"This book is very special."
Toby the Siamese cat finds himself struggling for survival
in the Australian wilderness. He has no way of making it
as humans have pampered him all his life. However, he
meets up with a wild feline and has some of the best sex of
his life. The next day humans find Roby returning him to
civilization. Toby's evening in the wild leaves behind a
pregnant cat. That child struggles for survival against
his natural enemies with the worst being the Bushmen. It
is through the eyes of this feline that we see the
wild "world" of the Australian Outback where survival is a
24/7 occupation. CAT TRACKS will remind readers of The Bear, as the book is
predominately told through the eyes of Toby's offspring.
Though fictionalized, the tale provides a non fiction
account of surviving using the technique of personification
so that the audience gets inside the cat and observes the
wild through the feline's senses. Gordon Aalborg provides
a charming survival of the fittest novel that brings alive
the Outback as rarely seen in nonfiction let alone a novel. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted April 21, 2002
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A gripping epic of feline survival ... The Australian feral cat is very much a product of human
carelessness at best and callousness at worst. As truly
wild as the great cats of Africa and Asia, the feral cat is
perhaps the most successful predator in the Australian
bush - and a growing threat to the rare native marsupials,
birds and reptiles. Its agility, speed, hunting acumen and
lack of natural predators make it one of that country's
most destructive introduced species, and naturalists and
conservationists see its eradication as vital but unlikely.
Love it or hate it, the cat is a world-class survivor! This is the story of such a cat, seen partly through the
cat's own eyes and partly through those of an old bushman
who is fascinated by a creature his logic tells him he
should hate and despise. The cat's life-long fight for
survival is an elemental story of the animal world, its
interplay with the world of humans, and of the natural
forces which shape both.
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