Prime ministers come and go, but Larry the Cat endures.
No. 10 Downing St. is the official office and residence of the prime minister. The building had a bit of a rodent problem in 2011, so former PM David Cameron’s staff adopted Larry from Battersea Dogs and Cats, a well-known rescue in the London area.
The shelter recommended Larry on the strength of his hunting skills, but at first it looked like his tenure as chief mouser at No. 10 might be as short as the prime ministers who serve him. Calls for his resignation grew louder as Larry was seen napping the days away while rodents still came and went with impunity.
Larry’s poor job performance reached the level of a scandal when the UK press reported the reason he was snoozing in daylight — he was sneaking off at night to visit his special lady friend, Maisie, who lives a few doors down at the residence of St. James Park’s keeper.
But Larry eased into his job, proved his worth as a hunter, and has even risen to the occasion by taking on tasks outside his job description. Most recently, he bravely defended No. 10 against a fox, chasing the canid intruder away.
With 12 years of service under his belt, Larry could easily retire. Battersea staff estimated the beloved mouser was at least two years old when he was adopted, putting him well into senior cat territory now. But like the late Queen Elizabeth II, Larry knows the British public needs some stability — and they’re not going to get it from their PMs, who shuffle through No. 10 as if it’s a hotel. Long live Larry!
A cat and his rescuer
It’s been almost two weeks since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake slammed Turkey and Syria, and rescue efforts are now turning to recovery as hopes fade for anyone still trapped beneath the rubble.
A staggering 44,000 people are dead, and authorities say they expect that figure to rise as they add to the long list of people who are still unaccounted for.
Among the death and destruction, however, are signs of hope. There have been dramatic stories of people rescued after being trapped for as long as 280 hours, and social media is full of images of dusty cats and dogs being pulled out by rescue teams.
One of them is a handsome white cat with distinctive black markings on his face. The little guy was rescued by firefighter Ali Cakas after enduring nine days buried beneath the ruins of a building, and he’s refused to leave Cakas’s side ever since.
The firefighter from Mardin, Turkey, named the grateful cat Enkas, which translates to “wreckage” or “rubble.”
Enkas has become the unofficial mascot of the Mardin Fire Department, and photos of the ongoing rescue efforts this week showed Enkas perched on Cakas’ shoulder or snuggling up with him during breaks.
Cakas has adopted his new friend, and their friendship is testament to the fact that some good can come from even the worst circumstances.
Pain In The Bud 