Stalking Cat
American man best known for extensive body modifications (1958-2012)
Stalking Cat (born Dennis Avner; August 27, 1958 – November 5, 2012) was an American man known for his extensive body modifications, which were intended to increase his resemblance to a tiger. For his 14 surgical procedures towards that goal, he held a world record for "most permanent transformations to look like an animal". "Stalking Cat" was his chosen name.
Biography
Avner was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up in Suttons Bay, Michigan. As an adult, he joined the Navy as a sonar technician. He left his Navy post around 1981. He then began working as a computer programmer and technician in San Diego, California.
In the early 1980s, guided by his personal vision and feelings of affinity for the tigress, Stalking Cat began tattooing and surgically modifying his face. In interviews, he repeatedly stated that he chose to alter his physical appearance in accordance with what he believed was an ancient Wyandot tradition; however, this was his personal belief, not traditional practice. He also told people he grew up in a tribe and had been told to change his form to that of a tiger by a medicine man.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stalking Cat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.