Name the kitties: New barn prowlers ‘hired’ for Lexington police mounted unit

Lexington police want residents to help name a couple of adorable new additions to its mounted unit barn.

The mounted unit recently adopted two “curious and energetic tabby cats” after a farm owner in Madison County rescued their mother a few months ago, according to the police department. The owner soon had a litter of kittens and the unit adopted two of them.

The cats will patrol the horse barn for mice and other varmints, the police department said in a release.

The new cats have big paw prints to fill. In April, the department lost Hobbs, a barn cat who lived with the department’s seven horses at their Sixth Street barn for 20 years before she died. Hobbs had developed cancer late in her life.

Sgt. Joe Eckhardt, who leads the mounted unit, said in April they would get a new cat at some point, though replacing Hobbs would be difficult.

“It’s a barn. It needs a cat,” he said.

And with the addition of the two cats to the barn, they now need names. Should they be named Bit and Bridle, Starsky and Hutch, Woody and Buzz or Smokey and Bandit? Here’s the poll that you also can find on the Lexington police Twitter page (@lexkypolice) and on the department’s website.