Fearless Cat Forces Bear To Retreat, PLUS: Flow’s Void Sparks Interest In Black Moggies

Flow’s Cat has improved things for his fellow voids, who are drawing more interest from adopters.

This video is bonkers!

A cat who is definitely not Buddy stared down a bear and made the ursine interloper retreat in fear in a confrontation caught on camera.

The stand-off happened in Pike County, Pa., and the cat’s name is T’Challa, after the titular hero of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise.

“I think perhaps this young bear woke this kitty cat up because he was not happy that he was sharing his deck with him when he woke up and he expressed himself,” said the homeowner whose security cameras caught the exchange.

After T’Challa made a series of feints, the bear — who is orders of magnitude larger — beat a hasty (for a bear) retreat.

Well done, T’Challa! Someone get that good boy a treat!

Go with the Flow

Part of what makes Flow so spectacular — aside from the breathtaking visuals, clever narrative and the strange world it portrays — is how endearing its star, Cat, is.

The little guy shows enormous resilience as he survives a biblical flood, gets chased by a flock of angry secretary birds, learns to swim, and finds his confidence in situations that would terrify any feline. He’s incredibly expressive, revealing his emotions with every twitch of his tail and whiskers, as well as his distinctive meow and, most of all, his bright yellow eyes.

He’s also the first feline star to win an Oscar and a Golden Globe, as well as many other film awards for the universally praised film.

Now he’s got another accomplishment to his name: he’s improved the way people view black cats, who have long been the victims of absurd human superstition and have a hard time finding forever homes because of the stigma.

Credit: Live RIGA

Animal welfare organizations are reporting heightened interest in black cats (good), but not a manic rush to adopt them as has happened when other species and breeds are popularized in films. (Bad, because those pets are often discarded when the novelty wears off.)

In other words, Cat may have inspired something close to parity in adoptions in some places.

Cat is beloved in director Gints Zilbalodis’ home country of Lithuania. The capital, Riga, is now adorned with street art of the little guy, including a statue sitting atop a major monument in the heart of the city.

Credit: Live RIGA

19 thoughts on “Fearless Cat Forces Bear To Retreat, PLUS: Flow’s Void Sparks Interest In Black Moggies”

  1. Yikes, I sure hope T’Challa’s people keep him inside now, with bears being in the area! I also hope that the boost black kitties are getting from Flow will be lasting. We’ve been fortunate to have a number of house panthers come into our lives. While all cats are beautiful, I think black kitties are a little extra beautiful! I read that the Flow kitty will also be on a postage stamp. While lots of countries have issued stamps with cat pics, I can’t recall any that had a fictional cat character before.

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    2. They’re like miniature melanistic jaguars. If more people learned to photograph their black cats correctly, actually focusing on the cat, cropping close, shooting with real light contrast and fixing the shadows and highlights in Photoshop or Pixl if necessary, that could go a long way toward helping other people realize how beautiful they are.

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      1. Devoted a chapter in my book to black cats, and a blog post excerpt of book … My pics almost always need to be fixed … I see lots of astonishing black cat pics on fb … I suspect many have been done with AI though. I won’t use that, I prefer my own mess-ups to any robot stuff …

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      2. You can always tell if they’re AI by looking at things like the fur detail, eyes, whiskers and mouth, if it’s visible. Backgrounds are a major giveaway too.

        I go months between logging into Facebook, but when I do, I’m astonished by the number of people who don’t realize they’re looking at AI images. It’s funny when people comment with things like “That’s a beautiful home, but why do the stairs lead into the wall?” or “Why is there a car in the living room?”

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      3. I don’t see any videos on my end with bear. Maybe that would be best. If you go to Brooklyn Animal Action you will see the best photos of black cats. Cosmo and Luna have some of my shots i think. I am not in charge of taking thier photos but rescuer could not pass mine up while i am with them. The one not on there is Cosmo on my chest with his rear to me wanting back rubs. Cosmo the black cat has the craziest poses from the foster person. Like he is saying LOOK HOW HANDSOME I AM. My sis is ok. 🤣

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  2. Exactly what you said about black cats. They are not a novelty for a movie or Halloween. You either like black cats or you don’t. I have always loved them. Not because of a movie or my favorite holiday of Halloween. Some people love orange cats. Only adopts orange cats. Nothing wrong with that.

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    1. Bud would definitely run screaming from a bear, then take up his customary hiding position behind my legs, leaving me to get mauled.

      How did I end up with a cat who has no fear of humans but freaks out if I play “Music for Cats” for him, or rustle a paper bag too much?

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  4. Just saw video. These people should not have a cat. Eventually it will get killed. Bears. Fisher cats in Maine. They are not cats but will kill it. Colorado. Lions. Two states where my siblings cats were let out and never came back. Good thing my nephew in Colorado has the brains to keep his cats indoors.

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    1. It’s mesmerizing and after a few minutes you don’t even think about the lack of dialog. The animators did a magnificent job of making the animals so expressive that we intuitively know what they’re thinking.

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