According to reports, a Winnipeg couple was refused mail delivery this week and was asked to walk four kilometers each day to pick up their letters at a local post office in the western Canadian city because their cat terrifies the mailwoman. Canada Post spokeswoman Kathi Neal told AFP the eight-year-old black cat often sleeps underneath the front steps of the small bungalow and is "very aggressive" with the carrier when the owner is not home.

It has "growled and leapt up to try to scratch the mail carrier's face" on three occasions in the past six months, she said. "It certainly doesn't like people in uniform. I don't think it's really the devil in disguise (as local newspapers have quipped in headlines), but cats can be every bit as dangerous as dogs, and are sometimes very territorial," Neal said, indicating that Canada Post hopes to negotiate a solution with the pet owner to ensure the safety of its employees.

John Samborski, owner of Shadow the cat, reacted angrily, telling the Winnipeg Free Press: "We're not putting our carriers at risk. This is Shadow. He likes to eat and sleep and cuddle. You could drop a bomb and he'd just open one eye, take a look, then close them and go back to sleep."

What is going on with the world's postal services? A few months ago we reported an Auckland sorting office being closed down because of a strange farty smell and now a deranged moggie stops deliveries altogether. E-bay must be getting nervous...

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More militant posties decided to fight fire with fire.