North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has ordered that all cats and pigeons in the country are killed. The law has been passed to allegedly eliminate the danger of CoViD-19 being spread by the animals. However, some commentators suggest that the killings have been ordered to save food for the human population, which the animals would otherwise eat.
It has also been reported that the military forcibly entered the home of a man who was hiding his cat and arrested him. The man was put in isolation for weeks and his cat was killed.
It is known that felines, domestic cats and large cats such as tigers, can contract Covid-19, but there are no known cases of the disease being spread from felines to humans. At the start of the pandemic, tigers in New York zoo famously contracted the disease, which caused a minor illness until they made a full recovery.
Due to the fact that North Korea is a highly secretive nation, it is not clear what the current situation with the pandemic inside of the country is, though it is known that the country immediately locked its borders after the disease was discovered in China.
The North Korean healthcare system is said to be extremely limited and if the disease has entered and spread through the country it seems likely that there will be a high death toll. Due to United Nation's sanctions, the country also lacks medical equipment and many common drugs.
The bizarre call for the killing of the animals comes as the regime cracks down on potential Western influence inside the country. Some reports have said that in recent months the regime has banned skinny jeans and mullet hairstyles as a way of protecting North Korean values.
The state newspaper The Rodong Sinmun said that such cultural trends could undermine North Korea. In an opinion piece it said:
"History teaches us a crucial lesson that a country can become vulnerable and eventually collapse like a damp wall regardless of its economic and defence power if we do not hold on to our own lifestyle."
Again, due to the secretive nature of the North Korean state the allegations surrounding skinny jeans and haircuts are extremely hard to verify, though it is widely accepted that North Korea is the most authoritarian state on Earth where no dissent what-so-ever is tolerated.
[h/t: Mirror]
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