收容所的壞脾氣貓再上崗捕鼠

景一

Gary wasnt used to being around people. He didnt like being touched or even looked at. If anyone came too close， hed lash2 out.

加里不習慣和人類呆在一起。它不喜歡被人觸摸或被人盯著看。如果有人走得太近，它就會攻擊。

He was perfect for the job now， because at the Working Cats Program， no manners is no problem.

它現在很適合這份工作，因為在這項“工作貓項目”中，貓的脾氣壞也沒問題。

Philadelphias Animal Care and Control Team established the program about four years ago to place unadoptable cats—the biters3， the skittish4 and the ones that wont use a litter box—into jobs as mousers5.

大約四年前，費城動物管制中心建立了這個項目幫助安置那些無法被領養的貓，比如那些愛咬人的貓或怕人的貓，以及那些不會使用貓砂盆（貓廁所）的貓，讓它們承擔捕鼠的工作。

The shelter recently expanded the program to move cats that were less-than-ideal pets into urban jobs at places like factories and warehouses as a sort of green pet control. The animals are microchipped6， vaccinated7 and free of charge.

這個動物收容中心最近擴展了該項目，以一種環保的動物管制的方式，將那些不太理想的寵物貓轉移去像工廠和倉庫這樣的地方工作。它們被植入了微信晶片，接種了疫苗，并且是免費的。

“Part of the reason cats became domesticated8 was to get rid of the rodent9 population，” said Ame Dorminy， ACCTs spokeswoman， “We took advantage of their nature to hunt and made an official program out of it.”

“收養貓的部分原因是為了控制老鼠的數量，”動物管制中心的發言人艾米·多米尼說，“我們利用了它們捕獵的天性，并據此制定了一個官方項目。”

Cats identified as good matches for the program are kept in a separate aisle10 at the shelter in a row called TTA， time to adjust. On a recent visit， a low growl could be heard from a cage housing a male named Spike， whose intake11 sheet listed his qualifications12： hissing， swatting， spitting， cant be picked up. A few doors down， Prince was standoffish13 in the corner of his cage.

挑選出的非常符合該項目的貓被排成一行安排在收容中心單獨的側廊中，這被稱為TTA，即調整期。在最近的一次到訪中，可以聽到籠中傳來的一只名為斯派克的雄貓的低吼聲。它的領養記錄表上列舉出了對它的描述：亂叫，亂打，隨地亂吐，不能抱起親近。幾個籠子開外的地方，名為普林斯的貓則冷漠地站在籠子的角落里。

“Just because cats dont want to be petted or snuggle on a lap doesnt mean they cant have good lives，” Dorminy said.

“貓只是因為不想被當成寵物飼養或者不粘人并不意味著它們就不可能過好的生活，”多米尼說。

“A lot of these cats feel more comfortable when they can be themselves and use natural behaviors，” she said. “Then theyre more open to human interaction because they feel more confident.”

“這些貓中有許多在能獨處并能自由自在活動時感到更舒服?！彼f，“然后，他們更容易與人互動，因為他們覺得更有自信?！?/p>

“At Bella Vista Beer Distributors， mice were gnawing on bags of chips overnight， leaving a mess and forcing staffers to throw out about 15 bags a day，” owner Jordan Fetfatzes said.

“在貝拉·維斯塔啤酒公司，老鼠整夜啃咬薯片袋子，留下爛攤子，使得工作人員每天要扔掉15袋左右，”老板喬丹·菲特茲說。……