Western Argus (Kalgoorlie, WA : 1916 - 1938), Tuesday 11 April 1922, page 1


CATS AS MESSENGERS In 1877 a Belgian society was formed for the improvement, mental and moral, of the domestic cat, says the "Glasgow Herald." One of the society's early efforts was to train the cat to rival the carrier pigeon. A cat's sense of locality is extraordinary. The most astute and accomplished of human scien-tists would have his idea of locality totally confused by being tied up in a mealbag, carried 15 or 20 miles from home, and let out in a strange neighbourhood in the night. Experi-ment proved that this was mere child's play to the cat, not the sup-erior cat, either. but the everyday average cat. The invariable result was that the deported animal re-appeared at his own hearthstone next morning licking his whiskers as if nothing had happened. This skill in travelling through unknown regions without chart or compass suggested the possibility of using cats as special messengers. In April, 37 cats residing in the city of Liege were taken in bags 20 miles into the country. They were lib-erated at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. At 12 minutes to 7 o'clock the same afternoon one of them reached home. Within 24 hours the remain-der had been accounted for. A pro-posal was then made to establish a regular system of cat communi-cation between Liege and the sur-rounding villages, but the project came to nothing.