The cat who lived as a fox: Meet Kesha, the legendary ginger cat of Svalbard where felines are officially banned

Deep inside the Russian settlement of Barentsburg, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard one of the most remote and extreme places on Earth, sitting just 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole a scruffy, battle-scarred ginger cat spent over a decade quietly defying an official government ban.

His name was Kesha.

He wandered freely through the settlement's icy streets, posed for tourist photos near the canteen, occasionally got into fights with Arctic wildlife, and became so famous that people during the pandemic dedicated poems to him and wished him good health from across the world.

There was only one small problem with his existence on Svalbard: according to Norwegian law, he wasn't supposed to be there at all.

And according to his official documents, he wasn't a cat.

He was a fox.Why Svalbard banned cats and what the 1992 prohibition was really about Cats have been banned in Svalbard since 1992, and the reasoning behind it is rooted in both wildlife protection and public health.

Norwegian authorities enforced the ban after it was decided that cats were susceptible to rabies and echinococcosis a type of tapeworm, through contact with foxes and rats, which in turn posed a significant risk to the human population.

The ecological dimension was just as significant.

Svalbard is home to vast seabird colonies, Arctic foxes, reindeer, and a range of vulnerable fauna that evolved without feline predators.

Introducing domestic cats into that ecosystem, even a few, could have an outsized impact on nesting birds and small mammals.

It is believed that cats could disrupt the ecological balance by contracting rabies or other infections from polar foxes and hares.

Under the ban, pets were broadly restricted, with exceptions made only for caged birds, rabbits, small rodents, and dogs with special permission.

Photos taken prior to the ban show that felines were once popular on Spitsbergen and the other islands that make up Svalbard.

After 1992, that changed overnight officially, at least.

Kesha's arrival, his Arctic fox papers, and the loophole that made him legal Nobody knows precisely when Kesha arrived in Barentsburg or exactly who brought him.

It's unknown exactly how long Kesha lived in Barentsburg, but Denis Yurison, a resident of the settlement, said the cat was secretly brought in by Russians in the 2000s, having registered him as a polar fox.

That registration almost certainly informal and almost certainly not scrutinised too closely by Norwegian authorities, became the foundation of Kesha's entire legal existence on the island.

Apart from the thick ginger coat, Kesha didn't even resemble a fox, but Norwegian authorities never questioned his official species, and he was allowed to live on Svalbard.

The story spread quickly, picked up by travel writers and wildlife enthusiasts, and became one of those internet-era facts that circulates so widely it starts to feel unquestionable.

Kesha the cat, registered as a fox, living illegally on an island that banned cats it was too good a story not to share.

Foreign visitors to the archipelago began calling him the Ginger Arctic Fox.

Life in Barentsburg: Arctic winters, wildlife scars, and a loyal human family Kesha's daily life was exactly as unconventional as his paperwork.

He spent almost all his time outside in the street, where he got fed by locals and tourists.

Kesha's thick coat helped him withstand the cold, but the scars on his face and body hinted that he had been in a fight or two with the local fauna.

He survived those encounters, keeping his unofficial title and his spot near the canteen where residents and visitors alike could find him on most days.

While Kesha spent much of his time wandering free about the settlement, local tour guide Olga Kostrova confirmed he had a permanent owner. "He is not ownerless, but freedom-loving," she said. "He loves to go for walks, but lives in a house with his owner.

If people feed him, he'll happily oblige." In his later years, as his health declined, he became more of a homebody.

According to local resident Yulia Litvinova, Kesha turned 12 in 2020, but remained very active.

The myth, the legend, and what was actually true Here is where the story gets a little more complicated.

The version that circulated most widely that Kesha was the only cat on Svalbard, and that he was officially registered as a fox in Norwegian government records turned out to be partly mythologised.

A lengthy post published by settlement officials in December noted that the claim about being the only cat in Svalbard and being classified as a fox were local myths. "But this myth, as well as some other fun and interesting facts on the subject of cats, continues to take place, but what is true and what is fiction is difficult to understand," the post noted.There were in fact three other cats officially registered in Barentsburg Ryzij, Mila, and Nyura who, while appearing in occasional photos, had much lower profiles.

The fox registration story, meanwhile, appears to be part of the local folklore that built up around Kesha rather than a verifiable official record.

What is not in doubt is that Kesha lived in a place where cats were banned, that his presence was widely known and tolerated, and that he became genuinely beloved by the people of Barentsburg and by the tourists who made the journey to Svalbard specifically hoping to meet him.

Kesha's death and the legacy he left behind in the ArcticKesha died on January 20, 2021, at roughly the age of 14, according to human residents of Barentsburg. "Kesha was more than a cat to us he was a part of Barentsburg," Ivan Velichenko, a tourism manager for the settlement, wrote online. "His death made a lot of citizens very sad because mostly all of us have met Kesha many times and took care of him.

Now the most common places where you could meet Kesha look empty without him." During the pandemic, Kesha's popularity had increased even further.

The cat living at the end of the Earth inspired and supported people in difficult situations.

They dedicated poems to Kesha, wished the cat health, and dreamed of meeting him.

For a place as remote and as strange as Svalbard where people are also famously not permitted to die on the island and must be flown to the mainland when their health fails Kesha fit right in.

An island of unusual rules had its most resident, and for over a decade, a ginger cat who was legally a fox made the Arctic feel a little warmer.Get the latest movie news, reviews, and celebrity updates.

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