When questioned about this dichotomy, she explained, "You see, people commonly kept cats at home as pets." A soft murmur waved through the crowd at the concept.
"Small kittens," the guide continued, "were very cute and cuddly, and many people allowed their cats to breed, just to enjoy those few months of watching the babies. But unfortunately, those babies grew to be gangly, awkward, hungry cats, and their owners soon tired of them. They thought for some reason that cats could fend for themselves, and for that reason, often decided it was kinder to turn them loose in a park or near a restaurant, where other people would feed and care for them.
"Unfortunately, these cats were not neutered, and soon bred rapidly. The offspring often died, from starvation, getting hit by cars, eaten by other animals or other crueler deaths, but those who survived also bred, until huge feral cat colonies were formed. Therein lay the problem."
The crowd pressed forward as the docent's hand hovered over the satin cloth, then breathed a collective sigh as she whisked the rippling fabric off and displayed a cage.
Emily's eyes were wide as daisies when she saw a glossy black cat washing the ears of a black and white kitten with her tongue. Emily took a tentative lick at Tigger's battered felt ear, frowned at the taste, then squealed when she saw four more kittens nestled against the queen's flank: a grey-striped one, a fuzzy grey one, and two more black kittens, miniature replicas of the mother cat.
The guide smiled at Emily, who had pushed forward to the front of the crowd. "Would you like to listen to them purr, Honey?" Emily nodded and grasped Tigger tighter as Rose gently nudged her over to the cage. Following the docent's directions, Emily put her ear close to the cage and heard....PURRING. The most exquisitely blissful sound, sweeter than the sweetest nursery song she had ever heard. The crowd moved closer, but not a sound could be heard except the musical rhythmic sawing of the mother cat's purr. The greatest violin virtuoso's concerto in history could not have held a crowd mezmerized, the way this purring did.
Just when Emily felt like she couldn't hold her excitement in, the docent opened the cage and extracted the black and white kitten, a small ball of damp fluff. "Would you like to hold her?"
Emily nodded and in a small voice murmurred, "Yes, please," then swallowed hard as the guide placed the furry warm bundle in her arms. She felt a tingling go through her hands as she realized you could feel the purring as well as hear it. Without prompting, she gently stroked the velvet fur and rubbed her face against the soft, tickly hairs.
The docent, whose name tag said 'Maria', retrieved the kitten and gently placed it against its mothers side, where it quickly fastened on a nipple and stroked little happy kneading steps with its paws and tiny claws.
A male voice broke the hushed silence. "I don't see why this (nodding toward the cage) posed a problem."
Maria smiled wryly as she explained. "Well, you see, this one cat could, if allowed to breed indiscrimately, with her female offspring, be responsible for the birth of over 420,000 cats in the next seven years. Now, if you can imagine hundreds of thousands of other female cats also breeding freely, and likewise their offspring, you can get a small idea of the nature of the problem."
"Well," the same grey-haired man replied, "Obviously someone figured out a solution, otherwise how come this cat and her kittens are the only living felines, just a hundred years later?"
Maria sighed and rolled her eyes upward. She always hated this part of the exhibit.
"Actually, there were a number of really concerned people working on a solution, when it was taken out of their hands. A concept called "Trap, Neuter and Release," also called TNR, spread quickly throughout the world, on what was once called the Internet. Other variations of this program were called Trap, Test, Vaccinate, Alter, Release, and Maintain. Hundreds of volunteers fed their local feral colonies. They found that spaying or neutering the cats and releasing them back into the colonies was the best solution to population control.
Next > "I'm sure you're all familiar with The Cat Riots of 2011"
