The Cats of Infosys

According to this article from the Bangalore mirror there's been a rise in stray cats and kittens at the Infosys campus in Bangalore causing "alarm" and "a great deal of discomfort" among the workers. I'm not sure how stray cats and kittens, who are usually very shy and run away from people, could be causing "disruptions in work" and frightening people.

At least the article ends with Mr Babu, who seems to have a good grasp of the situation:

Experts say that cats are not dangerous and the relocation exercise may have been triggered by psychological reasons rather than any serious damage or attack by cats.

 

 "Cats are present everywhere and they rarely attack humans, said Sharath R Babu, honorary wildlife warden, Bangalore Urban. “They don’t trouble anybody. It’s natural for them to turn up at green spots since they are predators of rodents. However, some people are scared of cats and not comfortable when they are around. This must be the case at Infosys since no serious attacks have been reported there in recent years,” Babu added."

Here's the article:

Cat-astrophe on the Infy campus

The Infosys campus at Electronic City is turning out to be a catwalk. And the women are not enjoying it one bit. After all, which woman would like a cat padding up to her noiselessly, making her spring out of her chair at an inconvenient speed?

A hindrance

The management decided to take action when employees reportedly took the issue of cats disrupting their work to higher-ups. The sudden spurt in cats and kittens running around the campus led to a great deal of discomfort among employees, particularly women.

“There are plenty of cats, especially around trees and bushes. We often see them in the canteen too,” said an employee.

There have been instances of cats suddenly appearing near work stations and getting in the way of employees cycling around the campus. The fact that cats are carriers of rabies added to their fears, a source said.

The way out

The pest control exercise led to the first batch of nine cats being translocated to a conducive habitat. With at least 250 of the felines inside, the exercise of tracing them and translocating them manually is likely to continue for a month, a source said.

Infosys, however, refused to comment on the exercise.

They are not dangerous

Experts say that cats are not dangerous and the relocation exercise may have been triggered by psychological reasons rather than any serious damage or attack by cats.

Cats are present everywhere and they rarely attack humans, said Sharath R Babu, honorary wildlife warden, Bangalore Urban. “They don’t trouble anybody. It’s natural for them to turn up at green spots since they are predators of rodents. However, some people are scared of cats and not comfortable when they are around. This must be the case at Infosys since no serious attacks have been reported there in recent years,” Babu added.