1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: Jersey and Amanda gam Nation. You know it might have been. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Even last week on the show, we did the tribal 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: dramas beating for my cat, the a hole. Cats can 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: be full a holes. But I read a story about 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: an unusual use of cats in history. In the nineteen sixties, 6 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: the CIA tried to spy on the Kremlin and Russian 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: embassies by turning cats into listening devices. The program was 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: called Acoustic Kitty, good name for a band, and this 9 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: involved surgically implanting batteries, microphones, and antenna inside cats inside Yeah, 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: I mean. The article goes on to say, quite rightly, 11 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: cats are known for their independent natures, or do you 12 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: think making them hard to train? But in the nineteen sixties, 13 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: the CIA attempted to do the seemingly impossible. So they 14 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: wanted to extract classified information from the Soviet Union using 15 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: listening devices, but the bugs picked up too much background noise, 16 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: rendering the recordings useless. In a desperate move, the CIA 17 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: scientists came up with Acoustic Kitty. They implanted an audio 18 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: transmitter into a cat, hoping that it would inconspicuously gather 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: information during secret meetings. Despite initial success, training the cat 20 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: proved challenging. Ultimately, hunger undermined its reliability. The CIA had 21 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: tried to suppress the cat's instincts to seek food, but 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: it didn't really work. They would just not stay in 23 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: the room if they were hungry. It says here, and 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: this is a bit dark without enough information. Really, Acoustic 25 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: Kitty's final mission ended tragically, and the details remain unclear. Nevertheless, 26 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: this peculiar endeavor reflects the extremes pursued during the Cold 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: War era. Apparently Acoustic Kitty and he caught one Russian 28 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: spy was easy because he was sitting on the window 29 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: sill looking himself. An easy target. But imagine a cat 30 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: as James Bond your mission? Should you? Yeah? Nah, nah, 31 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: I'm not doing that today. Well, you've always he was 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: always pushche pushe poorshche, always looking for pusche. Can't start 33 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: an aston aren't to save themselves? And have you ever 34 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: had a martini mixed by a cat? Terrible