French 17th century cat burning...

en.wikipedia.org...

Cat burning was a form of zoosadistic entertainment in 17th century Paris, France. In this form of entertainment, people would gather dozens of cats in a net and hoist them high into the air from a special bundle onto a bonfire. According to Norman Davies[1], the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized."[2]

furthermore....

The French kings often witnessed these spectacles and even lit the bonfire with their own hands.

Utterly disgusting.
Came upon this article earlier this evening. Could not think of another forum to post this on, so I posted this on "General chit chat".

Wow... The fact that the french found the tortured screams of helpless animals to be laugh-worthy makes my stomach churn. I....I.....

I.... I really dont know what else to say.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


This is a vile-horrible part of history.....and when you think about it...they were not only evil to do that...but stupid too.....mice and rats carry all sorts of diseases....and the cats would have killed them and in doing so helped the people.

I love, love, love animals.....I am a cat owner.....Benjamin...is a sweetie! He brings to my life...so much joy! He is a rescue animal....he was abandoned in the middle of winter...in the snow....I found him and adopted him...he is safe and happy now.

How utterly dreadful. I knew that cats were treated badly in western Europe long ago, and that's partially why they suffered from so many rodent-borne diseases, but I had no idea they rounded up cats simply to enjoy torturing them to death.

As a certified Crazy Cat Lady, with 9 of my own rescues, I find it hard to think about.

Only the animal known as Man would torture and kill other creatures simply for pleasure. Yes, my cats hunt prey, and I hate it when they throw them around, but they always eat what they kill. I'm pretty sure those Parisians didn't eat the carbonized kitties.

What do you expect from Europeans? They love torture, they yack at us for reveling in war, but there they are histories torture lovers.

Sick. I can hear them now, screeching with joy.
This was entertainment?!
wth!?

It reminds me of a story I read just the other day in my local paper.
Builders were restoring an old hotel built in the 1680s when, out of the ceiling fell nine animal bones. The bones were dated to be 300 years old and belonged to a cat.
Historians were called in and said that this was a form of apotropaic magic, which goes back to the Egyptian times. Used to ward off evil, cats were seen to have a connection to the spirit world.
This particular cat would have been suffocated.
Atleast that's better than getting burned alive.

Meh, lots of horrible things happened centuries ago. Best just let it go.
One persons cat massacre is anothers occupy wall street.
en.wikipedia.org...