A clumsy cat in China that set fire to its owner’s home causing US$14,000 worth of damage after it accidentally switched on a cooker has become an online star. - Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
BEIJING (South China Morning Post): A cat in China has used up one of its nine lives after accidentally turning on the induction cooker in his owner’s kitchen and setting the home on fire.
The cat, Jingoudiao, caused 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) worth of damage to the flat.
The fire-starting feline escaped unharmed and his owner, Dandan, changed her Douyin account name to “Sichuan’s most badass cat”, and made the fluffy pet appear on live-streaming sessions to “compensate”.
The owner’s lighthearted reaction to the accident, and the cat’s cute looks, have attracted 8 million views on Douyin.
On April 4, Dandan, who was playing mahjong outside, got a phone call from the property management staff in her compound, saying her home was on fire.
Amazingly, the pet’s owner saw the funny side of the incident and turned her cat into an online star. - Photo: Douyin
Rushing back to her empty flat in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, she found out her cat was responsible for the blaze, which burned the entire first floor of her loft.
It transpired Jingoudiao was playing in the kitchen, and accidentally stepped on the induction cooker’s touch panel, turning it on.
Firefighters found the golden British Shorthair cat hiding in a cabinet upstairs, covered in ash but not injured.
In the following days, Dandan joked that she was making him “work to pay off his debt” by appearing in live-streaming sessions, and even put a label on him saying “arsonist”.
Dandan also video-chatted with a firefighter in far-off Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China, and asked him to teach Jingoudiao fire safety tips.
The firefighter said it was the first time he had been asked to teach a cat and joked that he had tried to interest the fire station dog in safety issues, to no avail.
The cat’s mistake sparked a blaze which caused extensive damage to his owner’s flat. - Photo: Douyin
On April 13, Dandan posted a letter of apology online, signed with her fingerprint and Jingoudiao’s paw print.
She felt she was to blame for not shutting off the power to the cooker, and vowed to pay attention to fire safety in future, urging others to do the same.
On mainland social media the reaction was largely humorous.
“I just wanted to cook my mum dinner,” said one person pretending to be Jingoudiao.
“Thank you. I just switched off my electric cooker. I have a naughty cat who goes everywhere in my flat,” another person said.
“My cat just keeps flushing the toilet, leaving me to pay big water bills,” a third person quipped. - South China Morning Post
