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When Maine Coon Cats Had Jobs
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| Furkats Ernest P Hemmingway, brown tabby & white poly killing a cat toy |
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According to Eloise M. Jordan in the Lewiston Journal ( Lewiston , Maine ) January 8, 1966, the Coon Cats are as native to the State of Maine as is a hill of potatoes. The article also noted that cat shows were held in Maine from 1860 to 1870 when Coon Cats were the prized specimens. The Maine coast is a cat's paradise. People respect them. Coon Cats inhabit the fish houses, seem to go with sea captains. When the fishing smacks nose in to the dock they're waiting among the bayberry bushes for a tossed out a mackerel. Pink noses twitch hungerly, growls rumble in silky throats, paws thrust out wickedly. The fish disappears.
In December of 1977, Maine Life had an article by Virginia C. Holmgren titled, "Those Mysterious Maine Coon Cats". She stated Maine Coon Cats have been growing in popularity as household pets ever since they first came to official recognition as a distinct breed in Bangor, Boston, New Your and Philadelphia back in the 1880s. The mystery of their origin has been growing, too, swelled to formidable proportion by tales of myth and marvel. Also, there seems to be no published record of when, why or by whom the label Coon Cats was first applied. So there is really no unsolvable mystery about how such unusual cats might have arrived only details lacing as to when and where. Even one or two strong-gened cats could have established the breed without any planning by interfering humans, for village folk didn't move around much in those days and repeated inbreeding would have been unavoidable, preserving the dominant features as nature took its course. In the Dec 24, 1940 issue, Mrs. E Rutherford Brown of New York City replied to the comments made by L P Evans, editor of the Piscataquis Observer, published in the Dec 3, 1940 issue of The Courier-Gazetter. Brown noted that the Maine Coon Cat is distinctly a local product and Maine can be as proud of it as Georgia can be of its peaches. In fact, it is so highly a local product, that it leads a sad life and untimely death when exported out of Maine. The Maine Coon Cat is so unusual that a special committee has been formed to study its background and protect its interests by broadcasting facts. This committee was formed because too many Maine Coon Cats, exported from Maine by tourists, have become savage within a few months after arriving in New York and other large cities and have been sent to SPCA to be destroyed. One reason is they require their natural freedom: and another that city noises drive them half mad. The modern Maine Coon Cat is a lovely pet if given its freedom, in a quiet home? For many years the origin of the Maine Coon Cat was a mystery --until the article in the Christian Science Monitor identifying it in the same classification as the Manx cat, Siamese, Burmese and Abyssinian. Then the stories of shippers being responsible for Manx cats being brought to Isle of Man from S E Asia feline region cleared the way for shipmen carrying the Maine Coon Cat to Maine from South East Asia. The above quotes and references give the general attitude of the local Mainers from the great state of Maine about their state cat, the Maine Coon Cat.
Article starts on When Maine Coon Cats Had Jobs
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