TAILLESS CAT

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1932, Page 8

TAILLESS CAT

ISLE OF MAN PROBLEM. , j LONDON, May 12. The Isle of Man-is facing a crisis. Qt is: threatened, with the- loss of - one of its c<ainis to fame, as well as on e of its most - valuable exports.-The: tailless .cat, indigenous only.Vco-that; island. : is disappearing!. Alarming reports.' aris e . that, .the species' eventually ' will become, pxtinct. ■ ■ Various explanations a r e given. One U that the'Manx cat still thrives with all its ancient virility, bu’t that this rare island fauna is dwindling'because of an undignified, forrp of export—and measures may be .taken to curtail this trade. ■ Islanders- uo. a big business with the cats which sell ,at anything from lbs to £1 among tourists. Th e oat’s value, depehds on size, appearance and colour. One-.’tailless cat ,is valued higher than any" other. It has only three legs. Solitary specimens of the breed are to be found in all corners of the earth. Some-insist the 'Strain is strong enough for -the Manx cat to survive. Others hold-that It grows less hardy in alien hnants and will eventually leave the foreign cat, tail and all, in possession of- the world’s alleys. Not even the scientists have ascertained why the Manx cat is vanishing. Lopping off a tall: won’t .make a Manx cat. It is a well-known theory of evolution that an accidental peculiarity or variation, if taken advantage of, can be 'perpetuated and emphasised. But the whim of Nature -which gave th 1 Manx people .and the world this' strange cat- also gave it longer hind legs, & i ,ac * noted by D.arwin and commented upon afar in the “Encyclopaedia Britannica. j But just how it happened nobody (knows. Not even the British Pair’lament can tell, for Mr Rhys Davies, Welsh member of Parliament, anlod about in when the f'ustoms Bill, passed by 'the Tynwald, the Manx Legislature, was brought into th° House of Cmn[mons recently for routine, {tpprbv’l. Mamr Walter .Elliott, Financial Secretary • to the Treasury, who "introduced the Bill, did rot know. Many theories of the cat have been advanced, and among them is one which‘the islanders consider a libel. It held ’that the Manx cat -wlps half rabbit. .Since the Manx people cannot explain 1 the cat themselves, many islander* • prefer the leyend that the cat was taken there by shipwrecked sailors from the Epankb Afmada. I T '