It’s an island without accommodation, shops, cafés or even any vending machines. Located a 30-minute ferry ride off the coast of Ozu city in Ehime Prefecture, it’s also a tricky place to get to. Yet despite all of this, Aoshima — commonly referred to as Cat Island — has become a popular tourist spot down the years. The reason is, of course, the large number of cats that inhabit the place. Sadly, though, this feline paradise won’t be around as a tourist destination for much longer. Earlier this month, a tweet on X by aoshima_cat titled “The Future of Cat Island” revealed the gravity of the situation.
The Future of Cat Island
“The number of cats is gradually decreasing,” it read. “The felines are getting older. Currently, the cats on the island are all over 7 years old. Since the spaying and neutering carried out in October 2018, no kittens have been born. We think the cats will cross the rainbow bridge in a few years. There are currently five residents on the island. As tourists stop coming to the island, there will be talk of reducing or maybe canceling the regular ferry service. When ‘Cat Mama’ grows old and leaves, that will be the end of Cat Island. It’s a sad story.”
“Cat Mama” refers to a 73-year-old resident of the island who provides the most care for the felines, including storing food for them. This has become increasingly important as tourist numbers have been dwindling recently, which means the cats are being fed less. Though they receive food donations from all over Japan and eat small creatures on the island, it is believed that without Cat Mama’s support, many of them would go hungry.
A Brief History of Aoshima
Aoshima was previously a remote fishing village that thrived thanks to the huge numbers of sardines in the surrounding waters. It was a great location for fishermen, but they had a rodent problem as rats were gnawing away at their nets. The solution was to adopt stray cats they encountered at various ports. They brought them back on their boats and often left them on Aoshima. This helped kill off the rats and later boosted tourism. Eventually, though, the number of sardines in the area started to decline and residents began to leave.
The population, which was around 900 after World War II, dropped to 13 in 2017. At the same time, the number of cats was in the hundreds. Aging residents felt there were too many of them and not enough people to look after them. The Aoshima Cat Protection Society, therefore, recommended that every cat on the island be spayed or neutered in order to gradually reduce the population. The sterilizations took place in 2018.
