As I’ve mentioned before, Crasken became plagued with roaming dogs.* There could be sometimes nine dogs working as a pack terrorising the local wildlife. No cat was safe. Except down the ‘drove’, where I patrolled against uninvited dogs. There were geese and ducks on site. They were fenced off, but that made no difference. One by one, they were torn apart. Tammy would say, “It’s not my dog. It was a fox.”, despite the culprit being seen on numerous occasions by a number of people.
Originally, Duncan had a long-haired German Shepherd dog, named Luka, who is as daft as a brush and a bonkers bitch, a curly coat retriever/collie cross. Her name is Irie. Then Tammy bought another German Shepherd with the intention breeding. This thing was a horrible skinny bitch that yapped constantly. No-one had any control of her. Inevitably, she ran into the road and was killed. Tammy blamed Irie and so evicted her. She was left to scavenge and roam the farm all day and night in all weathers. Hairy Rich came to the rescue. In no time, Irie was transformed. As a result, Tammy then turned on Rich, who eventually, was compelled to leave.
In the meantime, Tammy replaced the dead bitch in no time. This one was worse than the previous! This one would nip when barking. Can you believe, she is named Twinkle!
Eventually, the rest of the problem dogs left as one by one their owners were forced out. However, the destruction continued. Soon, punters started complaining. Nothing changed.
Mookee lived with John. We believe that he sired Arian, Rowan and their siblings. Mookee, along with Yinyin had arrived with Tammy.** John took Mookee in after he had been savaged by the dogs, resulting in a punctured stomach and a massive hernia. A second run-in necessitated having his tail docked. Then a third attack severed what was left of his stump of a tail.
It was when a beautiful tortoiseshell cat named Heebee was killed that John finally snapped. We had been playing with her the day before and John had muted about taking her in. John presented Heebee’s ragged corpse to Tammy and complained strongly about her lack of control over her dog. This resulted in John being systematically hounded. Damage was happening to his property and he was being threatened with violence. His ‘garden’ gate was ripped from it’s post on one occasion, that was followed by a violent rant. Life had become impossible. Rich the Roofer came to the rescue by offering John a room in the farmhouse he lived in in a small settlement a few miles away.
When Tammy cornered me about the incident with her embellished protestations, I told her in no uncertain terms that if her dog attacked ‘my two’, I would kill her dog. She tried to laugh my comment off, saying, “Oh, you cat lovers.” I looked her straight in the eye and reiterated that blood would spill!
Not long after I left, Heebee’s ‘daughter’, Cammo, was killed; her back broken. There was just one cat left on the farm, a large ginger tom called Arcane. He lives with an amazing horticulturalist, Sid. (http//sidhillecogardens.com/) I believe he has also moved on now, a survivor.
*see entry Arian and Rowan, part 7...
**see entry Arian and Rowan, part 1...
***Photograph courtesy of John Edginton
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