Tragedy on Witt Dr., when placing Marian, Atom and Luke

If you are driving on Tangent Loop, Wirth, Witt or Ridge Drive, southeast of Tangent, or even I5 south of the Corvallis exit, watch for this cat! She's lost down there, alone. It's my fault.

I thought everything was going fine, sort of, because I was rehoming four cats this evening. The first three, Luke, Atom and Marian, were going to the same little dead end road where three others from the Kitten Colony went, only a house down.

But, they all may be in jeopardy because for some unknown reason, the county approved jet sprint boat races right next to I5, down at the end of that road. The noise tonight was unnerving. I tried to talk to the couple between the loud sounds of jet sprint boat engines. In the end, I set up two cages. Luke and Atom to go in one, and the still hormonal Marian in the other. I had not been able to get her into a little carrier when I got home from picking up the cats fixed today. I was in a hurry and figured since she was tame, no big deal in transferring her to the containment cage, once there from a larger carrier, that won't fit into the cage.

I didn't think it would be a big deal. I had the large carrier door up to the opening on the wire containment cage, but there was a five inch gap, as I opened the carrier door, before I could put the opening of the carrier right up to the cage opening. And just when that gap was opened, the jet sprint boat engines roared. This is more than an annoying sound. It is like standing between dozens of leaf blowers on high. Or standing about two dozen feet from an airliner warming up its engines.

I startled. The cat startled, got wide eyed scared and bolted through the open crack. I knew if she got away, that was it for her, with that jet sprint boat thing and the nasty redneck drunken crowd making such noise tomorrow.

So I tried to grab her and she tore into me with her claws, until my left hand was a bloody shredded wreck. Still I tried to grab her again, desperate to save her. Again she slashed me in terror.

I wasn't happy, losing her. I tried to find her for the next two hours, dripping blood, sometimes gushing blood, because she tore a short slit in the artery in my hand. It was hard to stop that from bleeding and I didn't even try, in my desperation and urgency to find her. Wasn't pretty, blood everywhere.

I didn't know about the jet boat thing. I didn't know the other woman wanted new barn cats because the construction of the canal for that damn event is what scared away or killed her other barn cats. I didn't know or I would not have given her three more cats, from that kitten colony, two black kittens and the torti mom. They'll likely end up scared to death, too, from that event, and either bolt away or, hopefully, hide through the duration. Luke and Atom will be ok. They are confined and will be for the duration of the loud nasty event. But those other three won't be, most likely, and that house is even closer.

I am devastated by what happened tonight. My only concilation is that she is tame, and maybe she'll come back. She knows Luke and Atom. So maybe, she'll survive.

The neighbors are all devastated by this event going on out there and have vowed to not vote for any of the three Linn County commissioners who let this happen, and, they say, voided almost every land use rule and zoning regulation, to let it happen.

The canal, when dug, lowered the levels of the residents wells by three feet. They were told if sand got in their wells as a result, they would be forced to pay to dig new ones. They believe bribes were involved in allowing this event to happen there. They are also mad at all the event sponsors, including KRKT.

This is a short road, the traffic is unbelievable with this event going on, and they even have a beer garden at the event. The canal that was dug and filled with water likely violated a million land use regulations alone. The elderly folks living along that road say people can't even get a permit to build a chicken coop in their backyard without jumping through a million hoops but then this outrageously loud event is allowed to happen.

It's like total disrepect for the residents of the road by the event organizers and the county commissioners.

I've been injured as a result of their event. The fact she hit an artery means any bacteria on her claw went directly into my bloodstream. I suppose it will be a good test of my immune system. I know I should be on antibiotics because of the deep nature of the one slash wound, directly into my artery.

But the real victim is Marian, out there in unfamiliar territory, with that screaming jet boat crap going on nearby. She might have had a chance, and now she really doesn't. It's killing me to thing about how I failed her, how she's out there.

But, when she ran and dashed around the barn, through the chicken coop, there was afterwards a fence, then a ditch edging the fields, along the fenceline, that extends way way up, to the north, to Ridge Drive, but south just a few hundred feet to the ditch along Witt. But, I do believe she doubled back and went under the barn. If so, I believe she will be fine.

I left them instructions, to call for her, to leave food in the ditch along the fenceline, both to the north and to the south. There is also food out in the barn, beside the boys. And she knows Luke and Atom, who are now in a containment cage there. She's spent the last several days in the spare bedroom with them. She bonded more with Atom than with any of the other cats, and even would swat at her daughter's kittens, the tiny tots, if they approached her. She was done with kittens, wanted nothing to do with kittens anymore.

Actually when I cleaned the blood off, she only nailed me in six spots, all with claws, but the one is the very deep one that produced all the damage. So, in all her extreme panic, she didn't really tear into me, like she could have. She didn't mean to hurt me at all. I was trying to grab her in the midst of extreme noise and she couldn't tell that noise wasn't after her. Displaced aggression its called. Stark fear is another name for it.

I did e-mail KRKT radio station, the event sponsor, and the jet sprint boat organizing group, asking them to announce the lost cat in their vicinity, to watch for her, to call me if seen, but I doubt they'll take the time to do that. But maybe they will. I had to try. There will be people attending, I'm sure, who do like cats.

It's hard to imagine people who would set up such an event in the face of elderly neighbors living on that road, cause them so much hardship, traffic, noise, disruption, damage their water supply. It's hard to understand how that could have been approved, on ag zoned land, the destruction, with the building of the canal. The road residents said they could have fought it, especially the lie on water rights included in the event operators request, that included land, they claimed water rights to, for building the canals, that they did not own. But it costs money to fight such things and these aren't people with money, who live along there. They are mainly retired people, who have lived there all their lives. People who behave in such manner are not the sort of people one would think would give a shit about a little rescued cat their event has so affected.

The old couple I believe were shocked at my reaction to my blood dripping hand. I ignored it totally in attempts to find Marian. The woman was trying to follow me around with a basin of water, paper towels and soap, wanting me to forget the cat and take care of my hand. I finally washed it off in the basin, left the soap on. "Don't you want to wash off the soap?" she asked. "No," I said, "it's affects will last longer if I leave it on. Besides, letting it bleed is the best antidote to infection."

I sure didn't tell her I would sometimes cut open puncture wounds to let them bleed clean. I get injured all the time. I have to ignore these things, at least until I've completed what I'm doing, if it's highly important, as I felt trying to locate Marian was very important. But it was an extremely bloody wound, that's for sure, due to her hooking me right in an artery.

I feel for you out there, tonight, Marion. I'm so sorry I let you down. I'm so sorry.

If you are driving on Tangent Loop, Wirth, Witt or Ridge Drive, southeast of Tangent, or even I5 south of the Corvallis exit, watch for this cat!