They are far more similar to their ancestors, African wildcats, than dogs are to wolves. Others think beyond the anthropocentric: cats kill birds and disrupt ecosystems.ĭomestic cats are rarely part of an ecosystem, and despite thousands of years of domestication, cats still prefer their food at 38 ☌-the lukewarm temperature of fresh blood. Some people-the “no animals in my backyard” or NAIMBY-ists-proclaim free-roaming cats are nuisances that should be confined like any other pet.
Other Icelandic towns are considering bans as the issue of free-roaming cats increasingly makes its way from online forums to local politics, with the arguments generally falling into two categories. Neighboring Húsavík banned cats several years ago from going outdoors day and night. In April, Akureyri-the largest municipality in the country’s north, with a population of 19,000 people and some 2,000 to 3,000 cats-decided to ban their feline residents from night roaming outside. Today, as Icelanders embrace freedom again, Icelandic cats are fighting for theirs. Cats were having the best year since the invention of the internet-it seemed. Icelandic cat breeders did not answer their phones, and the local veterinary authority cracked down on illegal kitten dealers for the first time. Animal shelters were empty, with hundreds of disappointed people yearning for the comfort and joy of a feline friend.
“Cat Lawyer” went viral in February 2021, a year into the pandemic, when we had tried for several months to get an actual cat to live with us in northern Iceland. The snow melted off my hat, all over the mobile screen, but we kept watching. One afternoon, as I came in the door, covered in snow, she greeted me with “Cat Lawyer”-a video of a Texas lawyer stuck on kitten filter during a court case on Zoom. By shared, of course, I mean she flipped the screen of her phone and thrust it at me across the table: “Look!” And for the next 10 minutes, we’d scroll-cat taking a bubble bath, cat robbing a fishmonger, cat playing the piano to an audience of two cats and a dog. In the early months of the coronavirus lockdowns, my wife shared with me a daily dose of cat videos. Listen now, download, or subscribe to “Hakai Magazine Audio Edition” through your favorite podcast app. This article is also available in audio format. Stream or download audio For this article | 3,900 words, about 19 minutes Share this article Do You Know Where Your Cat Is? In Iceland, traditionally a land of cat lovers, bans and curfews are redefining the human relationship with domestic cats. Will a night curfew keep them in check? Photo by Konstantin Zaykov/Shutterstock It’s 10 PM.
Domesticated cats are among the world’s top predators, implicated in the decline of many species.
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