Z czym kojarzą się koty? Koty zwykle kojarzą się z mruczeniem, spaniem i chodzeniem własnymi ścieżkami. CIA – jak to CIA – uznało jednak, że mogą też zostać szpiegami! Tak powstał jeden z najbardziej absurdalnych projektów w historii. Przeczytamy o nim w artykule Anieli Dziury z klasy 2a, który pojawi się w letnim numerze naszej anglojęzycznej gazetki szkolnej AimHigh Magazine. Zapraszamy do lektury!
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The Acoustic Kitty project: CAN A CAT BE A SPY?
Cats are one of the most beloved creatures on this planet. They’re usually treated as pets due to their soft fur and cute appearance. But the society couldn’t stop there. Of course, people had to come up with another horrible, unnecessary, hard-to-realise idea. I’m not really happy to present to you the Acoustic Kitty project.
The Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project that sought to turn a cat into a “spying tool”. In
this operation, the poor animal was implanted with a little microphone (which was placed in its ear), a micro radio (in its skull) and a thin wire (in its fur). Despite the surgeon going as planned, there was still one problem – the kitty was ready to leave the job when the hunger hit. To prevent that, there was another surgery, which also ended successfully. All of this took five long years and twenty bilion dollars to do.
The final step of this project was to eavesdrop on the two men in the park near the Soviet
Embassy in Washington. Two scientists were sitting nearby, coordinating the mission. But let’s say – the operation didn’t go as planned. The few seconds after The Acoustic Kitty was let out to approach the two men, it was struck by a taxi. Most likely it got killed immediately, but there is also a theory in which the cat survived, got operated on (by the CIA that took all of the mechanisms out) and lived a long life after.
The project was cancelled in 1967. In the final document (that was published in 2001), we can see that the CIA found training cats impractical and decided to end the Acoustic Kitty project. So, after five years of intense work and research, and after spending twenty billion dollars on the operation, it got cancelled just like that.
Many people accuse this operation of being unethical. The cat had to be cut open to put all of the machinery inside and sewn back, and then it (probably) got killed in a car accident. All of this must have been a really long, painful process for the poor animal. The worst part is that this whole project gave nothing to society, so the suffering of the poor kitty went for nothing.
After all, I think that human stupidity has no limits. It has been, it is, and it will always be a part of how society works. Because of this project, animals were suffering, people were losing money,resources and time, but at least I believe we have learned something out of this. If we have not – then I think there is no hope for this world and the human species.
Aniela Dziura (2a)
