Gaspar by the rails

Gaspar

One morning on one of my daily pre-heatwave hiatus walks down by the VIA Rail mainline out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the bobcat that for years has been rumoured to be slinking through the fields and forests of Ottawa. But no, on closer inspection it turned out to be a Bengal cat, which is a cross between an Asian leopard cat and a domestic cat.

It's odd to see one on the loose given how much they cost, and this one looks in good shape for a cat living rough.

Named after one of the three wise men?

Over the weekend I was chatting with a neighbour who lives near the tracks and asked him if he'd ever seen the cat. Indeed he had, and the cat has a name: Gaspar (yes, with a G and not a C as was emphasized to me) !

It turns out Gaspar has a long and complex backstory, but suffice it to say some cat loving people are trying to catch him so he doesn't get into trouble in the wild. He's wily though, and so far attempts have been unsuccessful. For various reasons it's suspected he's already got a living arrangement with somebody and doesn't want to get snagged by anyone else.

Stay tuned to this cat channel for more breaking cat updates :-)