„Do you
have a cat? “, is what this poster is asking. Well, it seems like most Finns –
at least the ones living in Helsinki – would have to answer this question with “no”.
In most
other cities you always see some cats
strolling around. Not so in Helsinki. Here you barely get to see any of those
animals. The only time I ever got to see a cat here on the street was a few
weeks ago. It was on a leach and walked by its owner. That’s another reason for
me to believe that Finns are in general more dog people. And if they happen to
get a cat by any weird circumstances they apparently try to train it to behave like
a dog.
Asking a
Finn why I don’t get to see any cats here I was told that first of all it would
be way too dangerous for them in the city due to the traffic and second of all
they couldn’t handle the extreme winter temperatures. Hundreds of cats in the
streets of St. Petersburg – it has quite the same climate and the traffic in
Helsinki is nothing compared to what you see there – clearly disprove those
arguments.
This leaves
me to the conclusion that cats probably just don’t fit the Finnish mentality. Being
reliable, following the rules, carrying social responsibility as a part of a
group - those are all highly appreciated values in the Finnish society and are all
not really characteristics for a cat.
If anyone
knows any other explanation, please let me know. Otherwise I will have to accept
that Finns and cats are just not made for each other.
