Plague Rats For a Better Olympic Games
The Times – Cats are out as Beijing starts to preen itself
Animal welfare activists in Beijing are up in arms over a decision by the city government to clear the capital of its stray cats as part of a sweeping Olympic facelift.
No one knows exactly how many homeless cats roam the city’s streets and alleys but the Capital Animal Welfare Assocation says 160,000 to 200,000 animals at the very minimum are at risk from the new campaign.
Strays are already being caught and transported to a holding pen in the suburban county of Changping. Animal welfare activists described seeing the cats crowded together in cages the size of a microwave oven. They estimated almost 90 per cent of the animals were clearly diseased and many had been neutered with rudimentary surgery that had led to infections. The order states that strays still unclaimed after 14 days will be “dealt with”.
You know, it’s common knowledge that if superstitious medieval Europeans hadn’t been so unreasonable about cats, there wouldn’t have been nearly as many rats, and a quarter of the European population wouldn’t have been wiped out. Over and over again. So, yummy. Think of the rats running across your feet as you sit in the stands of the infested stadium… A bit like Veterans Stadium before they tore it down…
But then, maybe this is what it takes for China to finally have a real emergent middle class.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Unfortunately, when plague struck, the cats were the first to die. So they were regarded as being unlucky. So the Europeans didn’t keep cats. Very sensible.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Ah, but if there had been cats, there wouldn’t have been a plague to kill them since they would have eaten all the rats and cats, sensibly, don’t jump on ships and carry diseases from one port to another.
Hah!
February 27th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Terriers are a better bet against rats.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
You know, and I think this comes up a lot with me, you say that, but then why don’t people keep terriers in barns? I think because, as with all dogs, you have to trained the damned things to be useful at anything and most people get over it by the time they’ve finished getting the damned things to not pee on the carpets.