Cat and mouse game

The reaction to this picture was pretty mixed in the newsroom. There was the group who said nice shot and the group who revolted in disgust.

I was shooting an assignment at the Tracy Animal Shelter when one of the shelter’s house cats “Mikey” was jumping up and down in a corner area outside the kennels. He had cornered a field mouse and was heading in for the kill.

I watched for a while until he settled down to enjoy his afternoon snack. I switched the camera to autofocus and put it as close as I dare while he was eating. “Mikey” just gave me that look of “it’s my mouse go find your own” and settled down to eat.

We started guessing if we publish the photo how many complaints the paper will field. I said 25.