{"id":38655,"date":"2022-05-17T00:05:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T07:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/?post_type=custom_features&p=38655"},"modified":"2022-12-20T11:32:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T19:32:36","slug":"its-10-pm-do-you-know-where-your-cat-is","status":"publish","type":"custom_features","link":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/features\/its-10-pm-do-you-know-where-your-cat-is\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 10 PM. Do You Know Where Your Cat Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early months of the coronavirus lockdowns, my wife shared with me a daily dose of cat videos. By shared, of course, I mean she flipped the screen of her phone and thrust it at me across the table: \u201cLook!\u201d And for the next 10 minutes, we\u2019d scroll\u2014cat taking a bubble bath, cat robbing a fishmonger, cat playing the piano to an audience of two cats and a dog. One afternoon, as I came in the door, covered in snow, she greeted me with \u201cCat Lawyer\u201d\u2014a video of a Texas lawyer stuck on kitten filter during a court case on Zoom. The snow melted off my hat, all over the mobile screen, but we kept watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cCat Lawyer\u201d went viral in February 2021, a year into the pandemic, when we had tried for several months to get an actual cat to live with us in northern Iceland. Animal shelters were empty, with hundreds of disappointed people yearning for the comfort and joy of a feline friend. Icelandic cat breeders did not answer their phones, and the local veterinary authority cracked down on illegal kitten dealers for the first time. Cats were having the best year since the invention of the internet\u2014it seemed.<\/p>\n

Today, as Icelanders embrace freedom again, Icelandic cats are fighting for theirs.<\/p>\n

In April, Akureyri\u2014the largest municipality in the country\u2019s north, with a population of 19,000 people and some 2,000 to 3,000 cats\u2014decided to ban their feline residents from night roaming outside. Neighboring H\u00fasav\u00edk banned cats several years ago from going outdoors day and night. Other Icelandic towns are considering bans as the issue of free-roaming cats increasingly makes its way from online forums to local politics, with the arguments generally falling into two categories. Some people\u2014the \u201cno animals in my backyard\u201d or NAIMBY-ists\u2014proclaim free-roaming cats are nuisances that should be confined like any other pet. Others think beyond the anthropocentric: cats kill birds and disrupt ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Domestic cats are rarely part of an ecosystem, and despite thousands of years of domestication, cats still prefer their food at 38\u00a0\u00b0C\u2014the lukewarm temperature of fresh blood. They are far more similar to their ancestors, African wildcats, than dogs are to wolves. Their ear flaps, with 32 muscles to rotate, are extraordinarily quick at picking up high-pitched sounds like a mouse\u2019s squeak. Their eyes are enormous on a petite head and adjust to available light like the aperture of a camera. Whiskers give them a three-dimensional sense, their sheathed claws ensure silence, and they can jump vertically, up to five times their own height without effort.<\/p>\n

Introduce this elegant assassin to places where migratory birds have adapted to a land free of natural predators and the damage can be irreversible, with some alarming examples worldwide. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Invasive Species Specialist Group lists cats as one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. Their paw prints are all over the scene. Numerous studies have implicated cats in the global extinction of at least 63 species\u201440 birds, 21 mammals, two reptiles\u2014and contributed to the endangered status of another 587 species. And nowhere do cats, particularly unowned cats, cause more damage than on islands: free-roaming cat islanders are linked to at least 14 percent of global bird, mammal, and reptile extinctions. In Iceland, a country with only one native terrestrial predator, cats have contributed to the dramatic decline of seabirds and have preyed on off-shore bird colonies.<\/p>\n

Perhaps pandemic fatigue addled my brain, but only the positives\u2014lower stress levels, for one\u2014associated with pet ownership resonated with our family. Through a series of lucky breaks, we finally found a tabby cat we named Ronja, after the forest-dwelling Astrid Lindgren character. She is adorable but, frankly, a menace to all things living, and my ankles: whenever my feet hang off the bed or sofa or a chair, Ronja takes it as an invitation to attack. Death first came on the inside. Our houseplants died. Window flies she swallowed whole. Once the snow melted, I opened the window. And out she went.<\/p>\n

\"cat<\/a>

Ronja, the author\u2019s cat, has the personality of a serial killer. Photo by Egill Bjarnason<\/p><\/div>\n

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In a world where we divide ourselves into cat people or dog people, Iceland has traditionally been the land of cat people. The city of Reykjav\u00edk banned dogs for much of the last century, until 1984, based on the idea that they were farm animals. The city\u2019s bourgeoisie cats nap on geothermal-heated sidewalks and befriend world-famous guests\u2014in 2011, the New Yorker<\/em> published Haruki Murakami\u2019s short story \u201cTown of Cats,\u201d probably inspired by his visit to the Reykjavik International Literary Festival, where he noted the lively cat scene. But the felines\u2019 chef-d\u2019\u0153uvre is inducing humans into an annual display honoring the power of cats: each December, the city plants a gigantic metal cat statue downtown at L\u00e6kjartorg square opposite the prime minister\u2019s office to celebrate the folkloric Yule Cat, a monster-sized creature who\u2014in the spirit of Christmas!\u2014torments children and eats them alive, specifically those not wearing new clothes for the festivities.<\/p>\n

This cat companionship is as old as the country itself. The Norse who mastered sailing from northern Europe to this middle-of-nowhere island some 1,150 years ago likely had cats on board their ships. The first cat to put its paws on the stony beach\u2014let\u2019s call him Henry the Viking Cat\u2014had places to raid. Iceland is, in basic geological terms, a volcanic hotspot turned bird colony turned country. When cats arrived, along with livestock, the only other terrestrial mammal was the Arctic fox, which had traveled via sea ice from Greenland, Russia, or North America at some point before written records.<\/p>\n

\"Yule<\/a>

Christmas celebrations in the Icelandic city of Reykjav\u00edk include a giant cat that\u2019s mean to kids. Photo by Arctic Images\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Few wild animals consciously opt for a domestic life. At the dawn of agriculture, the cat agreed to kill a few rodents in exchange for leftovers and\u2014assuming ancient cats were as somnolent as modern cats\u2014places to nap for 12 to 18 hours of the day. Yes, cats played social companions to needy humans in ancient times\u2014killing a cat was punishable by death in ancient Egypt\u2014but their role was farm work. And this wonderful arrangement lasted, roughly speaking, for 10,000 years.<\/p>\n

Now we want them to stop.<\/p>\n

Surveys suggest Icelanders\u2019 support for cat curfews is highest in regions with private homes and private gardens. Their reasoning is predominantly idiosyncratic, likening roaming cats to visits from rowdy town drunks. To paraphrase some online comments about cat visitations: \u201ccat urine sprayed the patio,\u201d \u201cchallenged another cat to a 3:00\u00a0a.m. duel and killed the yellow daffodils,\u201d \u201clast week he came into the house, and the pharmacy is out of pet-allergy drugs.\u201d Cat supporters reply along the lines of, \u201cGet a life and try to tolerate the outside world; cats are a delight and have roamed Iceland as long as we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ecological impact appears secondary to public policy, evident when H\u00fasav\u00edk, made famous by the Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest:<\/em> The Story of Fire Saga<\/em>, became one of the first European towns to impose a total cat curfew. Back in 2008, the debate began when a local feral\u2014domesticated and unowned\u2014population became troublesome, perhaps because their population hit a tipping point. Cats get pregnant as early as four months old, with one to six kittens per litter. A single female can get pregnant three times a year, and have over 150 descendants within two years. The growing band of unowned cats in H\u00fasav\u00edk began to hang out next to a fish farm by the edge of town, snacking on land-grown char. At the same time\u2014a happy accident for the cats\u2014a geothermal drilling project\u2019s runoff water created a permanent wetland for coastal birds to nest in. Spring came, nesting began. Trouble started.<\/p>\n

\"city<\/a>

The city of H\u00fasav\u00edk in northern Iceland, known for its starring role in the movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga<\/em>, banned cats from outside in 2008. Photo by Della Huff\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Studies in the United States suggest feral cats cause some 70 percent of bird mortality, which is blamed on cats in general. The most obvious solution to these H\u00fasav\u00edk bandits would have been to cull unowned cats and, further, ban all felines in rural parts of the municipality with the largest nesting sites. That would have upset farmers. Instead, local people, who seemed to largely oppose cats as nuisance animals, used the opportunity to impose a cat curfew solely within <\/em>town limits.<\/p>\n

Menja von Schmalensee, an expert on invasive species at the West Iceland Nature Research Centre, says the ongoing cat wars are often based on idiosyncratic preferences, not science. \u201cThere are places where feral cats should absolutely be banned outside, if not cats entirely,\u201d she says. \u201cIn other areas, such bans are overly drastic. My worry is that each community will follow the loudest group regardless of facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

All over the country that same story echoes\u2014particularly from cliffs where birds nest.<\/p>\n

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In 2007, Yann Kolbeinsson, armed with a laptop and a camera mounted on a bendable rod, conducted an annual summer survey of Manx shearwaters on Heimaey, in Iceland\u2019s Westman Islands archipelago. The seabirds are ground nesters on capes and cliffs and spend daytime hours at sea. Kolbeinsson would look for signs of a nest and push the camera down a tunnel until it stopped at a burrow.<\/p>\n

As he peeked inside, via the black-and-white live stream of his camera, Kolbeinsson would write down brief observations, one after another. Most days, entries went like this: empty, egg, empty, bird, egg, egg, egg, bird, empty, empty. One day, he recorded something entirely new: cat eyes.<\/p>\n

Four kittens stared straight into the camera. A little feral family was living in a raided home just over one kilometer from the island\u2019s settlement of 4,300 people.<\/p>\n

This was not good.<\/p>\n

\"Westman<\/a>

Seabirds, such as Manx shearwaters, nest on capes and cliffs in Iceland\u2019s Westman Islands archipelago. Photo by Michal Hykel\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

On these 15 dome-shaped islands that make up the Westman Islands, the Manx shearwater created its largest colony in Iceland. A 1990 study indicated a population of 6,000 breeding pairs, which now appears to be on the decline, though recent research is murky. Seabird populations in the region are going down, but researchers consider the changing ocean food web the most vexing problem. Still, in many places, feral cats are exacerbating the decline by attacking and eating chicks.<\/p>\n

Birds nest on offshore colonies precisely to avoid land predators and take precautions to avoid bigger birds. The storm petrel, for instance, stays out at sea during daylight hours to avoid attack; cats have night vision and are active at night, especially unowned cats. Kolbeinsson points out that removing cats is not always a simple solution since it can in turn make rats and mice\u2014<\/em>which can attack eggs and chicks\u2014<\/em>more prevalent.<\/p>\n

And then there is toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by a parasite few have heard of but many already have in their bodies. While the majority of human transmissions result from eating raw meat, cats can also spread toxoplasmosis. Cats that hunt wild prey (meaning indoor cats are innocent) are the only animals capable of transmitting the Toxoplasma gondii<\/em> parasite through their feces. Healthy people rarely have symptoms, but the parasite can harm human fetuses if a mother is infected during or right before pregnancy. (Advice for cat owners: clean out the litter box daily. The T. gondii <\/em>parasite does not become infectious until one to five days after it is shed.) About 10 percent of Icelanders have the parasite based on a 2005 study, as do some 40 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

\"Toxoplasma<\/a>

The Toxoplasma gondii<\/em> parasite\u2019s robust oocysts\u2014eggs\u2014easily travel in fresh water and the open ocean. Photo by TGPhoto\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Wild and domestic cats are the only definitive hosts for transmission from the terrestrial environment to the marine environment; without them the organism can\u2019t complete its life cycle. The parasite\u2019s robust oocysts\u2014eggs\u2014easily travel in fresh water and the open ocean. Toxoplasmosis infections have killed endangered Hawaiian monk seals and California sea otters. The parasite affects birds, too, causing anorexia, diarrhea, respiratory distress, and possibly death. A study of 10 species of seabirds in the western Indian Ocean found that 17 percent of them carried antibodies against toxoplasmosis. The \u02bbalal\u0101, Hawai\u2018i\u2019s native crow\u2014which survives in captivity but is extinct in the wild\u2014also carries antibodies against the parasite. It\u2019s possible toxoplasmosis arrived in Hawai\u2018i with Europeans and their domestic cats.<\/p>\n

Disease aside, it was feral cats\u2019 murderous natures that inspired local exterminator Asmundur P\u00e1lsson to act following Kolbeinsson\u2019s discovery. P\u00e1lsson began shooting feral cats and laying traps by the foot of the bird colonies, \u201call to protect our Manx shearwaters,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

P\u00e1lsson killed about 40 animals the first year but eventually gave up: some people in town kept sabotaging his effort by putting rocks in the traps. Two years earlier, P\u00e1lsson, armed with a .22-caliber rifle, had wiped out invasive bunnies\u2014the European coney, native to France, Spain, and Portugal\u2014but when it came to cats, animal welfare appeared to outweigh ecological impact.<\/p>\n