Bad Cat Finds Its Way Home After Soviet Exile

A Moscow house cat exiled to a provincial Soviet town 450 miles away for devouring two family canaries turned up a year later at her former home, a Soviet newspaper said this week.

Komsomolskaya Pravda said Murka, a tortoise shell female, disappeared two days after being taken by train from Moscow to live with relatives in the industrial city of Voronezh to the southeast.

The newspaper said the cat turned up on Oct. 19 in the stairwell at her old home--a typical Soviet apartment house in the capital. Unhurt except for a nick in her ear and the loss of part of her tail, she ate everything placed in front of her and slept for three days.

But the daily acknowledged that the journey across swamps, forests and rivers did not leave Murka totally unchanged.

“Judging from her rounded frame and carefully measured gait, it looks certain that kittens will soon be making an appearance in the house,” it said.