Xinjiang “Cat Army” Declares War on Rats

Home » Headline, Humor, In the News August 22, 2011 12 Comments

The city of Bole, a small town in western Xinjiang only 20 miles from the Kazakhstan border, has found a new use for all their stray cats.

Drawing inspiration from the famous Tom & Jerry cartoons, local officials decided that the best way to fight an overpopulation of rats was to create what they call a “cat army” to restore balance.

Xinjiang's cat army watches out for rodents in Bole

Apparently it has worked. According to Chinese reports, the city cats were hesitant to embrace their new role of “Little Mao on the Prairie” (mao being the Chinese word for cat), but after some bribery they’ve done their job.

The number of rats on the Bole grassland has dropped dramatically since this cat army was released and the strategy is being considered for other areas of Xinjiang as well.

But where are these cats to sleep at night, especially in the winter when the temperatures drop to well below zero?

City officials built them cat caves made of bricks (no joke…see the picture below). Some of the cats are using them while others have decided to live out under the stars.

Homes for the Bole, Xinjiang cat army

Li Hua, a forest worker in the Bole region, recalled a recent “cat and mouse war” scene he witnessed shortly after the army was released.

“A while ago I went back to that area and saw a cat chasing the mouse through the grasslands.” Then, in an excited tone he added “Mice do not run as fast as a cat!“

12 Comments

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  • toshkan said:
    August 22nd, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Those action shots are priceless. The three evil forces of rats, mice and squirrels don’t stand a chance!

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    Josh says: August 24th, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    Ha! I love it. Who knew that cats were the simple solution to the “three evil forces”?

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    William Box says: September 23rd, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Don’t let the folks in Guangdong, Province (Guangzhou) know about the cats and rats; I’ve yet to see squirrels on the menu; but maybe they are unaware such a creature exists.

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  • Trevor said:
    August 22nd, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Traveled to Bole for a day in 2006. I can’t remember seeing an inordinate number of cats. I do, however, remember spending time with some new Mongol friends at their store and at a Mongol park in the city, complete with a Buddhist temple and gers (yurts) where you could eat dinner and watch VCDs.

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    Josh says: August 24th, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Wish I could say that I’ve been to Borla, but alas it is not a top destination in Xinjiang. I’m definitely curious to know what brought you there for a day! Hope you enjoyed your time.

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  • Black Cats or White Cats? | 龔家令道製作 said:
    August 22nd, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    [...] http://www.farwestchina.com/2011/08/xinjiang-cat-army-declares-war-on-rats.html “No matter if it’s a black cat, or a white cat, as long as it’s a cat that catches mice: It’s a good cat!” –Deng, Xiao-Ping [...]

  • 3q2u said:
    August 25th, 2011 at 8:35 am

    Years ago I published a great dream verbatim I had about “The Great French Cat Army.” Sounds like they’ve arrived in China. http://tinyurl.com/3dtozrh

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    Josh says: August 27th, 2011 at 12:06 pm

    Quite crazy…thanks for sharing!

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  • shockr said:
    August 26th, 2011 at 2:49 am

    They are going to end up with an over population of cats in a couple years… then they’ll need to bring in the dogs!

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  • Howard said:
    August 27th, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    As an animal health care professional, I’m always curious about the status of cats and dogs in places like China, especially in China’s furthest corners like this western area.

    Shockr is right….there will soon be a NEW problem, called “Too Many Maos”

    Also, I’m curious; If “Mao” = “cat”, is that what the revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s name meant?

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    Josh says: August 28th, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    Thanks for the comment Howard! We’ll see if this army of cats becomes a problem in the future.

    To answer your question, the Chinese characters aren’t the same and don’t have the same meaning. 毛 is the first character in Mao Zedong’s name whereas 猫 is the character for “cat”.

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  • Storm said:
    August 28th, 2011 at 4:42 am

    I have to say, this is such a great idea, it doesn’t destroy any environment, through this policy, it will not only bring the balance of the natural environment, but also bring the potential of development in that area. It will attract more investment for tourism, it is in a border area in China, so it will definitely have some multi-cultural elements can be found in the city of Bole, it will be a great opportunity if government can give some projects to Bole and may be have some ideas very similar to “Nong Jia Le” (village tourism), I know it is hard to execute all those ideas in same time but it does help the government to have some ideas to make city nicer and richer than before. Xinjiang is a vast province in China, we do have different types of tourism resources but I just want to suggest, maybe we can separate them in several different ways, Generally with two parts, which are Bei Jiang(north Xinjiang) and Nan Jiang(south Xinjiang). that’s my thoughts, any suggestions ?

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