MEXICO CITY — They prowl the palace gardens, stalking pigeons and make appearances during televised press briefings. Some greet tourists at the door, while others take a sneaky lick of ice cream from the staff.
Nineteen wild cats have free rein at Mexico’s National Palace, roaming the lush gardens and historic colonial rooms of the country’s most iconic buildings.
“They have access to all parts of the palace, so they attend meetings, interviews and walk around in front of the camera,” said Jesús Arias, the palace veterinarian, as a handful of feline friends brush his ankles .
Today, the palace cats have emerged after the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared them “living stationary assets,” the first animals in Mexico to receive this title.
The investment term “fixed assets” generally applies to buildings and furniture, but by applying it to cats, the government of López Obrador obliged the country’s public treasury to give them food and care for them. them for the rest of their lives, even after the leader leaves office. in October.
“Cats are now a symbol of the National Palace. Just as we understand this world, I would not understand the National Palace without the presence of these cats,” said Adriana Castillo Román, General Director of the National Palace and Cultural Heritage Conservation. “We need to make sure the cats are taken care of. »
Nestled in the heart of Mexico City, the presidential palace has long been the seat of Mexican executive power. Now the residence of López Obrador, it is built on the former palace of the indigenous emperor Moctezuma. Ironically, the ancient Aztec culture of Moctezuma honored not cats, but hairless dogs known as Xoloitzcuintle, who were even buried with their masters.
But these days, López Obrador is joined by Bowie, Bellof, Nube, Coco, Yema, Ollin, Balam and many others, who seem to have found a perfect home in the building. López Obrador himself has said that cats “dominate” the palace and often walk in front of it during official ceremonies.
Some are named after artists, like the orange tabby cat “Bowie,” named after rockstar David Bowie, who visited the palace in 1997 to see the famous mural by Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Others are named after native rocks or words from the region’s ancient Aztec language, such as Ollin, meaning “movement.”
Staff say they remember wild cats living among the cacti and dense brush in the gardens as long as 50 years ago.
But it’s not clear when they first appeared or how they entered the building. While 19 of them live in the building full time, many others come and go, and staff suspect they slip at night under a small crack in the palace door.
A cat named Zeus, who has since passed away, even became famous in July when he showed up at the president’s morning press conference. The gray cat stood in front of the cameras and wandered among journalists until palace staff had to take him away.
To avert disaster, Castillo said the government had to ask journalists to stop feeding Zeus because he spent his days accepting treats from different people around the palace and was “getting really fat.”
When López Obrador first took office in 2018, Castillo said the palace animals were quietly fed by employees.
“Some employees who love cats would bring them leftovers from home and, occasionally, canned food or rice and soup,” Castillo said.
Palace staff worked with veterinarians from the National Autonomous University of Mexico to vaccinate, sterilize and microchip the cats, and built them small cat houses and feeding stations around the garden. They also hired Arias to take care of them permanently and give them a good life.
Neither Bowie, Coco, nor Ollin commented when asked what they thought about being “living fixed assets.” Coco wagged her tail, while Ollin lay down under a palace pillar and fell asleep.
“Meow,” replied Nube, a gray cat named after the Spanish word for “cloud” who likes to greet visitors at the palace gate.
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