Pet cat saves elderly Malaysian woman from being burgled

Mariam Kulop Ahmad, 71, who lives alone in her house in Padang Tenggala village in Perak state, said she was puzzled why her cat kept mewing incessantly last Monday while she hung out her laundry to dry in the garden. She said she thought the cat was hungry but it refused food, and continued mewing and staring at her. "It looked straight at me and then towards the roof. It did this three times," she told the Star daily newspaper.

"When I looked up, I had the fright of my life. There was a man crouching on the wooden beams which support the roof," said Mariam, who added that she was too frightened to scream. Luckily for her, the startled burglar jumped down and fled without stealing anything. Mariam believes the burglar was a drug addict who had entered her house while she was in the garden, and was waiting for her to go out or to fall asleep before ransacking her home. The newspaper carried a picture of Mariam and her unnamed cat, which was a stray she adopted two years ago.

(la/dpa)