The persecution of cats in Europe is often overlooked as a contributing factor in the spread of plague [Black Death]. In years prior to the outbreak, cats had been vilified and slain en masse, due to their growing popular association with Satan and witches. Pope Gregory IX declared cats' association with the devil in the early 1200s. The mass slaughter of cats preceding the arrival of infected rats greatly reduced a potential predator of the rat, allowing rat populations to flourish unnaturally.
[wiki:black death]
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