This is one of the myriad feral/stray cats of Rome. Large numbers of them inhabit the Coliseum, the Palatine Hill, the Forum and other ruins and places in the city center. We were told that a charity feeds them lots of pasta, which might sound nice, but it does not meet a cat's nutritonal needs. I hope they add vitamins or protein or something similar.The cats were not friendly. They tended to stay away by themselves. Astonishingly enough, there are estimated to be 300,000 feral cats in Rome living in over 2000 colonies (http://goeurope.about.com/cs/rome/a/rome_cats.htm).
You will see some of the other cats in later entries in this blog, but not all 300,000.
4 comments:
Ive heard this about Rome before. Are there any small birds, reptiles, mammals, or amphibians in Rome?
There had to have been birds, but I don't recall any. I did not see reptiles, small mammals like rodents, or amphibians wild in the city, but I almost never see this in cities anyway.
The only animal I remember seeing other than the cats was a worm in the street, as a man came out of nowhere, picked it up and ate it, and ran off.
Thanks for dropping by. Always good to have visitors.
We should tell bird advocate that when I was in London there was a cat sitting on top of the cage that some of the Tower ravens are kept in.
And you know what happens if there are no (live) raven in the Tower.
Yes.... either the tower falls or all of England falls, right?
Let me recall the Kate Bush lyrics from "Lionheart": Our thumping hearts hold the ravens in And keep the tower from tumbling. So it's the tower.
Michigan State University has a similar legend/warning about its Beaumont Tower falling, but that is related to the occurance of virgins graduating from the university.
I don't know if the bird man will come by again, after seeing me mention a man eating a worm off the ground. That incident might have been worth a blog entry, but I did not photograph it and there is little beyond this to tell.
Post a Comment