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| Cat’s tumble has a happy landing |
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| Wednesday, 27 May 2009 | |
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Cliff Buchan News Editor What would possess someone to toss a cat from a moving vehicle? That’s a question that Kari Eberhardt continues to ponder. She witnessed such an act firsthand on Sunday, April 26 while driving from her home in Wyoming to Forest Lake. She was southbound on US-61 and had just passed 250th Street when it happened. As she watched the road ahead, she saw the driver of the black pickup truck in front of her throw something from the driver’s window. “I thought he was throwing out a trash bag,” Eberhardt said. “As soon as she hit the ground, I saw it was an animal. She landed and she just kept rolling.” Eberhardt said she was astonished to have witnessed the incident. She vividly recalls the look of terror in the cat’s eyes as her rolling tumble came to a halt in front of Eberhardt’s stopped car. The terrified animal bolted to the ditch on the west side of the highway. In the moments following the incident, Eberhardt said her instincts kicked in. She pulled off on the shoulder and went searching for the cat. “I found her in the bushes,” Eberhardt said. “She was cowering, bloody and shaking. I was shaking as bad as she was.” Looking back on the events, Eberhardt believes the cat — a gray and white, year-old medium hair domestic — seemed to realize that she was there to help. After rescuing her from the brush, the young cat pulled close in Eberhardt’s arm and once in the car, curled up in a ball in the passenger seat. Happy ending Nearly a month removed from the cat’s harrowing encounter with death, Eberhardt reports that she was able to find an adoptive parent for the cat that she named Moxie — a reflection for the spunk that the cat displayed. Eberhardt nursed the cat back to health over a two-week period before placing the cat in the loving care of a St. Paul woman who had recently lost her cat companion of 20 years. The woman was one of 11 who volunteered to take the cat after the telephone and e-mail network began searching for a new home. Parting with the cat was a close call for Eberhardt and her daughter, Isabella, 2, who were starting to bond with Moxie and enjoyed the fact that she was “a lap cat.” But with two other cats and a 145 pound Newfoundland puppy “clamoring for attention,” Eberhardt said she reluctantly agreed to part with the Moxie. Eberhardt believes Moxie more than likely used one of her nine lives. After the April 26 meeting, Eberhardt continued on to work at Mattson Funeral Home where she is a funeral director. With the help of Mattson staffer Ashley Hoff, an emergency animal hospital was found. Moxie was taken to the Minnesota Regional Animal Hospital in Blaine where she was treated for road rash, a broken tooth, broken nails and numerous cuts to her back. “There were no broken bones,” she said. “It’s a miracle she was in the shape she was in.” Along with the emergency treatment, Eberhardt took Moxie to Blue Sky Animal Hospital in Wyoming to make sure the young cat was healthy and prepared for spaying at a later time. In all, Eberhardt says she invested $400 in the cat while Hoff kicked in about $60. Eberhardt said her investment is small compared to the compassion that others have expressed. “It really touched my heart,” she said. “So many people were willing to help.” Still, Eberhardt says, she has trouble understanding the cruelty that someone could deliver upon a helpless animal. Was it just a step to get rid of a family pet or did the man intend to kill the animal? She can only wonder. “There are so many better ways to deal with animals,” she says. “He was three miles from an animal shelter (Northwoods Humane Society).” Eberhardt can now smile, however, as she helped write a story with a happy ending, and not one that ended with an act of cruelty. From the moment she got close to the injured animal cowering in the bushes, Eberhardt had a feeling the story would end positive. “You’ve got moxie,” she said to the cat as the feline curled up in her lap, oblivious to all the talk and with her horrible ordeal now just a memory. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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