Feral cat in area for three years.

Yesterday was a very sad day, because I saw a yellow cat being taken by the official from my backyard to a place where they maybe put him to sleep.

I have seen that cat for three years; he was always around the house, he looked so strong and confident that always I assumed that he was the lion in the area, but that was not the case yesterday.

This part of the story started on Friday, when that independent cat was so weak that he couldn't stand by himself; for the first time I saw him so vulnerable that all my ideas about him disappeared just like that, because in the past I had seen him bullying other cats, taking over the territory, and he had not respected my own boundaries when I was protecting my own cat against him. Yes, always I fought him for the territory. But Friday was different, he decided to make himself visible and he was almost unconscious. I brought him some water and food and I was checking on him; I was so happy to see him eating the food, yes, he was fighting for his life, and he was eating. Later, when I brought him more water, he made hissing noises, and I was so happy, he was trying to set up the limits, and I respected his wishes, I asked for his permission to put the water there and I left the place. Later still I went to check how he was doing, and he looked weaker, at that point I called animal services in order to know what to do, but the person who answered said that I had to call next day, and I did, one hour later a woman came, put a towel over his head and because he was making very strong hissing noises she asked for his permission to use a device that helped her put him in a cage. That was the last time that I saw him, almost unconscious, without energy being carried away from his territory.

At that point I learned more about him than in the past three years, he did not accept people patting him. Maybe in the past he had had an owner and he had known love, but three years ago he had learned how to survive, how to live without a person who cares about him... and he succeeded, he became strong, he learned how to get his food, to look for a shelter and to create his own kingdom, until the day that he was very sick, and because he did not have a person who cared about him, animal services had to put him to sleep. Not a single opportunity for him. He learned to live without love, I pray that he, wherever is he, can find the path for love in his new existence. My love and my respect for a feral cat.