Curiosity did for the kitty

I will say straight up that I am not a Cat Person.

That is not say that I have been in the past.

As a youngster I did have my own Tabby and for a short time we were quite inseparable. It used to sleep under the covers at my feet and I was very responsible in seeing to all of its basic needs.

The cat died ahead of its allotted years and still with most of its lives in the bank and that hit me quite hard.

It was probably no coincidence that subsequently and to the present day I have the most allergic reaction to cats.

I think they call that psychosomatic or something like that.

For all of their character and traits that endear them to a good proportion of  humans the cat as a species has retained an element of mystery, intrigue and above all an attitude that gives the impression that they could exist easily without our patronage.

These things are well known and documented but yet at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960's the Central Intelligence Agency had the madcap idea to recruit the domestic cat into their espionage operations.

It was on reflection a bit of a gamble.

We all know that cats are their own masters and have a tendency to wander off, become distracted and hungry. They are not known for their loyalty and do not acknowledge exclusivity in relations with their owners.

However, the CIA invested some US$20 million into a project to use cats to eavesdrop on Russian Diplomats by using them as feline microphones.

The mechanic of this can only be described as a bit gruesome.

An anesthetised kitty was spreadeagled on the veterinary operating table and a transmitter embedded in its skull along with the smallest of power packs.

A microphone was inserted into the ear canal and an antennae run along the cartiledge of the sweeping tail as a purrfect receiver.

This will have involved a lot of cutting and stitching and those involved likened their first creation, when it had returned to consciousness, to a Frankenkitty.

The same inaugural animal was unfortunately, although this is disputed by those involved in the Project, let out on a test mission only to be run over by a Taxi as it dodged across a road.

That tragic accident only served to highlight the sheer unpredictability and unmanageable nature of a cat which severely questioned the thinking behind the CIA and their quest.

The Project just seems to have slunk away into the far recesses of the archives but remains as an example of Man's folly and assumed dominion over animals.