Cat island is small (1.9 km long) and off the southern coast of Japan. It is attached to the mainland so is it an island? There are 20 people living on it. There are over 120 cats and they are the offspring of a few parents it seems, judging by this extraordinary photograph which is genuine but which has the appearance of being a collage created with Photoshop.
The cats on the island are a tourist attraction bringing in some money. It was a place where the fishing industry was thriving as in 1945 there were 900 inhabitants. It was first inhabited 380 years ago.
Fish stocks declined and people left. The cats were brought over from the mainland to control a mice infestation. As less people became available to manage the cat colony it grew rapidly in size. The situation got out of hand.
Progress to spay and neuter is too slow. Culling the female population has been proposed. Why just the females and why not spay and neuter en masse because the cats are semi-feral and probably easy to trap or perhaps even pick up and place in carriers. I may be dreaming but it looks that way.
The cats feed on rice balls, and other human food scraps provided by tourists. This is not good at all.
Map showing where the island (Aoshima) is.
You can tell they’re from a small gene pool. Other than different coat colours/patterns, there’s little variation in their head/face shape or physique. Is this the evolution of a truly native cat breed?
Linda this picture supports the view that the pictures are unedited:
I am sure it is a genuine photo. The exceptional circumstances created it. The collared cat is the best looking one there. I think a lot of these cats are semi-feral or even domesticated and this allows a collar to be placed on this cat. Perhaps it signifies that she has been spayed in which case the collar was placed on her at the time of the operation. It looks like an impersonal collar. She’s female we know that and we know that spaying has taken place.
I think you are wrong Linda. There is no need to do it (Photoshop) because there are so many related cats. They are going to look alike as they are siblings. This is because the cats are on an island (enclosed essentially) and there are a limited number of founding cats.
You are right. If you look at the photo real closely it doesn’t seem natural. There may be some “real” ones in there but look how many look so much alike. I suspect photo shop.
Yay. I’m so pleased to see an article on Cat Island. This was featured heavily in that documentary you didn’t want to watch (lol). I’d love to visit there.
Fishermen come in once a day to leave food for the cats. Obviously it’s first come, first served and competition is fierce, but all the cats look reasonably well. There were an awful lot of them with bobbed or kinked tails.
How come the tortoiseshell cat in the centre of the photo is wearing a collar? Are you sure it’s a genuine photo?