Actually,the fleas themselves killed the rats.
Also,cats would not keep the rat population down because cats go after the easiest prey to kill..That's birds.
The fleas would also have killed the cars.
Except it wasn't the fleas that caused the Black Death, it was what they carried. What's more, cats kill more rats than birds: 1, 2, 3. Sometime watch cats hunting things on the ground versus things that fly. The point the article makes about cats isn't that they are somehow immune to the Black Death, it's that superstition about them made the Black Death worse.
Actually,the fleas themselves killed the rats. Also,cats would not keep the rat population down because cats go after the easiest prey to kill..That's birds. The fleas would also have killed the cars.
Except it wasn't the fleas that caused the Black Death, it was what they carried. What's more, cats kill more rats than birds: 1, 2, 3. Sometime watch cats hunting things on the ground versus things that fly. The point the article makes about cats isn't that they are somehow immune to the Black Death, it's that superstition about them made the Black Death worse.