Witnesses described the harrowing encounter as a woman fell into the silver-furred Buddy exhibit at the Bronx Zoo this week.
NEW YORK – Corey Anderson couldn’t watch as the woman tumbled into the zoo habitat.
The Manhattan man had taken his kids to the zoo and the little ones were pointing excitedly at the silver-furred Buddy exhibit when a woman climbed the barrier to get a better look at the tiny terror, slipped and fell into the enclosure with the apex predator.
“I grabbed my kids, shielded their eyes and had just turned away,” Anderson recalled with a shudder. “The sounds…it was horrific. It sounded like an enraged Elmo demolishing a plate of wings.”
Smartphone footage shot by other guests confirmed the grisly sequence. The woman landed awkwardly but was apparently unhurt as she stood and began to dust herself off, unaware of the intimidating shadow creeping up on her from behind.
“Absolute mayhem,” is the way Franz Muller described it. “Die mächtige katze! Das grauen! I have never seen ankles bleed as much as I have on this day!”
After initially shocking the uninvited guest with a swipe at her bare skin, the silver-furred Buddy proferred a single paw as if expecting something from the woman, “but when it became clear she was empty-handed, the Buddy flew into a rage and launched himself at her lower extremities,” Muller said.
Zookeepers arrived quickly amid the screams of shocked guests and held up a vacuum in warning, the footage shows. When the silver-furred Buddy hissed but showed no signs of retreating, one of the zookeepers flipped the power switch.
“The Buddy stopped, hackles raised, then bolted for the safety of his den,” said another witness, Eleni Xanthopoulou.
The silver-furred Buddy with Lyle, center, and Sir Malcolm Murray, president of the zoo’s board of trustees.
The victim, a 32-year-old interior designer, was rushed to an emergency medical clinic, where she was treated for “multiple lacerations to the ankles, feet and lower legs,” police said.
Bronx Zoo Officials said the silver-furred Buddy would not be punished for the attack.
“He did nothing wrong,” head carnivore keeper Ferdinand Lyle said as he cradled the deadly cat. “He’s such a good boy. Who’s a good boy? You are, aren’t you? Yes, yes, a good boy!”
I’ve learned that traveling with cats isn’t too bad if you prepare yourself and your feline overlord(s).
This is Big Buddy with a live dispatch from the Hyatt Garden Inn, where Little Buddy has spent much of the past 24 hours hiding under a hotel room bed.
Sources say he poked his little head out overnight to deliver a few “Mrrrrps,” finally emerging this morning to eat and use his litter box.
But seriously, two things I wasn’t prepared for: Bud being almost completely silent, and the ability to use the bathroom without a loud, talkative cat screeching at me! I’d forgotten what it was like.
In case you missed the earlier posts, we’re here for two nights because of a bathroom renovation. I weighed whether it was better to leave Bud alone with contractors coming in and out and lots of noise, or to bring him with me. I still think I did the right thing in bringing him here, even though he was not amused in the slightest about being brought to a strange place for reasons he doesn’t understand.
Eating for the first time since leaving home.
Still, as long as I’m here with him he’s cool, and yesterday I sat down next to his hiding place and spoke to him in a reassuring voice, telling him what a brave little dude he is.
Today’s been much better and I’m reasonably sure that he’ll spend most of tonight alternating between sleeping on top of me and standing on my head, shrieking for snacks.
This has been illuminating and now I know what to expect if I have to bring him to a hotel or somewhere else overnight in the future. I appreciate the earlier advice of PITB readers, and have found the process of staying in a pet-friendly hotel painless. I left the “Do Not Disturb” tag on the door to avoid a potential Bud freak-out over a stranger walking in.
It’s also interesting to see just how attached cats can be to their familiar territory, and how age changes that dynamic. Young Bud would be like “Where are we going, dude?” But I’ve seriously slacked on bringing him places, especially since the pandemic. Combined with his age (he’s 12 now and not the fearless feline he used to be), the difference is pronounced.
Update, Wednesday 10/21/2026: We’re home. The contractors are still at work but tell us we’ll have a functional bathroom by late this afternoon. Bud’s glad to be home. Still, this validates my decision to take him with me to the hotel the last two days. He’s huddled in my bedroom where I have the door closed so he doesn’t freak out over the sight of strangers working in the Buddesian Domicile, the sounds of drills and powered saws, and the temporary mess.
As expected he’s looking to me for cues on how to react, so as long as I’m here with him and I’m calm, he’s not freaking out. I’m proud of him for handling the temporary transition out of his territory and the major disturbance to his routine. By tonight all will be normal.
Welcome to this week’s Caturday open comments and open topics. This is our second week running posts like this, so if you didn’t join us last week, you’re welcome to comment on anything, suggest stories, talk about your own cats, or describe the many ways in which Buddy is a dapper and diggity diggity dope feline, as DasEFX might say.
P-22’s lasting legacy: the world’s largest wildlife corridor
Three years after his death, the world’s most famous puma’s legacy continues to expand with the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
The crossing straddles 10 lanes of US 101 and a local road, stretching 210 feet to link the Santa Monica Mountains ecosystem to the Simi Hills. Along with restoring 13 acres of habitat, the $100 million project provides a safe way for mountain lions and other animals to travel between fragmented habitats.
The wildlife crossing under construction. Credit: KTLA
It also recreates the route P-22 himself took when he migrated from the San Diego area to Los Angeles as a young puma. He settled in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, an improbable home for a large wild predator, let alone a member of his often wide-ranging species.
The route is extremely perilous for mountain lions, already under threat from habitat fragmentation, hunting and ecological pressures. P-22’s remarkable resilience became the stuff of legend when researchers realized where he was born and the journey he’d taken to his final home.
The puma became iconic in Los Angeles, often appearing on Ring doorball cameras, spotted by hikers on the trails above Hollywood Hills, and even resting in the backyards of homes neighboring Griffith Park. Sightings were frequently posted to socials like Instagram and Facebook, where locals bonded over their admiration for P-22 and the rest of us admired him from afar.
Perhaps the most recognizable photograph of P-22 was the one captured by National Geographic’s Steve Winter, who snapped the striking cat passing in front of the Hollywood sign in the hills at night. (See header image.)
The Wallis Annenberg crossing will be opened on Dec. 2, ushering in a new era for wildlife in California.
A rendering of the complete Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing showing what it will look like when it’s complete. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Study: Physical proximity to your cat is associated with positive vibes
On the heels of research that found a link between having cats in the home and happiness, a brand new study finds positive mood benefits associated with being physically close to our feline overlords.
In this study, researchers visited cats and their humans in their homes rather than in a laboratory setting. They observed the cat-human interactions, how much time they spend in close proximity, and took urine samples to measure hormonal changes in the humans. Feline proximity was also tracked and logged via small Bluetooth collar attachments.
“I think many cat owners are familiar with the sense of comfort and peace they feel when their cat climbs onto their lap seeking affection, they start to pet it, and the cat begins purring contentedly,” study co-author Saho Takagi said. “Our findings suggest that this feeling may be partly reflected in the hormonal connection between cats and their owners, particularly through oxytocin, a hormone involved in the formation of parent-child bonds and social relationships.”
Since Bud seems to be attached to me by an invisible tether and spends hours each day in direct physical contact – napping in my lap, resting a paw on a leg or arm, sleeping while burrowed up snugly against my side – this study is affirmation of the calming effect the little dude has.
Bud sleeping on my legs on a cold day when I was wrapped up in a blanket. He doesn’t like being underneath the blanket, but he likes to sleep between my knees.
PITB will be operating out of a hotel this week
Or for several days at least. Contractors will be here working on the bathroom and kitchen, and apparently the work is going to put the bathroom out of commission for at least two nights, not the one night as I’d hoped. (Thanks to those who offered suggestions for staying in a hotel with a cat!)
I’ll still be around and hopefully will stick to a regular posting schedule – every other day, or more frequently if there are newsy cat stories that fall within this blog’s remit – but Photoshop is a real Pain In The Bud when using a laptop, I’ve found, so the Budster and I will be reliant entirely on Pexels, Wikimedia Commons (fair use) and that sort of thing. Hopefully Bud lets me work, ’cause I’m not supposed to leave him alone in the hotel room for longer than a few minutes at a time.
Big Buddy has been downgraded
…to The Slightly Larger Buddy. This momentous change is prompted by Little Buddy’s certainty that his growth spurt is imminent and he’s about to blossom into the fierce tiger he’s always known he’ll be.
When that happens, the gulf in Buddy height and weight will be significantly reduced, rendering me Slightly Larger.
Buddy of the future after he has his growth/orange spurt. Credit: Joel Simeon/Pexels
Which is fine by me, but what of Little Buddy? Will he be Moderately Sized Buddy? Super Buddy? Buddy In A Transitional State? The latter sounds vaguely culture war-ish, as if Fox News is about to run a story any moment now about the girls Buddy has replaced on the track and field and swimming teams, which of course would be preposterous. He’s too lazy to run and too terrified by water to swim. I could, however, envision him as an accomplished deadlifter. Those huge meowscles would be put to excellent use!
Open comments, open links! Plus, we talk about cat-friendly hotels, the recent report on contaminants in cat food, Mike Flanagan’s latest Stephen King adaptation, and more!
We’re gonna try something new this week and dedicate “Caturday” to links, off-topic discussions and anything you’d like to post about.
It’s a good opportunity to touch on stories that we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth on, talk about and recommend entertainment, and follow up on stories in the news.
If there’s anything we’ve missed, something you’d like to point out, or you just want to write about what a dashing and meowgnificent feline Bud is, you can do that here too. (And don’t forget to talk about your own cats!)
The Clean Label report on contaminants in cat food
Mmmm, slop!
Thanks to Candi A. for keeping us in the loop and posting the link to her friend’s assessment of the concerning findings about heavy metals, pesticides and other nasty stuff found in cat food.
In case you missed it, here’s the link Candi shared.
I have only been able to read it once and have not yet read the full report, so I’m going to refrain from adding anything yet. I need to see all the details and whether the brands I usually buy are included. I expect they will be, as Clean Label chose samples from the 100 most popular cat food brands sold in the US. (For our friends outside the states, there could be useful information as well. The big brands are corporate conglomerates with international reach, so brands sold in the US are likely sold under different names or slightly different packaging elsewhere.)
Of course I’m not an expert on feline nutrition either, so we should all decide what’s best for our cats based on what we know about them and the information we gain from reports and analysis.
I hope to revisit this in an in-depth post, hopefully with some input from veterinarians and experts on feline health.
Contractor work and staying at a pet friendly hotel
I won’t be able to use my bathroom overnight while a contractor puts in new floors, sink, etc., and my friend who feeds Bud while I’m away will have me, but not him. (I wonder why? It couldn’t have anything to do with him practicing some light mauling on her at least three times, would it?)
There’s also no way I’m gonna leave him here with an unfamiliar person, work noise and the uncertainty of not having me there to show him it’s all okay.
So it looks like I’m gonna stay at a pet-friendly hotel that I have verified as specifically cat-friendly as well. I’m going to get a disposable litter box, bring his bowls and some food, and I think he’ll be okay as long as he’s with me and I don’t leave him alone in an unfamiliar place. I’ll pick up dinner or order delivery, and I think we should be good.
But since there are plenty of cat experts here (that’s YOU!), including those of you who have dealt with this situation, I figured it’s a good idea to ask if there’s anything I haven’t considered or if you have advice for helping things go smoothly.
I think we have a good secure attachment thing going on. The earthquake about 18 months ago verified that — we woke up to the building shaking, Bud was sleeping on me, and he popped up his head to look at me like “Are we good here, Big Bud, or should I start running around screaming?”
I was actually proud of him for that, and for taking my word for it that everything was fine. Once he got reassurance from me, he relaxed and went back to sleep.
So I think that as long as I’m there with him, my fearless tiger companion will be okay.
Cats = happiness?
So, about that study: a research team looked at happiness indicators in 93 countries, as well as rates of cat ownership, toxoplasma gondii infection rates and other factors.
They found that having a cat or cats is linked to higher self-reported satisfaction with life.
It’s pretty wide-ranging, and the researchers themselves caution against drawing any hard conclusions from the data. However, they did note a few interesting points, including:
Toxoplasma gondii infection is higher in countries with fewer cats. This tracks with earlier studies that show even though t. gondii is heavily associated with cats in the popular imagination, felines are actually not the primary transmission vector. Other factors, like rodent infestations, as well as the quality of waste and sanitary infrastructure, are much more closely related to exposure and infection in people
The total number of estimated cats in a country is not associated with higher happiness levels, but the number of “owned” cats is. In other words, the link between cats and happiness seems to hinge on our personal relationships with cats, and not merely their presence. Countries overrun by strays, for example, do not have the same correlation
Speaking of correlation, that’s as far as this goes. The researchers note the data they have cannot prove causality. In other words, countries that have higher levels of cat adoption and ownership may be wealthier in general, and wealth — at least enough to free people from true poverty — is correlated with happiness. It could be that people who have more money are more likely to spend disposable income on little buddies. It does not mean you have to be wealthy by societal definitions, and it helps to remember how fortunate most of us in the first world are compared to the true poverty of the “global south”
Overall, the study’s authors conclude we need follow-up research to firmly establish a potential causal link between felines and greater satisfacfion in life.
Telegraph columnist Hannah Betts
If you’re skeptical of a causal link between cats and happiness, here’s a take from a Telegraph columnist who admittedly loves the slobbering subservience of dogs and detests the fact that feline affection must be earned. In fact, she questions whether feline affection actually exists.
Fair warning, she has an uncharitable view of our beloved house tigers and retrograde views on what their behaviors mean, but sometimes it’s helpful to understand why certain people don’t like our perfect little angels who can absolutely do no wrong. And yes, that’s sarcasm. I love Bud in spite of the fact that he can be a jerk at times, and maybe even a bit because of it, but it would be madness to claim cats don’t feel affection toward their bonded humans.
Influencers
Speaking of Jenner-Kardashians, I’m not sure if I missed this at the time or decided if it wasn’t worth getting upset over, but while I was just searching for Betts’ column to add the link, I found this story from seven months ago about widespread disgust with Khloe Kardashian for having her cats declawed.
That the Kardashians are a family concerned with little else besides fame and money is not news, but I am planning on posting about the effect of celebrities and influencers on pet trends in the near future, and whether it’s declawing, purchasing “exotic” wildlife like monkeys as pets or keeping entire menageries of neglected, miserable animals, like it or not there are a lot of people who think it’s okay to do things because the walking examples of botched plastic surgery they idolize have made the behavior popular.
Animals are the ones who suffer, and groups dedicated to their welfare fight uphill battles trying to correct misinformation/combat harmful trends spread by influencers. There’s gotta be a better way, including holding social media platforms accountable when they elect to ignore animal welfare concerns. A video does not have to involve direct violence inflicted on an animal for it to qualify as animal abuse, and it’s crucial people understand that.
One disturbing example is a Youtube video uploaded by a young woman who adopted an adorable baby macaque, then proceeded to mentally torture the poor animal. One video involved her repeatedly offering a bottle of milk to the baby only to yank it away at the last second, laughing as if her actions were pure comedic genius. The baby became so traumatized, she stopped eating. That IS animal abuse, even if some minimally-trained, ignorant moderator employed by Youtube does not agree. Social media operators are not the ultimate arbiters of morality, animal welfare, criminality, political speech or anything else, even when they’ve appointed themselves to those roles.
These are the same people who invite teenagers and pre-teens onto their platforms, employ psychologists to help them keep the kids hooked and doomscrolling all day, provide them with filters that do little besides undermine their self confidence, provide platforms that are practically custom-made to enable anonymous bullying, then absolve themselves of responsibility when the inevitable happens. They are the last people we should trust with deciding what is acceptable or moral.
Mike Flanagan’s ‘Carrie’
Amber Midthunder, a Native American actress, played a Comanche healer named Naru who wants to follow in her brother’s footsteps as a hunter in 2022’s “Prey.”
Which finally brings us to the brand new adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, streaming now on Amazon.
I’m only a few episodes in so I can’t offer any major conclusions, but so far it seems to be everything we’ve come to expect from a Flanagan project — thoughtful, respectful of the source material while also giving it a modern makeover, and operating on a strong foundation of writing and acting.
It has a lot to say about bullying and the modern technologies that turbo charge the cruelty kids are capable of. Adults are hopelessly outgunned on the tech front, which makes foundational parenting more crucial than ever.
I’m especially happy to see Amber Midthunder in a major role after her exceptional performance in 2022’s Prey, and I’m really hoping we’ll see more of Cassandra Naud, who showed up briefly in one scene so far with a hint of more to come.
Cassandra Naud
Naud was awesome as the legitimately terrifying antagonist in Influencer and its sequel, Influencers, and she’s unmistakable thanks to the birthmark that dominates the right side of her face. She’s a fantastic actress and astonishingly beautiful, and in interviews she talks about her childhood decision not to have the birthmark removed because of potential complications. She came to see it as an advantage because it renders her unforgettable, but I think her work speaks itself these days.
Carrie was released this week, with all eight episodes available to stream at your pace. Frequent Flanagan collaborators Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco, Rahul Kohli, and Ruth Codd have returned, while Flanagan’s next project is an Exorcist sequel due early next year.
Thoughts? Questions? Links? Stories about your cats? Flattering notes about what a dapper furred fellow the Budster is? Leave ’em in the comments!
