"Magic Mood Jeep" wrote in message
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wrote in message
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Joy wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...y?coll=la-home

What a great idea! Finally, a reason to be proud of my home 'town'!

I know. Every time I hear about some organization or institution putting
down rat poison to take care of their rodent problem, I ask myself, "Have
these people heard of these animals called 'cats'?" They've done a great
job of controlling rodents for millenia, which is how we ended up keeping
them as pets.

Joyce

Indeed.

There are some historians that believe the 'black death' (Bubonic plague)
was helped along because of people's superstition about cats. They didn't
want the cats around as they were associated as being a witch's familiar.
No cats around = more rats around. Rats carried fleas... fleas carried
plague... and leas don't care who they bite. I'm sure the rats carried
the plague as well, and bit a few people on their own.


There are also cultures that valued cats for their ratting skills. Many
Italian towns recognized that cats killed rats, and gave cats the freedom
of the town for protecting them from the plague. So if you go to Italy,
you see "gatti" everywhere. And there is really something about Italy that
goes well with cats-- the "bella figura," the love of beautiful things, the
sunniness, the food, the determination to work to live, not live to work.
Cats look great in Roman ruins. However, Italy still has a lot of
catching up to do on spaying and neutering.