Fred the Cat Dearly Missed By All

Oh, Fred the cat - and detective - everyone misses you! After news of your death, all the major papers are giving you your due. with the Daily News calling you a "claws celebre" and Newsday reliving your brave bust of a fake vet in Brooklyn. The NY Times' Michael Brick, who wrote about Fred the Cat back in February in a staccato, noirish tone eulogizes Fred in a similar way and also explains how Fred ran into the street from owner Brooklyn ADA Carol Moran's home:

At home in Howard Beach, Queens, Fred settled into an indoor life of chases and naps and sudden pounces. There was air-conditioning. There were sunbeams.

“He was my baby,” Ms. Moran said. “He was very, very sweet. He was very attentive to us. He was a pain in the neck to his sister; he chased her off the bed.”

On Wednesday morning, Ms. Moran and her husband opened the back door to carry their 14- and 16-year-old dogs downstairs. The cats chased one another outside. Only Fred circled the house and ran into the street. He was struck by a car and killed instantly.

“Usually we can catch them right in the yard, or somebody will go out under the deck and come out with cobwebs on his whiskers,” Ms. Moran said. “I don’t know what he saw, or what struck him, or what possessed him.”

The Post printed this quote from Moran: "We are hugely grateful to have had him. We feel horrible that we failed him for those 15 minutes... I feel like I let everyone in the world down." To say the least - keep cats inside! Let's hope that Detective Fred the Cat Angel goes onto to guide other potential crime-fighting pets.

The NY Times also re-runs its great photograph of Fred at his first press conference - the picture where he's reeling from Burt the dog, another animal in the fake vet sting.