Shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic
Britain was considering killing off all domestic cats

03/02/2023 3:46 am

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the British government apparently discussed a sweeping move. According to the politician James Bethell, it was considered to kill all the domestic cats in the kingdom. This was to prevent transmission from animals to humans.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the British government apparently considered killing off all domestic cats. Conservative politician James Bethell told Channel 4 News: “In fact, for a moment the idea came up that we needed to ask the public to eradicate all cats in Britain. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had done that?” the pandemic broke out in 2020, very little was known about the disease. “There was a time when we were not very clear if pets could transmit the disease.”

Bethell, a member of the House of Lords, served as deputy secretary to then Health Secretary Matt Hancock at the Department of Health in 2020 and 2021. According to Britain’s Palestinian Authority news agency, he said there had been some testing during a time they should have been investigated.

According to The Guardian, in July 2020 cat owners were warned not to kiss their pets. It was previously known that a Siamese cat was the first known animal in the UK to be infected with the disease. Margaret Hosie, Professor of Comparative Virology at the University of Glasgow, advised cat owners at the time to “pay close attention to hygiene,” The Guardian reported.

“It’s hard not to take it personally”

In England there is a cat especially cult object: Cat Larry has resided for more than twelve years in Downing Street, the seat of government, as “the main mouse catcher of the United Kingdom”. On his satirical Twitter account, which mostly mockingly comments on political events on behalf of the cat, there was an immediate backlash on Wednesday afternoon: “It’s hard not to take it personally,” he said there, given Bethell’s statement that the killing of the cats had been considered.

In fact, according to a study published in June 2022, the coronavirus can probably be transmitted from cats to humans. The scientists described a case in Thailand in which a veterinarian contracted the virus in August 2021. He had treated and sneezed on a cat that had tested positive in the southern Thai city of Songkhla.

However, scientists point out that the virus is transmitted much more frequently from humans to cats than in the opposite direction. In Denmark, millions of mink have died during the pandemic due to concerns about disease transmission.