Julian Assange’s beloved “Embassy Cat” — who kept him company during his years in isolation — is “safe,” WikiLeaks confirmed in the wake of the hacker’s arrest last week. The publisher of top-secret information addressed the mounting concerns over the brown-and-white tabby’s well-being following Assange’s expulsion from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. “We can confirm that Assange’s cat is safe,” the account tweeted Saturday along with a video of Michi watching news coverage of his haggard-looking owner being hauled out of the building. “Assange asked his lawyers to rescue him from embassy threats in mid-October. They will be reunited in freedom.” The kitty companion, who came to live with the WikiLeaks founder in 2016 amid his nearly seven-year stay, was often photographed perched in the embassy window wearing a tie. While holed up, the cat developed a social media presence advocating for “counter-purrveillance” on a Twitter account with more than 32,000 followers. Reports surfaced in October that Ecuador threatened Assange that the cat would be dropped off at an animal shelter if he didn’t look after it. A friend said Assange “adored” Michi and looked after him “extremely well,” People Magazine reported. The feline will now “be looked after by friends,” the pal said. With Wires<doc-sep>When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox Social media users had speculated at what had happened to Mr Assange’s cat, often referred to as Embassy Cat, James and Cat-stro, following his arrest outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Mr Assange had spent seven years inside the embassy as he sought asylum amid rape allegations he faced from Swedish prosecutors which have since been dropped and Mr Assange vehemently denies. The US were also keen to question the WikiLeaks founder after his group released dozens of secret official documents from its government. Julian Assange tried to create 'CENTRE FOR SPYING' in Ecuador embas... The cat was often seen when Mr Assange made appearances to address his supporters from the balcony of the embassy. According to Newsweek, dozens of people took to Twitter to ask what had happened to the cat. One wrote: “I do hope that someone looks after his cat, who must be very confused about all this.” But WikiLeaks tweeted on Saturday night to put to bed any fears his supporters may be having. READ MORE: ‘Release Assange or else!’ Hackers Anonymous sends UK warning<doc-sep>Thursday’s arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has provoked complicated reactions. There’s one place, however, where everyone seems to agree: we really hope his cat is doing okay. “Embassy Cat,” as the feline is known on Twitter and Instagram, is undoubtedly a PR play from WikiLeaks. According to one New Yorker profile, Assange made up a story about getting the cat from his children, and the organization sells an array of Embassy Cat mugs, shirts, and stickers. But the fact remains that Embassy Cat is adorable (it wears little ties! ), and several Verge reporters are deeply invested in its well-being. And after a couple of days of speculation, our hopes were confirmed: WikiLeaks posted a tweet saying that the cat had been rescued in October, complete with a video of the cat watching Assange’s arrest on TV. We can confirm that Assange's cat is safe. Assange asked his lawyers to rescue him from embassy threats in mid-October. They will be reunited in freedom. #FreeAssange #NoExtradition pic.twitter.com/zSo8RfXXc9 — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 13, 2019 But before that tweet, a bevy of major news outlets had been unable to confirm the cat’s fate — and multiple, credible sources had offered different accounts. So we took it upon ourselves to lay out a few theories about what happened to Embassy Cat. Embassy Cat is with Julian Assange’s family According to all available information, Embassy Cat hasn’t lived at the Ecuadorian Embassy for several months. The cat was one of many points of contention between Assange and embassy staff, and a leaked 2018 memo revealed that the embassy had threatened to take it away unless Assange took care of its “well-being, food and hygiene.” After the arrest, an embassy spokesperson told Sputnik News that “it is not here since September, I think. It was taken by Mr Assange’s associates a long ago… It is not here. We are not a pet store, so we do not keep pets here.” A November tweet from Assange’s legal counsel, Hanna Jonasson, backs that up. Jonasson said that Assange had been “incensed at the threat” of losing his pet and asked his lawyers to take Embassy Cat to safety. “The cat is with Assange’s family. They will be reunited in freedom,” she wrote. (Assange is about to enter a long extradition fight, and he’ll likely face trial in the US after that, so the reunion probably won’t come anytime soon.) The embassy and Assange’s spokespeople haven’t responded to emails from The Verge, but this account gives Embassy Cat a happy ending — or it would if one of Assange’s former WikiLeaks colleagues didn’t have a different story. Embassy Cat was sent to a shelter Journalist James Ball, who worked for WikiLeaks during its heyday in 2010, offered a darker account of Embassy Cat’s fate. “For the record: Julian Assange’s cat was reportedly given to a shelter by the Ecuadorian embassy ages ago,” Ball tweeted after Assange’s arrest, adding that he “genuinely offered to adopt it.” Ball said he didn’t buy the reports about Assange’s family, noting that news coverage had all hinged on that tweet, and “Assange has no family in the UK.” Assange allegedly made up a story about getting Embassy Cat from family so there’d be some sad symmetry in a made-up story about sending it back. And if this is true, it seems almost impossible to confirm the feline’s well-being. The Verge reached out to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the UK’s largest animal welfare charity, but a spokesperson said they weren’t aware of anyone bringing the cat to a London RSPCA branch. Embassy Cat “knew too much” and is in hiding Some Verge staff members questioned whether Embassy Cat was alive at all, especially given the sensitive nature of Assange’s work. My colleagues Casey Newton and Cameron Faulkner, in particular, were in agreement that “the cat knew too much.” I won’t entertain the notion of Embassy Cat’s demise without some pretty hard evidence. But I will acknowledge that its location might be deliberately obfuscated — either to prevent it from giving up evidence against Assange or because Embassy Cat has custody of some yet-unreleased WikiLeaks material. Look, I can’t prove we live in a magical realist universe where cats can talk, or that Embassy Cat’s DNA has been somehow encoded with the text of top-secret files. With reality becoming more confusing by the day, though, I’m not ruling anything out. And while I’ll admit the cat probably has few secrets to give up, Ecuador revoked Assange’s asylum status in part because he allegedly kept working with WikiLeaks to release documents — so Embassy Cat may have been in the thick of things until the end. Embassy Cat is simultaneously with Assange’s family, in a shelter, in hiding, and dead But only as long as we stop investigating right now and never check on the cat’s status again. Update April 15th: Embassy Cat is safe! We’ve updated the story with the good news.<doc-sep>
WikiLeaks put an end to the mystery. Julian Assange’s cat is safe and sound. “We can confirm that Assange’s cat is safe,” the organization said Saturday in a tweet. “Assange asked his lawyers to rescue him from embassy threats in mid-October. They will be reunited in freedom.” The question about the whereabouts of Assange’s cat had spread like wildfire on social media after he was arrested Thursday in London. Assange got the cat in 2016, purportedly to keep him company as he spent his days inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The cat gained quite a bit of a following on social media under the moniker, Embassy Cat, described as the master of “counter-purveillance.” In an interview with The New Yorker, Assange had said he called the cat Michi or Cat/stro. The cat’s social media accounts were quite active when it first arrived at the embassy, but the frequency of posting quickly began decreasing. His Twitter account has been silent for more than a year. The cat made a bit of a splash in the news last year after the embassy issued a series of rules for Assange that specifically laid out the requirement for him to take care, feed, and clean up after his cat. Before this past week, several outlets had already reported that the cat was no longer at the embassy. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported late last year that Assange gave up the cat to spare it “an isolation which has become unbearable and allow it a healthier life.”