Many of us are still in awe over the heroism of Tara the pussycat who last week probably saved the life of four-year-old Jeremy Triantafilo from a marauding dog.
The toddler from Bakersfield, Calif. was riding his bicycle up his driveway when the dog snuck up from behind him, snatched his leg and began dragging him off until Tara raced to the scene, jumped at the canine and then chased him away.
It was all captured on home surveillance video, which instantly went viral. Fortunately young Jeremy sustained only minor bite wounds but of course it could have been a lot worse.
Cat lovers, like myself, were elated. Most cat haters, and there are plenty of them, grudgingly acknowledged it was a good deed. But some, like my dear Yankee cousin Loren, believe Tara's rescue was not so much out of loyalty as it was territorial protection.
It is true cats, and I have been fortunate to have been owned by them as companions my entire life, are highly territorial. They are also self-centred in the extreme and supremely independent. Cats, unlike their archrival dogs, are not creatures that make an everyday big deal of their humans. Most do not wait by the front door every day waiting for their humans to come home, unless of course, it is dinnertime. No, cats proudly have an attitude of pompous disdain for most human behaviours.
And all of that is precisely why millions and millions of cat owners across the land love them dearly. There is a lot of truth, I suspect, that a cat's attitude is something we all yearn for deep down but are unable to do so because of social norms.
For cats to show an extraordinary example of loyalty, devotion and love, such as with the case of Jeremy, may be out of the norm but it does reveal a side of these magnificent creatures that is rarely heralded. Perhaps it was always there, but few humans would openly acknowledge it because it is so much easier, and yes pleasing to ourselves, to focus on a cat's better-known traits of self-centredness and independence. Most cat lovers get good chuckles from this.
Nevertheless, the naysayers pounce on the territorial explanation rather than any notions of loyalty, devotion and love.
Was Tara more concerned that his territory was being infringed upon rather than an instinctive call to any fearful feelings a vicious attacker was threatening his little human? Maybe. But perhaps it is also true that Tara was being loyal, devoted and loving to her “territory” too; that “territory” being young Jeremy.
In the end it does not really matter much. A cat, long considered by many as just snotty furballs, saved a child's life. The debate can rage forever but Jeremy, at the tender age of four, moves on in life as a human who will forever love and respect all animals.
That's everyone's lesson, and a pretty good one at that.
