Cats are furry and purring creatures, literally conquering almost the whole world with their seeming harmlessness and special charm. Therefore, in general, it is not surprising that there is a whole cat island. In Japan, on the expanses of the ocean, mustachioed predators have earned, conquered or occupied - quite broadly enough land can be said differently. Strictly speaking, in the Land of the Rising Sun there are not one, but even two cat islands. Get to know them and their inhabitants closer.
Silkworm Advocates
The first feline island in Japan is Tashiro. It is part of Miyagi Prefecture and is located fourteen kilometers from the coast of the Land of the Rising Sun. Initially, cats were required here to fight rodents. Tashiro was a breeding ground for silkworms, and the mice enjoyed it with pleasure. The future cat island in Japan was saved from ruin by its new mustachioed inhabitants. After that, the purring heroes came to be known as animals bringing good luck.
Four-legged fishermen
Soon, the production of silk fabrics fell into decay. He was replaced by fishing as a source of food and goods for trade. Of course, this could not but affect the cats in the most positive way. The purring assistants enjoyed the treats that the inhabitants always brought to them.
Unfortunately, over time, Tashiro suffered the same fate as many of our villages: all young people left the island. The number of residents began to decline rapidly until it reached a modern figure - approximately 100 people. The vast majority of them are elderly people. So there was a feline island in Japan, where there are more cats than people. According to rough estimates, there are four to five tetrapods for every two-legged resident of Tashiro.
Invasion
Cats have bred because of the immense love of the inhabitants for them. On the island, where two settlements are located, one of the central and revered places is the cat temple, located approximately in the middle between the villages. Literally everything is credited to the cat: good weather, plentiful catch, salvation from rodents, and so on. Of course, for so many benefits, cats are fed, cared for and cherished.
To this is added the ban on dogs on the island. As a result, contented and independent animals felt like owners: they occupy all empty buildings, demand meow when approaching a person with tasty food in their hands, meticulously examine tourists.
From the hunters to the stars
Tourists - this, you can say, is what meowing and already quite lazy pussies repay residents for their kindness. Since the cat island in Japan, whose photo scattered across the Internet several years ago, has become famous, people come here every day who want to see with their own eyes flocks of red, striped and spotted mousetraps, waiting for the next batch of treats or impressively lounging in the sun.
Japanese and citizens of other countries come not only to admire and feed animals. Cats are globally recognized antidepressants. Given this, Toshiro can be called an island of murmuring bliss: the fluffy healers of the spleen and melancholy here at every step and generously share their skills. The feline island in Japan attracts tourists almost without the consent of local residents. Many of them have nothing against, others say that there is too much noise from visitors.
Overfeed
There are also problems here. As you know, when a cat is fed enough, it ceases to hunt. If kittens and young animals play with pleasure, then older adults mostly sleep. Hence the problem of obesity of animals: they are fed by both local and tourists. The island even began to give out instructions in which it is forbidden to feed cats.
Aoshima
The second island of cats in Japan is very similar to Tashiro. It is called Aoshima, and there are about six more meowing tetrapods than people. The population of the island totals 22 people. Just like on Tashiro, these are mostly people over 50 years old. Most of the inhabitants left the island after the Second World War.
Cats here initially served as the same mousetraps: they protected fishing nets and boats from damage. There were no predators on the island that could restrain the natural growth of the animal population, as a result, today there are about 120 individuals.
Of course, Aoshima has become no less popular island among cat-keepers than Toshiro. Tourists are not embarrassed by the lack of infrastructure, they go to see the cats purring and rather hungry, in contrast to the four-legged inhabitants of Tashiro. The extremely small population of the island is not able to independently provide food for all animals, and visitors, apparently, can not cope: the authorities of the prefecture decided to sterilize at least part of the animals in order to restrain population growth.
The feline island in Japan (both Tashiro and Aoshima) can be interesting from different angles. This is a great example of an almost uncontrolled increase in the number of individuals in the absence of predators, and an example of the influence of the Internet on public interest, and an illustration of the relationship between people and animals. In addition, the cat islands highlight the problem of abandoned cities, and even the philosophical moment of the relationship between the old and the new, which manifests itself in the attitude of the inhabitants of the islands to crowds of tourists and brewing changes.