Strange

Feral feline fedoras - cat hats made of, not for, kitties

by dunkelberg | July 12, 2008 at 05:04 am

911 views | 37 Recommendations | 13 comments

Quality hats are made of beaver fur. Leather slouch hats once were a big favorite. Now, we have feral feline fedoras.

Here is a tough one to sort out as the feral cat population is more than a nuisance, it is a threat to a rare local parrot species.

Ananova: Gran turns cats into hats
An Australian grandmother has set up a cottage industry turning cats into hats.

Robyn Eades, who lives on a remote Tasmanian island, says she has taken orders from as far away as Siberia, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But although most of her designs are made from the skins of feral cats which roam the island, the trapper who sends her the carcasses admits his haul includes the odd unlucky pet.

Every week she takes delivery of frozen cat carcasses which have been trapped and shot by a local ranger employed to cull the population.

The cats are defrosted and skinned, before being tanned and stitched into winter hats, coat hangers and purses.

She has an interesting view on the fate of the cats.

Ms Eades, 60, said: "I feel like I am saving them from their fate. They are going to live forever in my creations.

"There's no local opposition to what I do. The cats are a problem on this island. I am turning the skins into something useful."

Apparently, one of the feral felines' favorite meals is the rare, orange-bellied parrot.

Hello, horror film makers, these hats are shipped to distant lands. What will happen if the cat in the hat comes back?

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Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:20 on July 12th, 2008

dunkelberg, I like this story. It's good stuff.

dunkelberg

at 06:00 on July 12th, 2008

Thanks, Jordan.

Karen Hatter

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:55 on July 12th, 2008

Awww! Poor, poor kitties! I'm a cat fancier, hooked on their innate ability to train their humans to do whatever they want them to do!

dunkelberg

at 06:01 on July 12th, 2008

How true.

Thanks for the flag.

rpshen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:09 on July 12th, 2008

dunkelberg, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Oh that is awful! Can't believe it's a grandmother who is doing this!

dunkelberg

at 07:19 on July 12th, 2008

Thanks for the flag.

Must be the blue hair dye.

Jordan Yerman

at 07:55 on July 12th, 2008

I guess it all depends on one's relationship to cats, and to parrots. If the feral cats have to be dealt with (<-euphemism), then at least they're not dying in vain.

Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 08:13 on July 12th, 2008

dunkelberg, I like this story. It's good stuff.

dunkelberg

at 08:20 on July 12th, 2008

thanks

anarkissed

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:01 on July 12th, 2008

dunkelberg, Interesting story.

I'm no fan of cats but I don't know if I could wear one of those hats and I do know I couldn't do the job of making them! Still I sympathize with the problem they're facing and I agree with the practical use of otherwise wasted fur. Cat fur is quite nice. We do it to rabbits, and they're just as cute and loveable (yes I have pet rabbits) so why not predatory sadistic cats?

dunkelberg

at 09:12 on July 12th, 2008

Thanks for the flag.

Not that I agree or anything, but my father named one of our cats "Parasite" and I named one "Tsuris*".

Now, excuse me while I go fortify the ramparts, bring up the drawbridge and prepare for the seige.

*From Yiddish צרות tsores, plural of tsore ‘trouble, problem’, after Hebrew.

dunkelberg

at 09:31 on July 12th, 2008

Top of the front page?

This is wrong on sooooooo many levels.

[chuckle]

florafen (not verified)

at 04:09 on May 17th, 2009

We have just returned from this island today, may 15 2009, we had the great pleasure of watching fairy penguins surf out of surging, rough seas onto rocks to walk along tracks to their burrows under dense wind pruned scrub. We could see them in the moonlight and hear their calls to each other in the darkness......it was wonderful. In the headlights of our car, as we drove along the track to leave the rookery area .......2 CATS scurried across the track into the very bushes that some of these penguins had disappeared walking to their hidden burrows.......so these special defenseless creatures are at great risk because of these cats....I will be contacting the Ranger tomorrow to report the location and what we saw and we can only hope that he catches and kills these cats long with any others that are where they should not be.

Infact, all cats should be banned from this Island.....the wildlife is to precious to be threatened......Well done to the Ranger and Ms. Eades...this island is a special place