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'Cat Island' is a feline's purrfect paradise
This small island off the coast of Japan is home to more cats than people.

By

Laura Moss
Mon, Dec 17 2012 at 4:35 PM
 19

Related Topics:

Pets, Travel, Wild Animals

Photos: Fubirai

While many cities are working to curb feral cat populations through spay-and-neuter programs, there’s one place where cat numbers continue to grow and the locals encourage it.
 
Tashiro-jima is a small island in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, that’s home to more cats than people. Better known as “Cat Island,” it has about 100 permanent residents — most of whom are over 65 years of age — and hundreds and hundreds of cats.
 
During the 1800s, Tashiro-jima was popular with fisherman who would stay on the island overnight. The cats would follow them to the inns and beg for scraps, and over time, the fishermen developed a fondness for the cats and began interpreting their actions as predictions about weather and fish patterns.
 
They believed that feeding the cats would bring them wealth and fortune, a belief that continues today.
 
According to local stories, one day when a fisherman was collecting rocks to use for his nets, a stray stone fell and killed one of the cats. The fisherman buried the cat and created a shrine. Today, there are at least 10 cat shrines in Miyagi Prefecture.
 
cat-shaped trailers on cat islandThere are also 51 cat-shaped monuments, as well as cat-shaped buildings — complete with “ears” on the roof — that dot the island.
 
Tashiro-jima is accessible by ferry, and many of the island’s cats are friendly and will approach visitors in search of scraps or head scratches. Dogs are prohibited from entering the island, according to a 2009 article in the Sankei News.
 
Check out a selection of photos from Cat Island, courtesy of Japanese photographer Fubirai.
 
cats on Cat Island
 
cat leaps onto the dock on Cat Island
 
cats clean themselves on Cat Island
 
cats clean themselves in sync on Cat Island
 
cat and child on Cat Island
 
cat seen through greenery on Cat Island
 
cat sleeps with tongue out on Cat Island
 
tabby cats on Cat Island
 
cat in bicycle basket on Cat Island
 
Scottish fold cat on Cat Island
 
cat lounges on a rock on Cat Island
 
cats curl up to sleep on Cat Island
 
White cat licks a man's finger on Cat Island
 
cat stretches out on a wall on Cat Island
 

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Comments: 19
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sandraoopie
sandraoopie Mar 05 2013 at 9:28 PM
OK...wait...after spending a delightful day with my 3 kitties who bring me more joy than most humans on the planet (and I am blessed with incredible friends, but STILL!), I click on this story thinking about what a delightful place that would be to live, surrounded by these special beings who bring so much joy to so many. THEN I find these comments by this so-called "Nature Advocate" advocating for the grabbing of your AK-47 and blowing their brains out!!!!! Wow talk about a rude awakening and
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putting a damper on my heretofore great day. Dude! Get some help!!!! I'm sure it's not too late!! Oh and btw, I'm sure that the majority of cat (and dog) companions, if pressed, would choose to eliminate most of the people they know than their beloved animal friends. It's man who is destroying this planet and everyone and everything on it, man who has an evil mind and heart, man who kills just for the thrill of it. Just watch Nancy Grace some time.
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anonymous
Guest Mar 03 2013 at 11:39 AM

In Puerto Rico, Vieques is the horse island...

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anonymous
Michael Feb 13 2013 at 12:30 AM

There is actually two episodes on Youtube about this island, you can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVxpPggJMAY

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grooovym74's picture
grooovym74 Jan 19 2013 at 7:09 AM

I want to live there with them, so awesome !!!

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anonymous
Enter your name Jan 17 2013 at 4:32 PM

I think sounds irresponsible, sorry.

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anonymous
Guest Jan 17 2013 at 11:59 AM

LOVE this story and LOVE the pictures. Go Japan!!!
They are a true inspiration in preserving our abused, tortured and unwanted pets..

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anonymous
Pikkewyn Dec 28 2012 at 2:19 PM

Synchronized licking FTW!

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anonymous
Beverly Dec 24 2012 at 12:35 PM

Cat Island . . . sounds like a place I'd be happy to live. Now . . . if I only spoke Japanese!

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anonymous
UncleJohn Dec 28 2012 at 4:59 PM

They're cats. They don't speak Japanese.

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anonymous
dotty Dec 21 2012 at 11:08 AM

Dogs are an invasive species too bubba. So are cows..

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anonymous
dotty Dec 21 2012 at 11:07 AM

About curbing all the dogs that are out there, instead?! Way too many dogs if you ask me, all around the neighborhood diddling/defacting on the plants and grass, barking their little heads off. I like dogs but it has become a problem frankly....

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anonymous
Guest Dec 21 2012 at 11:02 AM

You can't "humanely" KILL anything.

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anonymous
knowrowe92287 Dec 28 2012 at 8:03 PM
I love cats. We live with six of them, including a once-feral kitten (about six to seven months old) we adopted at the end of November. Instead of suggesting killing all the cats, why not an adoption program for the tamer animals, and a trap-neuter-return program for the others (who then would be fed so that they wouldn't interfere with wildlife)? I can understand the logic about damage to wildlife-- cats are magnificent predators-- but unlike pythons and alligators, cats aren't wild animals
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that never should have been made into pets by irresponsible idiots who are surprised when they realize they have monsters living in their houses, and release them into foreign environments. They're domesticated animals, and should be treated as such. Many of these fishermen and tourists, if encouraged by both humane and wildlife advocates, would love to bring these cats into their homes, and out of the the way of wildlife. Problem solved.
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Nature Advocate
Nature Advocate Dec 19 2012 at 12:31 PM
The USA isn't far behind in a similar per-capita cat density. It was estimated that last year there were about 150 million feral-cats in the USA, and another 86 million being kept for pets, 60 million of which are allowed to roam freely outdoors. By applying population growth calculus on those numbers, there should be anywhere from 1.5 billion to 2.4 billion cats roaming around in a country of 314 million people this year. That's about 5 to 8 cats for every person alive, from newborn infant to nursing-home
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senior. We have quite the work cut out for us to destroy them faster than they destroy all our native wildlife.
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anonymous
Guest Jan 17 2013 at 12:04 PM

what a nudge

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anonymous
Guest Dec 19 2012 at 9:56 PM

How exactly do you go from 150 million plus 86 million pet cats to 1.5 billion to 2.4 billion, other than with your fancy-sounding "growth calculus"? Whatever "calculus" you're using defies logic if it yields a ten-fold increase in cat population from one year to the next. And humans do infinitely more to destroy wildlife than feral cats.

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anonymous
UncleJohn Dec 28 2012 at 5:02 PM

Well, first a girl kitty takes a liking to a boy kitty or vice versa, and then they get back from the ice cream store really late one night and then she knits sixteen tiny booties...

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anonymous
Anon Jan 01 2013 at 1:55 PM

Cats get prego once per act. If she only gets bedded once by one cat then she only has one kitten. Also male cats have been known to kill their children or other kittens if they can get their paws on them. And 16 pairs of booties is only four kittens :P

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