Feline Society Banishes Siberians

The Fédération Internationale Féline has issued a powerful statement on the situation in Ukraine: “The Board of FIFe feels it cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing, so it decided that as of [March 1]: No cat bred in Russia may be imported and registered in any FIFe pedigree book outside Russia, regardless of, which organization issued its pedigree. No cat belonging to exhibitors living in Russia may be entered at any FIFe show outside Russia…”

Powerful – and pointless – stuff. FIFe’s performative reaction to war atrocities will do exactly nothing to prevent Putin’s aggression. If the West’s concerted effort to destroy Russia’s economy hasn’t moved the madman, it’s hard to imagine banning kitties from competition will have much effect.

Chinese people were fascinated by FIFe’s announcement. The search term “Russian cats are banned” went viral on China’s main social media platform Weibo, eliciting 118 million views in 24 hours and launching 170,000 topic threads overnight, as reported by Business Insider. “This organization is using a ban on cats as a demonstration of its integrity when it's doing evil!” read one typical reaction.

Based in Luxembourg, FIFe calls itself “the United Nations of Cat Federations,” which is apt, considering how effective the UN has been lately. Its gesture is not completely empty, however. FIFe has also pledged to “dedicate a part of its budget to support cat breeders and fanciers in Ukraine who are suffering because of the current situation.”

FIFe organizes over 700 cat shows a year exhibiting more than 200,000 cats. Siberian cats need not apply.

Photo credit: Mike Di Paola