Larry (cat)
| Larry | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office | |
|
Assumed office 15 February 2011 Serving with Freya (2012–2014) |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister |
David Cameron Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Sybil |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. January 2007 (age 10) |
| Residence | 10 Downing Street |
| Occupation | Mouser |
| Awards | Blue plaque at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, 2012 |
| Gender | Male |
Larry is the 10 Downing Street cat and is Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. Larry is a brown and white tabby, believed to have been born in January 2007. By July 2016, when Theresa May became Prime Minister, Larry had developed a reputation of being "violent" in his interactions with other local mousers, namely the Foreign Office's much younger cat Palmerston.
The Downing Street website describes Larry's duties as "greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences, and testing antique furniture for napping quality". It also states that Larry is "contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house" and says that he has told Downing Street that such a solution is still in the "tactical planning stage".
Unlike his predecessors since 1929, Larry's upkeep is funded by the staff of 10 Downing Street. Fund-raising events to pay for his food are believed to have included a quiz night for Downing Street staff held in the state rooms.
Larry is a rescued stray cat from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home who was chosen by Downing Street staff. In 2011 he replaced the previous Downing Street cat Sybil, who died in 2009. Larry was intended to be a pet for the children of David and Samantha Cameron, and was described by Downing Street sources as a "good ratter" and as having "a high chase-drive and hunting instinct". In 2012, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home revealed that Larry's popularity had resulted in a surge of 15% more people adopting cats.
Soon after he was taken in at Downing Street, a story ran in the press claiming that Larry was a lost cat and that the original owner had started a campaign to retrieve him. However, the story was later revealed to be a hoax, and no such owner nor campaign existed.
Within a month of his arrival at Downing Street, anonymous sources described Larry as having "a distinct lack of killer instinct." Larry made his first kill – a mouse – on 22 April 2011. Later that year was revealed that Larry was spending more time sleeping than hunting for mice, and spending time in the company of a female cat, Maisie. At one point in 2011, mice were so endemic in Downing Street that the Prime Minister resorted to throwing a fork at a mouse during a Cabinet dinner. On 28 August 2012 Larry made his first killing of a mouse in public, dropping the creature on the lawn in front of Number 10.
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Wikipedia