About Legendary Cats of Saint Petersburg Unofficial Cat's Day is celebrated on the 1st of March in Russia. For our city, cats are especially important. They saved Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) from the invasion of rats during the Second World War. The terrible famine began in besieged Leningrad in 1941. Dogs and cats began to disappear from the streets of the city. Almost all cats disappeared from Leningrad at the beginning of 1943. Then rats were catastrophically fast multiplying in the city. They were just thriving, feeding on the corpses that lay on the streets. The rats came to the apartments of people and ate their last supplies. They gnawed furniture and even walls of houses. Special brigades were created for the destruction of rodents. The rats were shot, they were even squashed by tanks, but nothing helped. The rats continued to attack the besieged city. The streets literally swarmed with them. Trams even had to stop in order not to enter the rat army. In addition to all this, rats also spread dangerous diseases. Then four train cars of smoky cats were brought to Leningrad from Yaroslavl in April 1943. Exactly smoky cats were considered the best rat-catchers. Yaroslavl cats rescued the city from rats, but they could not solve the problem completely. At the end of the war, five thousand cats were brought to Leningrad. This time they were recruited in Siberia. Many owners personally brought their cats to the collection point in order to contribute to helping the people of Leningrad. Cats came from Omsk, Tyumen, and Irkutsk to Leningrad. This time all the rats were destroyed. Among the modern Saint Petersburg cats, natives of the city did not remain. Almost all of them have the Siberian origin. There are many sculptural compositions with a cat in Saint Petersburg. They are located in yards, parks and even on the eaves of houses. Thanks for reading! Best regards, Tatiana