cats not rats!

from working class cats, this little cutie needs a new home

update: he's already adopted! but check out the website anyway :)

since mr. mimi is a chef, a couple of years ago he took the new york city dept of health food protection class (and of course he passed with flying colors). his teacher was a former inspector and off the record, he had no problem with cats being in stores. he was a realist and to him, in the hierarchy of cleanliness, cats trumped rats.

the city law was passed a couple of decades ago to get rid of feral cats, and this included banning cats in all food establishments. the campaign was "successful" in that the feral cat population was reduced and contained (although i guess not at kennedy airport). but in the meantime, the rat population skyrocketed. there are stories all the time of rats running around like kings. besides the taco bell video, and the usual subway denizens, now they are scurrying around in city parks.

as this article describes, there is another reason to support letting bodegas, delis, and restaurants have a cat around legally. besides the rat issue, if it is legalized, regulations can be put into place that would require spaying/neutering and other health care for the cats. although it is a cost, i'm sure many owners would be willing to shoulder the one-time couple of hundred dollars for health care to legally keep a cat around rather than risk increasing health code fines into the thousands. plus, look how cute these cats are! can you say the same about that wet rat hiding in the pantry?

so what do you think? whose side are you on? cats or rats??