Cats and mice: A rodents’ playground

The Island of Kachchativu, the northernmost part of Sri Lanka, lays bare an interesting feature.

A walk across the breadth of the island, towards India, sees one’s mobile telephone switching to an Indian network. This is for mobile phones which have international roaming facility.

When at the other end where the Church of St Anthony is located, mobile phone services locally operated are quite clear.

Who lives in Kachchativu? “Two domestic cats, a few lizards (Katussas) and plenty of mice,” says Chief Petty Officer S.S. Nandasiri, head of the Navy’s elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) who are stationed there. They are assisting the NARA in a survey. He said the mice have bred with the left- over food both Sri Lankan and Indian devotees bring to the island during the festival. The two domestic cats were brought by the Navy team. They live there sharing food cooked from the SBS men’s rations as well as chasing mice.