Chasing cat and rat fatally stuck in organ pipe (both mummified)

This is a short story from The Times following a similar story that was recently well reported on news media regarding a cat trapped in a disused shaft in St. Paul's Cathedral. That cat was a Burmese stray and microchipped. She was rescued by the RSPCA and will be rehomed.

However, in a new cat and cathedral story, the cat faired a lot worse. As told by a former school boy of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, a mummified cat was found in the organ pipes. A mummified rat was also found.

Many years ago a cat had chased a rat into the organ and into the pipes and become stuck in perpetuity. It must have been a terrible death for both. I feel for their distress and slow death from starvation and no water.

The mummified cat and rat were mentioned in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake according to Anthony Mc Gibney writing to the Times.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Jaguar gargoyles at the Basilica del Voto Nacional

I have spotted this pair of jaguar gargoyles on the largest neo-Gothic church in South America, the Basílica del Voto Nacional. The church is littered with gargoyles. It is a Noah's Ark of animals circumventing the basilica. There are goats, turtles, what appear to be sharks or ominous-looking sea creatures in addition to this pair of jaguars.

 Jaguar gargoyles at the Basilica del Voto Nacional. Photo: in public domain.

The jaguar is a revered animal in South America. For thousands of years the people of South America have worshipped and been fearful of it. And the animal, remarkably, is still in South America including Ecuador. The basilica that I referred to is in the historic centre of Quinto, Ecuador. It is no surprise, therefore, that there are a pair of jaguars decorating the exterior of this impressive church.

READ MORE ABOUT THE JAGUAR BY CLICKING THIS LINK

The jaguar is in these countries as at July 2021: Argentina; Belize; Bolivia, Plurinational States of; Brazil; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; French Guiana; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; United States; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of.

Gargoyles are also called grotesques. As you can see in the photograph, they are carved out of stone very often and attached to the exterior wall of a cathedral or basilica. Architecturally they have a spout at the end farthest from the building from which rainwater is ejected having run off the roof via a channel into the gargoyle. I'm told that architects use multiple gargoyles to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimise any potential damage to the building during downpours and storms. It seems that this functional aspect of a church's exterior is also combined with, in this instance, an interest in the animal and its importance to the culture of society in which the church is located.

The basilica remains unfinished as local legend says that when the Basílica is completed, the end of the world will come. One of those myths which they have kept going. Similar myths surround the jaguar in the minds of many because they are, powerful, mysterious and often black being melanistic.