People Are Seriously Worried About Assange's Cat

The Ecuadorean Embassy in London probably has matters of greater importance to handle. But its relative silence on one furry issue is leaving social media users a bit panicked. "We demand information on the fate of #EmbassyCat," reads a typical tweet referring to Julian Assange's feline and embassy companion, who has some 37,500 followers across Twitter and Instagram. In photos and videos shared by Assange since 2016, users watched the cat grow from a playful kitten shredding paper and hiding in hats to a full-grown feline with decent soccer skills and a collar and tie for formal occasions. Occasionally, they would also get the cat's thoughts on subjects like "counter-purrveillance," per the Washington Post, which notes "its views hewed suspiciously close to its human's."

"I do hope that someone looks after his cat, who must be very confused about all this," says a concerned Twitter user. The best guess is that the cat is no longer at the embassy. Sputnik reports that associates of Assange appear to have taken it away last fall—roughly the same time that Ecuador threatened to send the cat to a shelter if Assange couldn't properly care for it, per the New York Times. A member of Assange's legal team tweeted months ago that Assange gave the cat to relatives for safe-keeping, and "they will be reunited in freedom." On Thursday, an early employee of WikiLeaks claimed the cat was given to a shelter despite his offer to adopt it—"so don't expect a feline extradition in the next few hours." The mystery, apparently, will endure until EmbassyCat resurfaces. (More Julian Assange stories.)