Oakland woman ‘terrorized,’ trapped in house by stray cat

MAINE -- The runaway pig who terrorized town hikers for eight weeks. The geese who annoyed town beachgoers and paid with their lives. Roosters who crowed so loudly and frequently that the town almost levied fines against owners.

Add “psycho cat” to the town’s list of animals that have clashed with humans in the past two years.

Rhonda West is an animal lover. She has dogs and cats of her own. But she said she has never had an experience like the one she had Thursday morning, when a small but very aggressive house cat terrorized her by trapping her in her home for almost two hours. The cat even attacked her son’s car before being taken away by Animal Control Officer Pat Faucher.

“We called it psycho kitty,” West said Friday.

Around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, West, 52, was taking the trash out at her mobile home on Fairfield Street when she noticed the small black-and-white cat sitting in a tree in her side yard.

Its meow sounded weird and it looked cold and hungry, so she brought out a handful of the food she keeps for her own cat.

“It got worse from there,” she said.

When she bent down to lay the food in the snow underneath the tree, the animal pounced.

“It was all over me, just trying to attack me,” West said.

The cat jumped on her head and clawed her face, leaving scratches on her forehead and right cheek that were still visible Friday afternoon.

Terrified, West retreated into her home and called the police.

“I said, ‘I’ve got an attack cat here,'” she said.

The police told her that the animal control officer was on his way to help.

While she waited, the cat occupied the small porch at her front door. From there, it attacked the glass storm door and tried to get into the house, preventing her and her two small Chihuahua-dachshund puppies, Molly and Sunshine, from leaving.

“I was scared to death by then,” she said.

About 10 a.m. she called the police again to report the new assaults and request help.

When her son Brian pulled up to the house in his car about 10:30 a.m., the cat turned its attention to him, leaping on top of his Buick LaCrosse and trying to claw him through a crack in the driver’s side window.

She called the police again to report the new attack. When Oakland Animal Control Officer Patrick Faucher came to collect the animal, it also went after him.

The call log from the Oakland Police Department shows that West called about the cat at least three times between 9:39 a.m. and 10:29 a.m.

West, who has lived with animals her entire life and once raised pit bulls, said this was the first time she’s ever had a problem like that.

“I don’t know if something was wrong, if it had been abused,” she said. “It’s a beautiful cat, just nuts.”

Faucher said that while the cat didn’t mind being around him, it did not want to be touched or picked up.

“It definitely had an independent streak,” Faucher said.

He was able to coax it into a cage with some food and deliver it to the animal shelter. He estimated the cat was about 2 years old and weighed 7 to 8 pounds.

Faucher said he deals with difficult animal situations two or three times a year, and he’s seen cats display some extreme behavior.

“They can actually climb walls and ceilings if you’re trying to catch them and they become upset,” he said.

It’s not the first time the town has had to deal with unruly animals.

In May, a pig escaped from an Oak Street farm and terrorized children and adults on area nature trails before being caught in July.

Also in July, Canada geese at the town beach bothered beachgoers to the point that the town had them removed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and they were later killed, prompting an outcry. When more geese came, the town turned to more humane solutions, including placing a fake plastic fox at the beach.

In 2013 noisy roosters prompted a proposal to fine owners, a move that was tabled by the Town Council.

But according to the Humane Society Waterville Area staff, even though Faucher took the cat in with a notice warning that it was aggressive, it proved to be quite friendly and playful, said administrative assistant Jenny Tuemmler.

All indications are that the cat is a stray, Tuemmler said.

The shelter holds cats for six days in case an owner comes to get them. If no one claims the animals, they are checked for disease and spayed or neutered before being put up for adoption.

Tuemmler couldn’t say for sure why the cat would act so strangely at West’s house.

“I’ve actually petted that cat,” she said “He’s a nice little kitty.”

(CentralMaine.com - March 6, 2015)