The soft and cute appearance of cats has always been loved by people, and countless cat slaves are regarded as pearls in the palm of their hands, but in 2015, there was a horrific incident of cat abuse in Australia, and the cruel nature released in its desperate situation could not help but make people think - is the cat really domesticated?
In September 2015, a woman from Adelaide, Australia, moved to live in another place, but had no intention of taking the 14 cats she had kept, but instead made a move that was incomprehensible to ordinary people, blocking all the exits in the house and leaving no food for the cats. After slamming the door shut, the cats looked at their owners who had left the house, unaware that disaster was imminent.
Soon, the Australian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (rspca) received a report, neighbors often heard the screams of cats in the house, before the members of the association decided to raid the woman's home, they thought they would catch the abuse of cats, and the moment they pushed open the door, the scene in front of them made everyone present tingle.
The stench of rotting corpses, the broken dishes, garbage and clumps of chewed and exposed cat corpses as far as the eye could see, the countless paw prints and feces at the door, I don't know how desperate these cats were when they waited for their owners to return at the door, at this time, it was also found that a cat had survived, and the cat hissing that had been heard earlier was what it made, skinny and bone-like, and the picture was heart-wrenching.
The members of the association judged through the traces of cat corpses that these cats chose to eat each other because of hunger before they died, from 14 cats to only 1 cat left, the experience of these cats these days no one imagined, no one dared to think, this rescued surviving cat was named Trupa (cavalry), under the help of the association, Trupa was adopted by well-wishers after recovery. As for the evil lord, she was sentenced to 12 months in prison for animal abuse, a cruel act because she suffered from mental illness.
It is true that in this desperate situation, even humans have also had cases of mutual cannibalism, but for cats, there has always been a "unfamiliar" saying, don't look at the cat lying lazily on the sofa basking in the sun, maybe when to run out for ten days and a half, or expose the intimidating primitive wildness, making people constantly wonder whether the cat is really domesticated, or just a simple "sending people under the fence"?
In the United States, stray cats and out-of-the-box domestic cats kill an average of 3.6 million birds a day, while in the United Kingdom, 55 million birds are killed by cats every year, and as early as a 2011 survey, the extinction of 22 species of birds on islands around the world is directly related to the killing of cats, and continues to threaten the population of dozens of remaining birds.
Darwin had long concluded that once they returned to the wild, domestic cats that depended on human support would immediately restore the wild instincts of their ancestors, and the most convincing reason for why cats chose to get along with humans was the need for stable food.
About ten thousand years ago, the New Fairy Wood Incident caused the global temperature to plummet, and human beings could no longer migrate to the grass like before, so after the first agricultural revolution in history, humans began to cultivate large areas of land, and the surplus harvest was stored to cope with the cold winter, and rats were a very big threat to the granary, and the annoying humans finally found one of their natural enemies in the confrontation with rats, cats, so it was natural to raise wild cats. And cats are happy to live with humans because they have food.
The time of the emergence of domestic cats is also fixed at about 10,000 years, and this time is indeed a bit short for dogs that were domesticated 33,000 years ago, due to the singleness of the functional needs of cats, humans have not had a decent breeding of cats, and the breeding of pet cats has also appeared in modern times, without breeding, domestication can not be talked about, and the relationship between cats and humans is more inclined to cooperate.
Researchers have compared the DNA of feral cats and domestic cats in different parts of the world, focusing on two kinds of DNA that distinguish mammalian species, namely mitochondrial DNA and short tandem repeat sequences in DNA, and found that whether it is a domestic cat or a wild cat, the results of these two DNA tests are highly consistent, that is to say, domestic cats and feral cats around the world are only different in coat color and appearance, and the bones are still the same.
From a historical point of view, the specific record of the domestic cat first appeared in ancient Egypt in 3500 BC, when ancient Egyptian farmers began to introduce cats to fight against rats in the granary, while protecting grain, because the cat's pupils would change shape with the strength of the light, the ancient Egyptian people naturally associated the domestic cat with the gods, the domestic cat began to enjoy the treatment of worship, and deeply affected the beginning of Western civilization, the most typical is the ancient Roman Empire's reverence for the domestic cat.
After the ancient Roman Empire, the Germanic feudal lords occupied the political c position in Europe, Christianity began to become the dominant force in society, during the prevalence of Christianity, the centuries-long "witch trial" not only persecuted a large number of innocent women, domestic cats were also brutalized by the church, the Holy See preached that cats are the embodiment of evil, and let people believe that "witches can change into cats", and still Western mythological stories have cats and witch plots.
The disappearance of cats in large numbers, the most beneficial is not the church, but the perennial suppression of rats, some scholars believe that the prevailing "Black Death" at that time and the cat slaughter movement has a lot to do with the cat slaughter movement, it is the disappearance of cats that caused the spread of the virus rat flood.
After experiencing the catastrophe, the status of domestic cats began to slowly improve, Islamic culture in the cat has always been a favorite animal, in our East is also treated kindly, and today, the cat through the plush cute appearance captured a large number of loyal cat slaves, most people are deeply involved in the "cute response" mechanism, a cat brain will release dopamine, began to become considerate, meticulous, cats are also with this magical chemical reaction, induce humans to be willing to give generously.
From the use of cats to catch mice, to respect cats, to the cat slaughter movement, and then to today's pet cats, the status of cats has undergone essential changes, looking at the cat owner who turns his face at any time and runs away from home, it is difficult to distinguish who domesticated whom?
Finally, I would like to say more, if you decide to raise a pet, you must make sufficient preparations in advance, even if you find that it is not suitable for breeding, spend some last thought to find a rescue station, do not abuse the pet, or abandon the wild to survive on its own, although the domestic cat can adapt to the life in the wild, but the average life expectancy of the wild cat is only 2-3 years, the heart of the cat is common, please do not let the domestic cat return to the cat in advance.