A Cat Queen needs to enjoy cuddles and be friendly towards
humans. This alone would be a marked improvement over what we currently have (cough),
but we would want the role to represent more. We want to improve the lives of
felines and other animals as much as possible. Therefore, we propose the
following selection process.
The Cat Queen would be around 4 months old (the age the PDSA
recommend neutering - link)
and come from a shelter. The young age would be to maximise the length of reign
whilst giving the cat long enough to reveal their nature (because, as we stated
above, we would like a sociable cat who is happy in the presence of strangers).
Coming from a shelter would encourage families looking for a pet to do likewise.
If more than one suitable candidate was present, which is
more than likely, then a selection between them could be made by primary school
children. This can be in the form of a vote using pictures of the cats (which
introduces the concept of democracy and elections). This process would give
young people a greater sense of involvement as their decision would have a real-world
effect that they could see happening. In addition, the cats that aren’t selected
will likely be adopted very quickly, due to the publicity generated.
Teachers could ask pupils to advocate for a different cat,
introducing debate and campaigning, or, if one of the candidates were a local, design
voting materials and posters as a class activity. This would be something
special and fun for kids. It would also give them a positive introduction to
voting. Write down what other benefits you can think of in the comments section
below.
Regardless of the individual approach schools elected to
take there would be able to learn a valuable lesson, providing yet another
reason to have a cat as our head of state.
Beira Nevis
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