Sometimes we wonder how much "intelligence" is in the CIA because, from our humble experience with cats, they are not most easily trainable. So the thought of training them as microphones to listen in on secret conversations in specific locations seems like a bit of a stretch to us, but hey, the Cold War was a different time. The CIA took a few cats and surgically implanted microphones and antennae in the cats ears, and then sowed them back up. The whole project was a terrible abuse of animal rights, but again, it was the 1960s, and animal rights weren't in the place that they are now.
The project was, of course, a failure. Shortly after one of the cats was fully trained, it was injured shortly after being released into the field. After a few more attempts, the CIA determined that the energy and resources required to train and implant the listening devices was not worth the time and money. The cats had their spy devices removed, and were released to live long and healthy lives (or so the CIA says). Scroll down to see the hilarious comments on this thread and learn more about the project!
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Peculiar, indeed! Well, we could have told them the same thing and saved them probably hundreds of thousands of dollars, but who wants our opinion? Some you have to learn things the hard way, and it sounds like they definitely learned that this was a silly idea.
This is one the spy cats, that was shortly injured after being released into the field. The cat survived and was treated for his injuries by the CIA. He was nursed back to health, had his spy gear taken out, and was released to live a normal civilian life.
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