Читать книгу The Cat Handbook - Karen Leigh Davis - Страница 11

Not all cultures worshipped cats as gods, however, the way the Egyptians did. By the Middle Ages, cats had spread to European nations, transported there no doubt by traders who, realizing their worth, carried specimens back to their homelands for rodent control. The thirteenth century proved to be a bleak time for cats. Along with their human associates accused of witchcraft by the Christian Church, cats became symbols of evil, devil worship, and pagan practices. As a result, they were persecuted, tortured, burned, and killed in the cruelest ways.

The Black Death: In one of the subtle ironies of history, retribution for this unjust sentencing came swiftly in the form of the Black Death, which fell upon western Europe in the mid-1300s and, within approximately four years, wiped out nearly half of the human population there. The Black Death was the bubonic plague, a deadly bacterial infection spread by disease-bearing rodents and the fleas that live off their blood. The bite of an infected flea transmitted the disease from rat to man.

In retrospect, experts have suggested that the deliberate and systematic elimination of cats from the unsanitary streets and crowded towns of Europe during this time may have helped contribute to the rapid spread of bubonic plague. Unaware of the relationship between rats, fleas, and the plague, people caught up in the misguided religious and political fervor of the time effectively reduced the cat population that was helping to keep the rodents under control. In exercising this serious error in judgment, they may have unwittingly tipped the odds in favor of a devastating epidemic.

In time, the Black Death ran its course, but not without incurring profound social changes that would signal the end of the Middle Ages. The persecution of cats eventually ended as well, as people once again came to appreciate their role in reducing rodent populations. At the dawn of a modern age, the domestic cat emerged from one of the darkest chapters in world history to begin a new journey into the heart of humankind.

Cats today: Today, cats are the most popular pets in North America, outnumbering dogs per household by nearly two to one. And while most modern house cats no longer find it necessary to serve primarily as mousers, they continue to enrich our lives as companions and in countless other ways.