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Victim of 2007 cat attack speaks, as Hoppy joins Ralph the cat on the Twin Cities roster of menacing pets

Posted on June 24th, 2009 – 3:42 PM
By James Shiffer

My colleague Sarah Lemagie’s tale of Hoppy the attack cat brought back bad memories for Thomas Buchberger. Buchberger told Lemagie that he still has scars from his September 16, 2007 encounter. It happened while he was walking his dog, a “docile” elderly Australian/German shepherd mix named Walden, a block from their home in Minneapolis’s Linden Hills neighborhood. He said it reminded him of a YouTube video where a tiger attacks an elephant to get at its rider. “It came out of nowhere like this tiger,” Buchberger said. “It would have killed my dog.” Instead, Buchberger told an animal control officer that Hoppy knocked him down and inflicted multiple scratches and punctures on his left quad and both calves.

StarTribune.com’s map of dangerous dogs (and Ralph the cat) debuted last month and doesn’t reflect the recent addition of Hoppy, a 10-year-old Norwegian Forest Cat. The search warrant that investigators used to take Hoppy into custody makes for interesting reading - check it the PDF here.

In defense of Hoppy, the owner’s son, Kurt Noltimier, told Lemagie that both the 2007 and May 2009 incidents were “bogus complaints.” After the first incident, “My dad told me the dog bounded into the yard and Hoppy is a little territorial.” Hoppy is “gentle” and never hurt anyone aside from these two unfortunate encounters, the son said. Now, Hoppy will have to wear a leash and a harness so that he will never lacerate a stranger again.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Neighborhood nuisances, Public records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Victim of 2007 cat attack speaks, as Hoppy joins Ralph the cat on the Twin Cities roster of menacing pets”

  1. radgrad63 Says:
    June 25th, 2009 at 5:48 am

    They all say that. Hoppy is “gentle” and never hurt anyone…” That’s what
    a pitbull’s owner said about her dog that attacked my little poodle. Get a grip.
    Some animals are dangerous and should be put down before they
    kill someone or another animal.

  2. becky Says:
    June 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am

    Knocked down by a 10 year old cat? Gimme a break. The cat was most
    likely defending his territory, but I doubt the cat is a real
    danger to anyone. A cat is not a pit bull.

  3. Dan Says:
    June 26th, 2009 at 9:56 am

    I live in SW Minneapolis and there are twin cats that would not let me and my dog pass them on the sidewalk. They were ready to attack us. I turned and went across the street to avoid the confrontation we turned and went across the street. The owner has already said that his cats could “kill” my dog if it wanted to. That’s comforting.

  4. James Shiffer Says:
    June 26th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    What is it about SW Mpls that breeds such dangerous cats?

  5. Elisabeth Samways Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    Please people, get a grip! It sounds as if this older, territorial cat did what you would all EXPECT your dog to do, defenf its territory. Unfortunately his tools were not a loud bark to announce his presence and he obviously couldn’t jump up and down to further intimidate possible intruders. A better understanding of animal behavior might be warrranted, not less. Certainly it’s never a good thing when anyone is hurt, whether a human or another animal,but to declare this possibly over-stimulated cat as a dangerous animal is ludicrous.

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