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Sir David Cattenborough’s Newest Documentary Reveals The Elusive Silver-Furred Buddy

The naturalist is excited to unveil his most striking documentary yet.

NEW YORK — All those hours trudging through the dense undergrowth of New York living rooms, hoping for a glance of an elusive feline, have finally paid off.

Speaking to reporters about his newest nature special, Sir David Cattenborough said he and his crew spent more than 200 hours in the natural habitat of the silver-furred Buddy.

Also known as the Buddinese tiger, the silver-furred Buddy is “native to the living rooms of New York” and, with his meowscular physique, “is the apex predator of his environment.”

“What a fascinating animal!” Cattenborough exclaimed.

The famous naturalist, conservationist and documentary narrator accompanied a camera crew into the thick jungles amid couches, pillows and carpets, where they observed the silver-furred Buddy at a safe distance as the fierce feline went about sleeping, eating and lounging.

Cattenborough and Buddy — Sir David Cattenborough with Buddy the Cat.

Speaking excitedly in his familiar whimsical cadence, Cattenborough described the documentary crew’s luck in catching the Buddy on a hunt, when he ruthlessly brought down a red laser dot.

“People ask me, ‘Sir David, what makes the Buddy any different from other tigers and lions? Isn’t it basically the same animal?’ While they’re all famously fierce felids who strike fear into the hearts of other creatures, there are differences as well,” Cattenborough explained. “Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated crew, we’re able to bring our audience along as we take the closest look yet at this most elusive and fascinating beast.”

The new documentary, “Buddy: The Perfect Predator,” will be available to stream exclusively on Pain In The Bud, and was made possible by a grant from the Buddinese Foundation for Greater Buddesian Understanding, with additional financial support from the Coalition for Meowscular and Ripped Cats. Look for it this week on PITB!

Cattenborough and Bud — Sir David Cattenborough was able to earn the trust of a silver-furred Buddy.

Check Out This Beautiful Gallery Of Larry The Cat, PLUS: A New Game Features A Furious Feline

Cats, real and anthropomorphized.

As we noted on Sunday, Larry the Cat just celebrated his 12th anniversary as chief mouser at No. 10 Downing St., the UK prime minister’s residence and office. The Atlantic has a new gallery featuring photos of Larry’s adventures over the years, and it’s fantastic.

See Larry chase a pigeon, tolerate former President Barack Obama, pose for the press, bolt from a Mitsubishi bigwig, cautiously supervise a police dog working on his turf, hang out with photographers and steal the show during meetings of world leaders.

The gallery also includes rare photos of Larry inside No. 10 (during which he’s mostly gazing longingly at his turf outside) and other amusing moments from his long tenure as de facto head of government in the UK.

(Top image credit: Pete Souza/White House photo)

Cuddly carnage!

The camera pans from a wet, neon-lit street to the jagged remains of a wall spray painted with “Death to Humans” when a tiny head pops up, with the unmistakable shape of cat ears and the markings of a ginger tabby.

Zoom in: An orange tail speeds by, its owner just out of the frame, then the guitars kick in and Gori the cat stylishly disembowels some freak monster from atop his trusty Back To The Future-style hoverboard.

The game is called Gori: Cuddly Carnage, and it looks completely ridiculous, absolutely glorious and a hell of a lot of fun.

cuddlycarnage2 — Gori stylishly puts down a monster. Credit: Angry Demon Studio and Wired Productions

It’s from Angry Demon Studios and Wired Productions, the same people behind the well-received 80s/90s nostalgia trip Arcade Paradise, so the production values look great and Gori shares some elements of the retrowave aesthetic prevalent in Paradise.

It probably won’t get the kind of hype that the feline-centric Stray received, nor will people laud it for educating players about cat behavior, but that’s okay. It’s not that kind of game. Gori: Cuddly Carnage is still in development with no announced release date, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

ss_65c72aebb98390d4a3cda988cffa50065f871cf7.1920x1080 — Gori the “ultimate pet cat” on his hoverboard. Credit: Angry Demon Studio/Wired Productions

Cat With Gang Tattoos Rescued From Mexican Prison, Up For Adoption

Authorities found the cat in a sweep after a New Years Day riot resulted in 17 deaths and the escape of thirty inmates.

On Jan. 1, the inmates in one of Mexico’s most notorious prisons celebrated the New Year by starting a riot.

Ten prison guards and seven inmates lost their lives in the violent chaos, and thirty inmates escaped the CERESO 3 prison, according to press reports from Mexico.

When authorities finally regained control — an effort that required the military, national guard and local cops — they conducted a sweep of the facility for contraband and weapons, and that’s when a police K9 unit found a cat wandering the dangerous grounds by himself.

Dubbed “the gangster gato” by the local press — he doesn’t yet have a real name — the feline was taken into the care of Juarez’s Department of Animal Welfare for the Rescue and Adoption of Pets while police complete their investigation.

tatcat3 — The cat, who reportedly belonged to the late Los Mexicles gang leader, is in good health. Credit: Juarez Animal Control

He’s an Egyptian, a breed that commands up to $2,000, and reportedly belonged to Ernesto Alfredo Piñon de la Cruz, aka “El Nato,” the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel-aligned Los Mexicles gang. Cruz was the alleged “mastermind” of the escape who died on Jan. 5 when police caught up to him. He didn’t go quietly and died in the resulting shootout.

Although it may be difficult for Americans and others to imagine how prisoners could keep pets, stories about the subsequent raid and sweep say authorities found “VIP cells” stocked with amenities like space heaters, air conditioners, personal washing machines and various other electronics. The Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission and other NGOs had previously warned that the inmates were “practically running the prison,” and that guards there didn’t have the manpower or will to crack down on illegal activity in the cell blocks.

Gang leaders and others who had power were able to set up their cells like lounges, with couches, plasma TVs, video game consoles, stereos and card tables. One had a pet snake in a terrarium, and several kept safes full of cash they’d use to pay for items smuggled in through a secret entrance. There was even a mechanical bull to amuse the inmates and help them kill time.

In all, authorities seized more than 2,800 pieces of contraband, according to reports.

“The privileges are over,” Chihuahua Gov. Maru Campos said earlier this month as authorities showed some of the contraband and weapons they’d seized to reporters.

The cat is in good health, staff at the Juarez Department of Animal Welfare say. He’ll always carry scars from his time in CERESO 3, unfortunately, because the Mexicles tattooed him with the gang’s logo and an associated slogan, “Hecho en Mexico,” or “Made in Mexico.”

Despite living in such chaotic and dangerous conditions, “the cat is very sociable, and is in great shape, with no infections,” said Cesar Rene Diaz, a Juarez official.

The city is taking applications for adoption and a committee of Juarez officials will make the final decision on who gets to give the kitty a forever home. Government officials and their relatives are barred from applying to adopt the cat.

Credit: Mexican state police

Sunday Cats: Super Bowl, Kitten Bowl, Tiger Bowl

Today’s the big game!

Happy Super Bowl, a special day when Americans across the country will gather and watch more than 200 commercials, and some team will play some other team in just 11 minutes of actual game time.

No wonder the NFL and its advertising partners try to sell the commercials as entertainment in their own right: If you watch the Super Bowl, you’ll be subjecting yourself to an relentless onslaught of adverts for everything from Budweiser to Booking.com, insurance companies trying to out-zany each other, and gambling commercials. Lots and lots of gambling commercials for sites like DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, MGM and FanDuel.

Super Bowl Sunday was previously made brighter by the Kitten Bowl, but Hallmark canceled the cute fan favorite last year, saying only that it’s “not currently developing original animal-centric programming.”

It was inevitable that another network would move in to capitalize on Hallmark dumping its popular annual special, and taking the place of Kitten Bowl is the Great American Rescue Bowl, an event by the Great American Family Channel and the North Shore Animal League which will feature adoptable dogs and cats on a pet-size football field, along with host Beth Stern revisiting the stories of kittens, cats, puppies and dogs who were featured last year and found their forever homes. If you don’t get the Great American Family Channel you can stream the event on Hulu beginning at 10:30 a.m. (See the previous link for other streaming options.)

Viva la Tiger Bowl!

Watch this space in the coming week for a new longform story about the Champawat tiger, the most dangerous animal documented in more than 5,000 years of recorded human history. Little Buddy and I did quite a bit of research for this one, and we hope it’ll make for a good read.

wildlife photography of tiger — Credit: Sayantan Kundu/Pexels

Chonky Cat Is Polish City’s Biggest Attraction

People come from all over Poland, neighboring Germany and beyond to see Gacek up close.

The Polish city of Szczecin has a message for visitors: Come, see Gacek and marvel at his chonky feline glory, but please don’t feed him!

It’s not a joke. The rotund tuxedo kitty, dubbed the “King of Kaszubska Street” in a 2020 local news report, has become so famous that he’s listed as the top-rated tourist attraction in Szczecin, a riverfront city of 395,000 people in northwest Poland. That’s no small feat in a place that boasts a beautiful historic old town and a bustling riverfront lined with shops, restaurants and attractions.

Locals think Gacek is about seven years old, and some years ago they built him his own little house on the street, where he can be found snoozing comfortably when he’s not strolling the block, charming tourists and nibbling on the food they (still) bring him.

gacek2 — Gacek isn’t bothered by street sounds or crowds of admirers as he naps in his house. Credit: Krola_Karo/Reddit

There are more than 1,100 reviews for the big guy on Google, with an average of a 4.9/5 rating. (We suspect the handful of less-than-perfect reviews are from dogs or jealous rivals.)

“It was worth traveling three hours to feel ignored by him,” one reviewer wrote.

Another visitor got too close to the magnificent chonkster and found out what happens: “He stole a sausage,” the reviewer deadpanned.

As Notes from Poland points out, there’s a sign on Gacek’s house informing visitors that Gacek will “happily pose for photos,” and asking for people to leave food in sealed bags in a box, so Gacek’s caretakers can keep him on a somewhat normal diet and prevent him from gaining more weight. A post on the Slavic social media site VK describes Gacek as calm and nonchalant about the attention he draws, but notes he doesn’t particularly like it when people pet him, and he’s not a fan of the cold.

h/t reader Gilda P. for letting us know about Gacek.