The cat throwing

Ypres was a cloth city and owed its prosperity to the cloth industry. The wool, imported from England, was stored in the Cloth halls until it was sold to the artisans. After the wool was processed into cloth, it returned to the halls where it remained until it was time for the annual fair. The cloth attracted mice, which feasted on it and nested and procreated in the fabric. As a solution to this problem the population of Ypres decided to release a few hungry cats in the Cloth halls. Everything worked well at first. The cats ate the mice and the cloth was saved. But soon it became clear that the plan had a flaw. The cats not only gave in to their hunting instincts, but procreated too. Instead of too many mice and rats Ypres had too many cats after a while. Nothing better was found than throwing the animals off the Hall tower as a means of pest control. The true reason will probably never be known.

