“You’re hired”, three stray cats and a new job: chasing mice at the airport

From strays to anti-mouse patrol. It is the strange story of a family of stray catswho were first rescued and then ‘enlisted’ from Lanzhou Zhongchuan airport, in China, so much so that they became active members of a real “anti-mouse office”. They are three cats named Sangbiao, Cuihua and their daughter Cuiguo, who found a home inside the airport.

The story, reported by the South China Morning Post, began when airport employees noticed two stray cats wandering around and, in particular, how their presence seemed to coincide with a reduction in mouse ‘sightings’. So they decided to ‘engage’ the felines: at the beginning of 2026 the three were adopted by the airport, which launched a survey on social media to choose their names. Sangbiao was sterilized and vaccinated, just like his ‘companion’ Cuihua, who six months later gave birth to their daughter Cuiguo.

Their new home was built inside one of the boarding gates, where passengers can see the cats through a glass space with every comfort and safety measure. Some employees look after them on a daily basis and the three have become a real attraction for passengers. Their work shift starts early in the morning. Every day an airport employee brings them and the cats ‘patrol’ the area looking for mice. A task which, according to the facility’s reports, they carry out very well, so much so that the airport no longer uses anti-mouse chemicals.