Beloved POSTECH Cats
Beloved POSTECH Cats
  • reporter Park Jee-won
  • 승인 2019.09.27 10:39
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▲Nobel (right) and Abel (left), cats living nearby 78 staris
▲Nobel (right) and Abel (left), cats living nearby 78 staris

 

There are many cats living on the campus of POSTECH, and some of them are popular enough to have been named by Postechians out of affection. The most famous cats are Nobel and Abel, the two cats who welcome students in front of the POSCO International Center. Nobel was named after Nobel Park in POSTECH— the area where it used to roam about, and Abel was named after the Nobel prize in Mathematics as he was spotted with Nobel. The Postech Times interviewed Park Jong-hyun (EEE 16), the owner of Instagram account “postech_meaw” – an account that uploads photos of the POSTECH cats.
Park created the account at the start of this year’s Summer vacation to post a photo of the school cats that he took himself. However, Park became busy that could not take as many pictures as he had before. Moreover, Park felt that the photos were monotonous since he was the only photographer. Since then, Park started receiving tip-offs from other people to post various photos and videos of the cats, and now the account is run mainly on tip-offs. Photographs can be tipped off through the open chat address on the Instagram profile, and, if there is no caption from the informant, Park will post the photo with his own captions.
When asked what he wants to say about the POSTECH cats, Park mentioned the incident that Nobel went through recently; Nobel was attacked by an unidentified person. 
On Sept. 6, around 10:10 A.M., Nobel was attacked. According to witness Lee Eun-young’s—an employee at POSCO International Center, a person in a black helmet and a black vest was spotted kicking the cat in front of the POSCO International Center. When Lee called out the cat’s name loudly, the suspect sprayed a type of liquid on Nobel and ran away toward the sports field. According to a vet’s diagnosis, the liquid was identified as thinner, a solvent for oil paints, which can destroy brain cells and damage skin. Even worse, thinner is known to be highly volatile and prone to fire, which means that, had it not been for Lee, the cat could have been set on fire. Fortunately, Nobel recovered after a quick action at an animal hospital.
Park said that he had worried Nobel would avoid people due to the incident. Fortunately, despite avoiding people for a few days, Nobel was loved by many people and quickly became fond of people again. “I wish there were only happy things for all of the lovely cats of POSTECH,” Park showed his affection for the POSTECH cats.
Park finished the interview by telling Postechians “Thank you so much for loving the cats of POSTECH, including Nobel. [I] would like to make our cats’ cuteness more known, and [I] will be waiting for many more tip-offs.”
The abuse of cats in POSTECH, such as the above incident, is a serious offense against the animal protection law. If a discussion about school-level punishment and regulations on the abuse of cats in POSTECH is to be held, just as Park’s wish, it is hoped that POSTECH cats could live happily.