An army of cats ruling a remote island in Shikoku are licking their whiskers after a plea for food aid triggered a flood of donations from across the country, reports The Japan Times.

More than 140 cats occupy the tiny island of Aoshima in Ehime Prefecture — outnumbering humans 8 to 1. But when the feral felines recently ran out of cat food, a cry for help led to an extraordinary response.

“Food began pouring in from all over Japan,” Kazuyuki Ono, 59, whose tweet raised the alarm, said Friday.

“There’s so much of it now we can’t store it,” he added.

“We’re asking people to stop sending donations. But the cats couldn’t be happier.”

Fittingly, hundreds of boxes of cat food arrived at Aoshima dock, a 30-minute boat ride from the mainland, in time for Feb. 22 — which is unofficially known as Cat Day.

“In spring and summer, tourists bring food to feed the cats, but when it gets cold, the sea is rough and nobody comes,” he said. “Sometimes boats can’t cross in the rough seas. It’s a mysterious little island.”

Aoshima, dubbed Cat Island, was once home to 1,000 people but today claims only 16 residents, mostly pensioners.

The cats, originally brought to the island to kill the mice infesting fishermen’s boats, now rule the roost and draw curious visitors from across Asia and even Europe.

bbabo.Net