On a recent trip to the Museum of Espionage in Berlin, I came across an exhibit on animal spies that piqued my curiosity. The said exhibit featured a collage of animal portraits (mugshots) on the wall, superimposed upon which were video and text descriptions of attempts by various world governments to use animals for spying on enemy countries.
Apart from the ’standard‘ pigeon and dog spies, the exhibit also featured cats as spy animals used by none other than the CIA, and being the proud owner of a member of the feline species, I was automatically interested.
Called „Acoustic Kitty“ (or Acoustikitty, as this article on the CIA’s website mentions it), the project was launched in the 1960s and featured some very dubious, not to say absolutely cruel, techniques to convert cats into spies. These included something like planting a bug inside the ear, an antenna along its tail and even connecting electrodes to its brain so that it wouldn’t succumb to cat urges like chasing a mouse or similar while on a spy mission (okay, I’m exaggerating a bit here, but there are some pretty gruesome details about creating the spy-cat monstrosity). Some news agencies described the experiment as creating a sort of „Frankenkitty“.
That’s how they made Frankenkitty. (Image of the exhibit at the Museum of Espionage, Berlin)
The CIA reportedly spent 15 million USD trying to make spies out of cats, back in the day. Thankfully for the cats, the project was scrapped, because cats simply wouldn’t listen to orders. The final straw appears to have been an accident where a car ran over a Frankenkitty. the Spiegel reported.
Nobody’s tried to create anymore 007 cats or Frankenkitties since then.
Obviously, I thought of whether Janu would make a good spy, if we left out the terrible brain operations and Frankenstein parts. I don’t think she would. She loves her cuddles far too much, and mice and birds are too much of a distraction. And of course, she never listens to anyone.
Janu is really cute: shiny grey with yellow eyes. I tried catching the gleaming, gloating look on her face after she kills a mouse, but was obviously unsuccesful.
An assassin, maybe. Early this week, she killed seven mice overnight, proudly displaying them at our doorstep for all to see. She can definitely kill, but she’s more of a Janu-the-ripper than the stealthy spy killer.
(If you’re interested in the Acoustic Kitty project, check out this article on the CIA’s website. Called „Natural Spies: Animals in Espionage“, it lists different animal spies „in honor of Earth Day.“)
antinmybrain 
Hinterlasse einen Kommentar