Not a cat story, but a few years ago, somewhere in East Anglia, an Eagle Owl made itself quite well known for attacking, Postmen, Traffic Wardens, Rottweilers and Dobermans. The bird used to fly down and head-butt the humans, the dogs it used to attack by clawing their backs.

It turned out that the bird, which had escaped from an aviary, used to taunted by Security Guards who used to patrol the place with dogs each night. When the Owl escaped it found it could exact revenge on what it perceived to be its former tormentors.

The Owl was finally safely netted and placed somewhere else.

On cat attacks, My eldest daughter had a pet rabbit. The rabbit was fully house trained and just used to wander about the place. It never went out the front door of the house but had free range of the garden at the back of the house. One morning it was sitting on the lawn, quite unconcerned as one of the neighbourhood cats stalked it. I went to scare the cat off, but my wife stopped me, telling me to just to watch. The cat eventually made its move and this large doe rabbit just lifted itself on its front paws and lashed out with its hind legs. The strike was timed to perfection, the cat must have been flung at least eighteen feet into a holly bush - the cat didn't stay round for more. The rabbit is no more, but the local cats who were her contemporaries to this day only cross the garden on top of the wall at the foot of the garden.