Cats In War

John Burns wrote a mesmerizing article for the New York Times last weekend about his life as Bureau Chief in Baghdad and the effect of living with war amid a growing colony of cats inside the Bureau's walled compound.

Somewhat disturbing are the facts that neutering the cats isn't an option, so the colony grows substantially (up to 60 cats) during "good" times (no disease or feral dogs to take them out). Feeding them makes them vulnerable to possible abandonment if the Bureau should need to close down abruptly. The military has written bans on soldiers adopting or feeding stray animals, and while that rule gets stretched, it's unfair to think they could absorb this task if the Bureau were to close.

But there are points made that resonate with pet lovers and can be completely understood by our demographic:

• Mr. Burns writes how the cats enable him to focus on life and positive contribution rather than death and destruction, keeping a close count of the colony's population and tying it with his own morale as the war progresses.
• The Baghdad cats were reported in the journal Science to have noble lineage, as they share the same terrain occupied by felines who were the forebears of all domestic cats along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates more than 10,000 years ago.
• As he plans a trip home, a female cat and her kittens accompany him, no easy feat when trying to exit a country where the human suffering is severe and a cat carrier can be seen as something foreign enough to be destroyed on site by local security.

Seeing how terrified the cats were within all the turmoil at the airport, he begins talking to them about what lies ahead in the hope that hearing his voice will be calming:

...the 3,000-mile air journey, detention in the quarantine center and, ultimately, liberation into a green and pleasant land where they would be full citizens, never again wanting for shelter, warmth and food.

Overhearing this conversation, one traveler approaches Mr. Burns and asks:

This proposal you make, is it for four legs only, or also for two? Six months’ detention, British passport, free to stay, guaranteed home, this is excellent. I will take, and many other Iraqis, too.

This is the stuff of hard choices and legitimate opposing points of view. But I'm glad to read of humanity within this tortured part of the world.

A related link is to John Laurence's Book, "The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story", from which today's picture is sourced.