Posted: 06 September 2012 2319 hrs
INLE LAKE, Myanmar: They are known for their sleek
good looks, alluring eyes and sunny disposition, but one group of
"Burmese" are virtually unknown in modern Myanmar -- the country's
namesake pedigree cats.
Once believed to be the favoured pet of royalty and guardians of
temples, the Burmese cat had vanished from its Southeast Asian
ancestral homeland until enthusiasts decided to return them.
Yin Myo Su, who took on the project with the aim of preserving the
country's heritage as it emerges from military rule, has installed
a growing family of the pedigree cats in a house on the shores of
Inle Lake, in eastern Shan State.
The hotelier hopes to raise the profile of the breed among Myanmar
people and even gave one to democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi -- what
seemed like a sure-fire strategy to give the cats a badly needed
public relations boost.
But the Nobel Peace Prize winner's notoriously possessive dog
became "jealous" of the feline intruder and Suu Kyi was forced to
send the cat back.
"So now we are taking care of her cat at home as well! In case one
day she can take it back with her," Yin Myo Su told AFP.
From just seven cats imported in 2008 -- some sourced from
Britain's Harrods department store -- the project now has 50
moggies living around Inle, including nine kittens, and has become
a tourist draw.
A further 17 have been given to cat lovers in Shan State and the
main city of Yangon.
Yin Myo Su -- who has pursued the project despite a slight allergy
to felines -- gives neutered Burmese cats to interested local
people free and charges foreigners 500,000 kyats ($580).
"They like to be cuddled all the time," she said at the cats' home,
the Inthar Heritage House, as a purring chocolate brown feline
wound itself around her feet before collapsing onto its back for a
tickle.
The idea of repatriating Burmese cats came from the China
Exploration and Research Society (CERS), whose activities have
included tracing a new source of the Yangtze river and promoting a
yak cheese cottage industry in the Chinese province of
Yunnan.
According to the non-profit group, Burmese cats -- which share
characteristics with other regional breeds such as the Siamese --
have existed in mainland Southeast Asia for over a thousand
years.
The breed was diluted out of existence by an influx of other types
of cats to the region in the 19th and 20th century, with only a
handful of purebreds taken to Britain during colonial rule, which
ended in 1948.
Much of the modern breed has descended from a single female cat,
Wong Mau, who was taken to the United States in 1930, according to
world pedigree organisation The International Cat
Association.
The short-haired cats have golden eyes and come in a range of
colours from silvery blue to cream, although rich brown is the
primary colour.
"We are quite happy with the reproduction because we got (mostly)
original colours," said Yin Myo Su, who runs the upmarket Inle
Princess hotel.
She has two of the pedigree moggies at home in a menagerie of
animals that she calls a "mini zoo", including ducks, pigs, goats,
geese and a monkey they have to keep hold of because it was "a gift
from a monk".
The hotelier is involved with an array of preservation projects and
said she was keen for the house to be more than just a picturesque
cattery.
"It's hard for people to have a house in this region and I am
building all this for cats? No way," she said, adding that a
restaurant, serving traditional recipes, was added to cover the
$800-a-month cost of looking after the cats.
Among her other projects, Yin Myo Su is building a centre for the
study and preservation of fish native to Inle Lake, but she said
her staff have become sceptical about her motives for the new
aquatic endeavour.
"They laugh at me and say: 'Is it cat food?'"
- AFP
