London's humans laughed it off but London's cats, in their nervous naivety, were alarmed by some German propaganda circulating 100 years ago this week.
The London correspondent for Sydney's The Globe and Sunday Times War Pictorial reported "German news for Germans. Cat Hunting in London".
"First place among all the fantastic lies about England still filling the columns of the German press belongs to the story 'London Without Cats'.
"Purporting to deal with England's disastrous shortage of furs, it asks Germans to believe that the streets of London have become the scene of weird cat hunts. Here is the delicious tarradiddle verbatim.
" 'People in London are worrying their heads just now over the whereabouts of the many cats which used to be in evidence there. To meet a cat in London has really become a rare thing. The reason for the disappearance of the cats is the heavy increase in the demand for furs, for the imitation of which cat skins offer the best material. So cat hunting has become a profitable trade for many people.
" 'Poachers now rush through the streets of London dangling in their hands the sort of meat which cats are fondest of. The cats are then cleverly nabbed and stuck into sacks which the huntsmen carry. How high the price for cat skins has risen is shown by the fact that the hide of a Persian cat has increased in cost to 12/. Snow-white cat skins have risen to 3/ and the usual house cat is worth 2/6 or more.' "
