Flying Cats

There was this operation named “Operation Cat Drop” and was carried out by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. The cats were flown out of Singapore and delivered in crates dropped by parachutes. The operation was reported as a “success” at the time. Newspaper reports published soon after the Operation reference only 23 cats being used. However, some later accounts of the event claim as many as 14,000 cats were used.

The backdrop to this operation was the widespread use of insecticides including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) during the 1950s, including in Borneo, as a malaria control measure. The insecticides were intended to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes before they could pass the disease onto humans. It has been suggested that this rat infestation was the result of many of the existing local cats dying due to the use of DDT or other insecticides, and the rat population subsequently increasing as it faced reduced predation from cats.

There have been various other projects involving delivering animals by parachute. Video footage purporting to show an aerial beaver drop, intended to improve water quality, appeared in October 2015. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources restocks its “high-elevation lakes and streams with tiny trout” dropped directly (no parachute) from an aircraft flying 100–150 feet above the water.

#catdrop
#royalairforce
#pestcontrol
#borneo
#catsofinstagrams
#rodentproblem
#environment
#wildlife
#innovation
#conservation
#nature
#ecosystem
#ddt
#animalrescue
#ecology
#aircraft
#rat
#feline #heroes
#catrescue
#wildlifemanagement
#environmentalimpact
#unintendedconsequences
#ecological
#humanwildlifeconflict
#sustainable #solutions
#unitedkingdom #uk
#singapore #like #comment
#share #history #truestory
#follow #catsoftiktok
#catpower #airforce #royal
#malaysia #army #airforce