When it comes to the high stakes of mouse catching, you may have guessed it, cats do indeed rule the game. Towser holds the world record for catching the most mice ever, she was so good that her mouse catching skills are inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records. Her official mouse catching count is 28,899 mice, which is a feat no other cat has matched so far.
A long-haired tortoiseshell cat that was born on April 21, 1963, and lived 24 whole years around a Scottish distillery in Glenturret. The location was a well-known area of premium whiskey production, as a result, there was quite a bit of waste and mice running around. This is because of the barley stores used for whiskey production, they attract mice like bees coming to the honeypot. Located on the banks of the Turret River, in a secluded location, it was the perfect place for mice populations to thrive. In fact, the distillery had once been a place for illicit brewers, distillers and smugglers who wanted to avoid paying the taxes to England. This means that Glenturret is known to be one of or not the oldest distilleries in Scotland. And Historically the Glenturret distillery did not like to use poison or toxic vermin control products, so they turned to a feline guard to be their four legged mouse control expert.
Of course, nobody really knows the exact amount of mice that Towser caught during her whole life but according to a study who observed the cat’s hunting patterns and prowess for several days: an estimation was able to be made. The final count used statistical information to make the calculations, as Towser averaged 3 mice catches per day or more.
Towser is a folklore and local legend even has a bronze statue in the town which is in her honor. And if that was not enough there is also a small paw print on the label of every bottle of Fairlie’s light highland liquor. After her passing the distillery elected several other cats to be her successor, and even some were part of the same research group, but none of them were ever able to match her mouse catching skills. To put it simply Towser was the best of the best.
