How efficient is the cat as a
pest-killer?
Before the cat became elevated to the level
of a companion and pet for friendly humans, the contract between
man and cat was based on the animal's ability to destroy pests.
From the time mankind first started to keep grain in storage, the
cat had a role to play and carried out its side of the bargain with
great success. Not so long ago it was thought that the best way to
get farm cats to kill rats and other rodent pests was to keep the
feline hunters as hungry as possible.
This seemed obvious enough, but it was
wrong. Hungry farm cats spread out over a huge hunting territory in
search of food and killed fewer of the pests inside the farm. Cats
that were fed by the farmer stayed nearer home and their tally of
farm pests was much higher. The fact that they had been fed already
and were not particularly hungry made no difference to the number
of prey they killed each day, because the urge to hunt is
independent of the urge to eat. Cats hunt for the sake of hunting.
Once farmers realized this they were able to keep their cats close
by the farm and reduce the damage done to their stores by rodent
pests. A small group of farm cats, well looked after, could prevent
any increase in the rodent population, providing a major
infestation had not been allowed to develop before their
arrival.
According to one authority, the champion
mouser on record was a male tabby living in a Lancashire factory
where, over a very long lifespan of twenty-three years, he killed
more than 22,000 mice. This is nearly three a day, which seems a
reasonable daily diet for a domestic cat, allowing for some
supplements from human friends, but it is far exceeded by the
world's champion ratter. That honour goes to a female tabby which
earned her keep at the late lamented White City Stadium.
Over a period of only six years she caught
no fewer than 12,480 rats, which works out at a daily average of
five to six. This is a formidable achievement and it is easy to see
why the ancient Egyptians went to the trouble of domesticating cats
and why the act of killing one was punishable by death.