Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1913 — IS THE PARADISE OF CATS [ARTICLE]

IS THE PARADISE OF CATS

In No Other Country Is‘Pussy’s WellBeing Btudled More Carefully Than In Germany. Germany is the paradise of catß. In no other country, except, perhaps, Egypt, where the cat used to toe regarded as sacred, has pussy’s well-be-ing ever been studied more carefully than It is in the Fatherland today. In Germany people are not permitted to throw things at cats, even when the animalß are preventing them from sleeping. The proper course to pursue is to pursue the cat; in other words, follow it home and thus having ascertained whom the serenader belongs to, to make a complaint which, if unheeded, can be followed by legal proceedings. Now German law has solemnly laid down the circumstances —and the only ones —under which a cat may be shot. A lieutenant named Klotz, who lives in Berlin, shot two and dire is thd penalty that has befallen him for thus destroying eighteen liveß. He has been fined S3O, or sl6 per cat, besides having to pay all costs. A Teuton Judge has decreed that the owner of birds or any bird lover in Germany Vho suspects a cat of having marked a certain bird for its own must wait until he catches the feline in the very act of pouncing on its prey. Then he may shoot it, but not otherwise. A cat may not be molested even if it is seen sllnkfig away with your canary in its mouth. That Is not conclusive evidence, according to the recent Judicial decision. ' In deciding the Berlin case, the Judge severely condemned Lieutenant' Klotz’s action in massacring the cats without positive proof that they meditated the destruction of his raven. The learned magistrate held that the cats, having been “scatted" once could have been "scatted” again without recourse to bloodshed, and he incidentally laid down the law for catkilling as set forth above. Whether the cats of Berlin laughed or not when they heard the verdict is not known, but it certainly was enough to them.