Mighty Hunters

Last night I was getting in a workout on our elliptical trainer in the basement, when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a commotion.  I turned to look and saw Elroy lunge behind our small overflow fridge and come back with a round, grey cat toy.  He seemed pretty excited about it, and for a second I thought nothing of it until I realized the cat toy was squeaking.  I leaped off the elliptical and, yelling my head off, went tearing after Elroy, who had run in to the unfinished part of the basement with his prize. 

I rounded the corner just in time to see Elroy drop his treasured spoils, and the spoils run under a garbage bag that had slipped out of its box onto the floor.  I yelled at Elroy some more to go upstairs (I know...yelling's not productive, but Sean wasn't there and I didn't know how else to get him to go away), and tried to keep an eye on the other curious buddies who were now downstairs watching the show.  I could see the black garbage bag moving up and down rapidly as the little guy tried to catch his (or her) breath.  Finally, (s)he skittered out from under the bag and started making her way, rapidly but uncertainly, towards a safer destination.  (S)he found lots of things to hide under down there, but nothing seemed to be super-safe.  Then Elroy showed back up.  I diverted my attention for a second to get a bead on where he was, yelled at him again, then tried to locate the other cats.  

In the confusion, I lost the little mouse/mole/whatever it was.  I don't know if it went behind the cabinets or scurried under the garage door to relative safety outside.  I'm hoping it was unharmed (it appeared to be) and heart-attack-free.  I stayed downstairs for a while longer just to monitor the situation, but all was quiet.  I know that cats are hunters by nature, and Elroy was just doing what his instinct tells him.  But as a dedicated animal-rights advocate and vegetarian, I just couldn't stand by and watch while a little creature got tortured to death.  Even if Elroy had a blast doing it.  (Sorry, Elroy...)  Please join me in wishing the little guy luck, and a safe passage away from our scary brood!