As you know I’m not in the business of spreading rumours so I’m just going to tell you what I heard from uninformed sources and let you deicide what you do with that information there.

So I’m told that the source of the contamination may have been found but there is a lot of reluctance to release the information as the town may not deal well with the emotional impact of what seems to have happened. I write this with a heavy heart but I’m here to tell the hard stories as well as the happy, so I will push on with the story.

It looks as though Dubbo may have lost their favourite and most highly respected feral cat, which is affectionately known just as a cat because although technically feral it feels so much a part of the town that most people hate the ‘feral’ label. Most called her by her adopted name, Putrid, others just call her ma’am.

No matter where in Australia, or even the world, you are you have no doubt heard about the great Dubbo feral cat turf wars of ’05 where the cats from West took on the CBD cats and Putrid was the lone survivor. Therefore there’s no need to go into that.

So last Wednesday night Putrid had made her way to North Dubbo, we all know she hasn’t been herself since the wars and most nights would wander the streets, some say still searching for other survivors.

My sources tell me that old lady Worthington had been having terrible trouble with snails lately and had laid lots of those traps where you put beer in a margarine container, snails fall in, get drunk or something, can’t get out and drown.

The story goes that Putrid not only ate all the snails but drunk all the beer in all the traps and we all know that not only is old lady Worthington losing it but is also a little OCD and it turns out she laid out enough beer to get a small army drunk.

There are reports that what was probably post this incident people had seen Putrid walking through North towards the water reservoir that feeds that part of town with tears streaming down her face and staggering all over the road.

Without official confirmation nothing is certain, but I’m told they have pulled a small animal from the reservoir, possibly feline in nature. But I must stress they are continuing tests on the remains and no formal identification has been made!

It’s not looking good though for poor old Putrid as the pieces of the puzzle are seeming to all fall in place. Let’s hope it not here, but if it is that we are all given a day off to mourn, it’s what she would have wanted.