two with similar results.  There were only a few cats left to trap and my job was almost done.  Then one evening a large male panda cat showed up in my trap.  In the 5 minutes it took me to put a jacket on and get to the trap, he had eaten all the food.  I was greeted by this when I walked up:

I was only able to get that picture after him flipping out for a good 10 minutes.  He had expended all his energy and was now just completely scared out of his mind.  Every instinct and experience with predators he had already told him he was done for.  When I went to pick him up from the vet, they told me their greenhorn vet-tech got torn up by this cat when they pulled him out of the trap to do the surgery.  He looked just as terrified on the ride back.  When we got back I released him and didn't think much else of it.  In my mind it was onto the next one.  I gave him the name "Very Feral." Of all the cats I trapped, he was the most feral.

Over the next few months, I would see him here and there.  Each time I called out to him "Hey Very Feral!" which was quickly followed by him scurrying into the woods as fast as he could manage.  After all, I took his balls.  Literally. I didn't see him for awhile, but when I did he looked a lot skinnier.  A nearby land-owner said he was even coming on her property and getting roughed up by her dog, just in an attempt to get food.

I did something I had never done up to that point, I tried to put myself in his shoes.  He was likely starving.  He was likely very scared.  He was likely being pushed off his hunting ground and didn't have a backup plan.  He was trying his best to survive.  That night I grabbed an old bowl, filled it with some dry food and left it by where he usually showed up at.  The next day the food was gone, so I repeated the process. A neighbor saw me doing this and became hostile and critical of what I was doing.  I told them to mind their own fucking business.  

A few more repetitions later, I was walking up one evening to fill the bowl as usual.  I turned the corner slowly and there he was, sound asleep next to the empty bowl.  I walked up within a foot of him.  I wasn't about to try to pet him, so I just said softly "Hey Very Feral."  My voice instantly woke him up.  He took a half-second glance at me and started running toward the treeline.  Halfway there he just stopped and looked back at me.  The best way I can describe the look I got was "You fucking had me... You had me yet you did nothing?!"  I let him watch me fill the bowl with food and walk back home.  I really think that experience was the turning point in our little dysfunctional friendship.  Over the next few nights he was always around when I showed up to fill the bowl.  I started moving it a few feet closer to my property each time.  Baby steps, maybe 8-10 feet each day.  After a week or so I came out in the afternoon to fill the bowl, and he was at the end of my driveway giving me a look like "I thought me coming here would be easier?"  From that day forward, he would only eat on my property.  

Then we reached our next milestone, I would watch him eat sometimes and afterward he would usually slowly walk away.  This time he rubbed up on my leg as he passed by.  Once again I did not attempt to pet him.  A few more times like this and I successfully tried to pet his back.  You could tell it was a new sensation for him, but he didn't react negatively.  Then it hit me - I had just pet the Very Feral, and I didn't have a scratch on me. I started coming out after that and he would just be on my property, I don't think he even went to the woods anymore.  I could pet him while he ate and he didn't mind.  The few outside cats I had didn't mind him, and he didn't mind them.

Then the real test of our friendship came... moving day.  Most people in the know about feral cats will tell you moving them results in roughly a 80-90% flight loss.  Meaning 80-90% of feral cats will run away/not stay if you move them somewhere else.  But before I had to even cross that road, I had to trap him again.  I tried for two weeks, he remembered the trap and wouldn't go near it.  I had no choice, on moving day I had to go hands-on.  I had a helper.  She was the head-trainer at a national pet store in town.  She thought I was crazy for going hands on with a feral cat I had only known for a few months.  I told her to prep the trap door and hold on.  I started petting him, and then just picked him up.  The tazmanian devil was back.  He was two feet from the trap but it still took me almost a minute to drop him into it.  I stepped back as she closed the trap.  My hands were cramped, I was sweating profusely.  Then I realized I didn't have a bite wound.  In fact I didn't have a scratch on me.  He refused to go all prison-rules on me.

I transported and released him.  He was there when I came out the next morning.  He didn't run away.

He has never left my new piece of property.  I can pet him whenever I want.

Here's a picture of him on my back porch I just took:

The next time someone tells you feral cats are "unmanageable," call them what they are.

Ignorant, or a liar.  Or both.

Statement on future episodes of Real Deal Talk Radio 8-27-2013

This morning on the way to LAX, a vehicle RDTR co-host Tyler was travelling in was significantly rear-ended causing injuries to himself and others. Due to the loss of property, capital, and time this wreck has no doubt caused, Real Deal Talk Radio will temporarily not be able to produce future episodes. It has been our pleasure to bring you 60+ episodes so far of a no-nonsense take on current news, sports, and politics. We all hope to be back soon.

One thing we feel the need to explain is our philosophy toward providing content to our fans and listeners...

We are strongly against crowd-sponsoring (sourcing) of money for shows. We will therefore not be creating an I.G.G. or kickstarter campaign. We feel doing so only creates its own set of problems. We are pursuing avenues of corporate/organizational sponsorship instead. All operations up to now have been funded completely out of staff member's pockets, and those pockets were understandably hit hard today.

We'd also like to offer our apologies to the guests we already have booked for upcoming shows.  We will get with each of them personally in the upcoming days to thank them for agreeing to be a part of this undertaking. Without our great staff, guests, and listeners, we never could have gotten this far.  

We will certainly keep everybody updated if and when things change. If any business owners, or people on behalf of a business or organization wish to discuss the details of an ongoing title-sponsorship, please send an email to SeanVenkman@gmail.com for more information.

Much Thanks,

- RDTR Staff
www.blogtalkradio.com/realdealtalkradio

Pushing Adult Pills on Kids

Here is the list talked about on Ep.05 of Real Deal Talk Radio Season 2:


Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing himself at Columbine High School.
The medical records for Dylan Klebolt have never been released to the public.

Jeff Weise, age 16, was on 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!)
when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather's girlfriend and fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota.
He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.

Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations)
when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage.
He has no memory of the event.

Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.

Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.

Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.

Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to his school
and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.

Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.

Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky.
Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..

Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people,
killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.

TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.

James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina,
took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school
killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.

Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania

Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – Shot up a school in El Cajon, California

Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.

Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.

Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work
used a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic's file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.

Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting was court-ordered to be on Prozac.

Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head.
Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide.
The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.

Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.

Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun.
He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.

(Identity Withheld) A boy in Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.

Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression
and was taking Zoloft and "other drugs for the conditions."

Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher,
and wounded another student, before killing himself.
Saari was taking an SSRI and benzodiazapine.

Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot five people to death and wounded 21 others before killing himself
in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently started taking Prozac.

Jon Romano, age 16, on an undisclosed medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his
New York high school.

My question to everyone that realizes the importance of the previous:

What drugs was Jared Loughner on, age 21...... killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, AZ?

What drugs was James Holmes on, age 24..... killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado.
We know he was seeing a psychologist, what was he prescribed?

What drugs was Jacob Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, @ the Clackamas Mall in Oregon?

What drugs was 20 year old Adam Lanza on when he killed 26 people @ Sandy Hook elementary?

What was the "new" drug that Eddie Ray Routh was on when he shot Chris Kyle & Chad Littlefield?

Bank of America Freezes Account of Gun Manufacturer

A recent Facebook post from firearms manufacturer 'American Spirit Arms' claims Bank of America froze their accounts due to the fact ASA saw a recent increase in internet gun sales.

From Facebook:  ( American Spirit Arms on Facebook )

--My name is Joe Sirochman owner of American Spirit Arms and I wanted to share my recent experience with Bank of America:

Everyone is familiar with the latest increase in guns sales , dealers selling out of inventory , Manufacturers back logged for months , large revenue all generated in the last two weeks …. American Spirit Arms is no exception to the overwhelming demand . What we have experienced is that our web site orders have jumped 500 % causing our web site E commerce processing larger Deposits to BANK OF AMERICA ..Well, this through up a huge RED Flag with Bank of America . So they decided to hold the deposits for further review , meaning that the orders/payments that were coming in through the web ,( being paid by the customer and that were shipped out by American Spirit Arms ),the BANK was keeping (UNDER REVIEW )..as you could imagine this made me furious…After countless hours on the phone with BANK OF AMERICA I finally got a Manager in the right department that told me the reason that the deposits were on hold for FURTHER REVIEW …HER EXACT WORDS WERE …
..” WE BELIEVE YOU SHOULD NOT BE SELLING GUNS and PARTS ON THE INTERNET “ 

--

As guns are continually demonized in the media & culture, has it already translated to business?

Will personal accounts purchasing firearms be frozen as well in the future?  It needs to be asked.

Sirochman says he will add updates to the company's Facebook page.

The Politically Incorrect Year 2012 in Pictures

2012. The Politically Incorrect Year in Pictures:

Ocean moisture comes ashore in south Florida

AMA Daytona Sportbike

Cats... well... being cats

Pic of a Libyan rebel that became an internet meme

A fully-loaded Eurofighter Typhoon

An F-15 drops flare downrange in Afghanistan

Typical

The crashed "Stealth" helicopter in the OBL raid

What more likely happened

One of the last images of MotoGP racer Marco Simoncelli before he was killed

in a freak accident at Sepang, Malaysia. Godspeed, Marco. Ciao.

NotRacist.jpg

Trade Center Memorial

Mom of the Year 2012

You scared, bro?

Self-explanatory 

George Zimmerman on that fateful night after the confrontation

Night-time Sat image of North/South Korea

An Occupier is run over

WellPlayed.jpg

FutureDexter.jpg

This one needs no caption either

VP candidate Paul Ryan adjusts something

MotoGP racer Dani Pedrosa getting low

MotoGP racer Bradley Smith on his Tech III Yamaha in post-season testing

This is why you won't see Austin PD on C.O.P.S.... Ever

Better than the original face-eating pictures

Bath Salts Again

SouthwestShootingAuthorityIsAwesome.jpg

A well fed kitty is cold and wants in

A tactical kick of some kind

An A-10 Warthog practicing ground gun-runs

You mess with one, You mess with them all

MotoGP racer Ben Spies gets low in Pre-Season testing

This one speaks for itself

Night-time Sat Image of Continental U.S.A.

B-1 Lancers over New Mexico

In memory of the lives lost in Newtown, CT

2012 Subaru Legacy Test Drive

2012 Subaru Legacy

Test Drive

I really like where Subaru has been going for the last decade.  Their cars have gotten more solid feeling as the years go along. This time around, we drive and shakedown the 2012 Subaru Legacy.  Just getting in this car, you get a sense of quality around you.  On top of that, the styling of the new Legacy makes it much more attractive to me than a Accord or Camry. On top of that, you get Subaru's legendary AWD system. We'll talk more about that in a minute.

The Pros: MPG.  Despite this car being full-time AWD, it gets better fuel economy than a comparable Japanese or American 2WD sedan.  Handling is a big plus.  The suspension offers a comfortable ride daily driving, but still holds its own on a windy road. Quality of the Legacy is also worth mentioning. The whole cars gives you a solid feel and seems very well built. The price point also offers a huge leg up on the competition. It's not that the Legacy is cheaper than the competition, it's that you get much more features for the same price.

The Cons: You might have already guessed it. The flappy paddle gearbox.  When in normal 'automatic' mode, the car shifts from 1st to 2nd gear too early with light throttle input. So much so that from the revs being so low, you will get a slight vibration in the drivetrain.  This is fixed by one of two things: Either give it more pedal in 1st gear, so the transmission revs out the gear a little more, or shift it in manual mode.

Advanced Dynamics: In this next section, we examine the car performance under racing circumstances.  All traction & stability systems were disabled.  First thing I'd like to mention is the powerful upshifts you get when in manual mode. Despite this unit being a non-turbo base model, acceleration out of corners below 80mph is good.  After that, the motor is fairly winded.  

Handling:  Also, I was shocked at how much turn-in the base tires offered.  These were not Z-Rated tires. The last Subaru I shook-down was a 2010 Impreza. Sadly, I felt a lot of predictable understeer in that Impreza.  This Legacy has FAR better turn in.  Almost caught me by surprise.  Braking into the turns from high speeds the car is very stable.  Once you're to the turn, you get good feeling turning-in from the suspension.  Through the turn the suspension holds it nicely.  My single and only complaint with the suspension is it needs a strut-tower-brace.  The initial turn in is great, but there is a little feedback pushing back on you after turn in.  I feel with a roll bar or S-T-B this would be eliminated. 

Drivetrain: The car was not equipped with a variable differential, but I thought the stock setting was a pretty close to perfect balance between over and understeer.  The settings allow for confident WOT on most turns post-apex.  Keep in mind this is not a turbo version.  When downshifting the car in manual mode, you can add healthy engine braking even above 100mph.  It makes a big difference in stopping power, and I like how you can hold a gear or downshift to help braking depending on what you need.  Upshifting in manual mode gives you a nice push forward and a confident feel.  I never once got the rear-end to step out.  I was driving it hard.  Once you're above 80mph, the non-turbo 4 cylinder reaches it's kryptonite.  If I had to estimate top speed from what I saw, I'd guess 115-120mph and that's it.  I did not attempt a top-speed run.

--

Overall I was extremely impressed on the progression of the Legacy, and minus a few tweaks, I really don't see much room for improvement.  Subaru has managed to balance it's rally-bred AWD system with a comfortable feel for daily driving.  A good warranty on top of this, and it's not hard to figure out why Subaru is on the comeback in North America.  Now if they would just bring the boxer diesel over here!!!  Hey, I can dream, right?