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These Cats Are Mules: Kitties Smuggle Goods Into Prisons

NPR | By Mark Memmott
Published October 21, 2013 at 8:40 AM CDT
Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.
AP
Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) released this photo last Dec. 31 of a cat caught with contraband taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Alagoas state.

January:

"Cat Caught Smuggling Contraband Into Brazilian Prison." Gothamist

June:

"Cat Caught Smuggling Cell Phones Into Prison" (in Russia). The Moscow Times

Last week:

"Cannabis Cat On Drugs Run Collared At Moldova Jail." BBC News

So, we've got reports of:

-- "Saws, drills, headset, memory card, cell phone, batteries and a phone charger" being" strapped to a cat in Brazil.

-- "Two cell phones with batteries and chargers" being taped to a cat's back in Russia.

-- And now, "bags of cannabis" concealed inside the "oversize decorative collar" worn by a cat in Moldova.

In each case, the felines were nabbed as they either climbed over or through fences. In Moldova, the cat had been "seen repeatedly entering and exiting a small hole in a prison fence," according to Gawker.

According to the reports, the cats aren't talking.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott