Palace of Westminster needs a rat catching cat but the place is unsuitable for one!

News media today (Daily Mail Online) state that the House of Commons which is within the Parliamentary estate called the Palace of Westminster on the banks of the Thames, has a massive rat problem and that the solution or partial solution would be to introduce a couple of domestic cats into that environment but Battersea Dogs & Cats Home object and state that the environment is unsuitable for a domestic cat.

Palace of Westminster needs a rat catching cat but the place is unsuitable for one! Image: MikeB

That's today's UK cat story! Battersea are stating that the rodent problem at the Palace of Westminster is so great that poisonous traps have to be laid to kill the rats but the traps would kill a cat as well. That's the theory.

Battersea have an interest in this (and are a stakeholder) because they are the animal rescue shelter which has in the past provided rat catching domestic cats to various UK government buildings including the home and office of the Prime Minister namely Number 10 Downing Street (Larry, who is still in residence) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office where Palmerston used to live but who is now retired. He found it too stressful by the way! He was being bullied by Larry.

I'm told that they are going to provide 'Gladstone', another rat catcher to live at the Treasury. So, Battersea is the number one supplier of rat-catching moggies for the UK government. No doubt they have been approached by somebody at the Palace of Westminster to discuss providing a rat catching moggy and they've said no.

Battersea claim that the environment at the Parliamentary estate would be just too dangerous and a clear health risk for domestic cats mainly because of the traps put down for the rodents.

I wonder if that is correct? They could not put down any traps and provide several cats instead to see what happens. It would be lovely for someone like me if there were three, four or even five domestic cats catching rats in and around The House of Commons on the Parliamentary estate. It would be a great coup in terms of public relations for working domestic cats.

Anything which improves the public image of the domestic cat in the eyes of the wider public is beneficial to domestic cat welfare in my view.

Of course, if there were five domestic cats at the Palace of Westminster there would have to be probably a couple of people designated to be cat caregivers. It would be quite a responsibility to make sure that they remained within the estate and were healthy, well fed and had good toilet facilities. 

There would have to be some rules and procedures to make sure that it worked satisfactorily as you don't want to upset politicians who might claim that they are allergic to cats. I am sure that there are a number of politicians at Westminster who are frightened of cats which might be a problem as well.