Did I save Ricky the Cat?

 

There is more than 50 something different kinds of snakes living in the wild here in Hong Kong and because it is so densely populated, many of these snakes cross path with humans and the pets of humans, every single day.

One of the most common snakes is the Bamboo Pit Viper. It is also one of the most venomous.

And I think we've got one in our village, hiding during the day and hunting in the night. 

So that should be fine, in the night we all sleep and it can have its peace.

Yes, all we humans sleep, but what about our village cat Ricky, he doesn't sleep and worst of all, he is kind of fearless -or is he just simply stupid.

Here is the story of that night I think I might have saved his life.

It was a Friday evening and we had been out being a wee bit social with some colleagues. As we came home and entered our village close to midnight, Ricky the village cat was there on one of the path's running through our part of the village.

Normally he would meow as loudly and as judgemental as he possible can. Something that sounds like: " Aha, there you are. Where have you been so long? My tummy is screaming for food as I haven't had any since I hysterically meowed at you this morning and frenetically meowed at the lady next door at lunch and then again as I saw her at teatime?"

But that night he didn't. 

He was not on the path we normally take to our house. He was at one a bit lover down than ours. At a certain point when we enter the village the path decides into two and one goes our way and the other down some stairs and along a stone wall to a row of houses lower down. He was just there, down the stairs and he was focuses on something on the stone wall. Not only focuses. He was like hypnotised. Like Bagheera, the black panther, from the jungle book when he meets Kaa.

He was just starring at something at the wall with huge pitch black eyes.

"I think there is a snake there and he is fixated on it. I'm afraid it is going to bite him".

And then we both saw it on the wall, hidden between the vegetation we could make outs its green body and head. The head of it was already raised and its mouth open and it was just waiting for him to come too close. He kept a distance to it. 

I moved down the stairs and got closer and could now see the snake clearly. And it wasn't happy. 

That night I was wearing long trousers and desert boots, so first I tried to see if I could scare that stupid cat away by stamping hard in the ground, but no such luck.

He was in the zone and got closer. In that moment the snake shot out at him the first time, as a kind of warning. He retreated a bit and I saw my chance to gentle kick him backwards with my boot, move after and grab him with both hands and hold him as tight as I could to my chest and jump up the stairs out of the reach of that snake. 

That moved confused and surprised a bit and and he kept still in my tight grip. The snake was swinging back and forth on the wall, then released it self from the wall and plummeted to the ground to move as fast as possible the couple of meters on the path and down into the safety of a drain, and then it was gone.

Realising that, the cat started to wrickle himself free and got out his razor sharp claws and made me feel that he wouldn't take this anymore, he wanted to get out of my arms and down and after that snake and I had to let him go. 

But the snake was gone and he was alive. 

Have been thinking of that snake ever since, and if there is some days where I do not see our village cat, I just hope that he hasn't found it again and tried his luck. 

But most of all I hope the snake has moved away and found somewhere else to live than so close to humans, because I am sure if they find it, they will not think that has the right to be there and will kill it. That I just want to avoid. 

So please mr or Mrs bamboo pit viper (or what ever you are), for your own sake, please move away from areas dominated by the human race.

And the Ricky the cat. Please leave snakes alone.