19/06/2025
Yes, you read that right. Long before email and even air mail, the city of Liège, Belgium, ran one of the most bizarre postal experiments in history, by hiring 37 domestic cats to deliver messages.
The plan was surprisingly serious. In the 1870s, officials in Liège were exploring creative ways to speed up local mail delivery. Their idea? Take advantage of cats’ natural homing instincts. Letters were placed in small waterproof bags tied gently around the cats’ necks. The hope was that each cat would carry the message back to its home, effectively acting as a four-legged mail courier.
And for a moment, it kind of worked. One cat reportedly made it home with a message in under five hours. But not all feline couriers were quite as punctual. Most wandered off, took their time, or simply refused to play along with the human plan. Anyone who’s ever owned a cat probably isn’t surprised.
While the cat mail experiment was short-lived, it’s now a charming footnote in the strange history of communication. It also reminds us that before modern technology, people went to some truly wild lengths to stay in touch. From messenger pigeons to cats with mailbags, creativity was often more abundant than practicality.
Though the Belgian post ultimately decided cats were better suited to naps than national service, the idea has remained a fascinating piece of trivia. It’s a hilarious and oddly endearing example of 19th-century innovation that makes us look twice at the history of the postal system.
So the next time your cat knocks something off your desk, just remember, at least they're not losing your mail.
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