This Cat Has Allegedly Been Stalking Brooklyn's Rare Painted Bunting

Photos via Brooklyn Bird Club

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A black-and-white cat who has allegedly been stalking Brooklyn’s widely celebrated Painting Bunting has been captured and sent off to a local animal shelter by the Prospect Park Alliance (PPA).

Marty Woess, a forestry technician for the PPA, was tasked with removing the cat from the bird’s preferred habitat near the LeFrak Center skating rink.

According to the Brooklyn Bird Club, Woess captured the cat using “the humane and ubiquitous ’Hava-A-Heart’ trap.”

“He may be a little embarrassed but is unharmed,” club officials said on their Facebook page.

The cat had been spotted eyeing the rare bird several times over the past few days, Brooklyn Bird Club board member and prolific guide/handbook author Tom Stephenson told Patch.

“It’s colorful. It’s easy for the cat to spot,” he said of the Painted Bunting. “The cat was definitely stalking the bird, and it almost got it once. So we finally arranged with the Prospect Park Alliance to get this guy Marty involved.”

Had it not been for the PPA’s intervention, Stephenson said, “I think the cat would have killed the bird. And I think people would have seen the cat kill it, because cats hunt at dusk when there are a lot of birders around.”

“And if that would have happened,” he said, “sh*t would have hit the fan.”

The cat is now in custody at Sean Casey’s Animal Rescue in Windsor Terrace. His rescuers hope he’ll be recognized by his owners — if he has any — and returned home.

“The impression we got is he’s a pet who escaped,” a PPA spokeswoman told Patch.

Brooklyn birdwatchers, for their part, hope the cat’s dramatic capture will raise awareness about the danger that escaped (or released) housepets pose to local wildlife.

“Cats in the United States kill well over a billion birds a year,” Stephenson said. ”It’s a major, major problem.”

Do you recognize this cat? If so, call Sean Casey Animal Rescue at (718) 436-5163.