Russia’s first and only "sniffer cat" has been run over in what police are calling a contract killing. The cat was killed just days after starting work with police battling the illegal, and often bloody, caviar trade. Rusik was adopted as a stray kitten by police in the southern Russian town of Stavropol after wandering through a checkpoint a year ago. The officers, battling the illegal trade in caviar poached from the nearby Caspian sea, raised the young male, feeding him scraps of fish and fish eggs confiscated from the smugglers. After considerable training, the cat went on duty with officers for the first time last Tuesday. He performed spot checks on vehicles and travellers, sniffing out the tell-tale stench of fish eggs. With the cat’s detective powers fuelled by a more basic instinct than a desire to uphold the law, its first few days met with some remarkable successes. "The cat finds the caviar in any hiding place," a Stavropol police spokesman said. Investigators said the car which ran Rusik over had been stopped by the feline sleuth just days earlier, and caught smuggling sturgeon. Police suspect a revenge killing. They have said they may consider training another cat. The Caspian sea, which lies on Russia’s south-eastern borders, produces about 90% of the world’s caviar. The trade that has almost driven the sturgeon to extinction. The finest caviar can fetch up to £2,000 a kilogram on the open market in the United States.
That’s pretty expensive bait. |