“HE’S VERY POPULAR
WITH JAPANESE
TOURISTS; CATS ARE
A BIG PART OF THEIR
CULTURE AND THEY
LOVE HIM.”He likes to place himself in
prime cuddle positions.T
he Stirling Smith
Art Gallery and
Museum, located
in Stirling, central
Scotland, has one particular
employee who is a real jack
of all trades.
Not only does Oswald
Clingan-Smith, the gallery’s
cat-in-charge, specialise in
meet-and-greets with visitors,
he also offers guided tours,
and will even act as security
guard to protect the exhibits!
The 13-year-old black and
white moggy lived in the
house next door to the gallery
when he was a kitten. Once
his owners began letting him
out, they realised he enjoyed
spending his days in the
tourist attraction, greeting
the staff and visitors.
Michael McGinnes,
collections manager at the
museum, explains: “He really
likes people; he kept coming
in to see us and then going
back to his house at night.”PART OF
THE FURNITURE
When his owners moved to
a new house a few miles away,
however, poor Oswald didn’t
enjoy his new neighbourhood.
There was a high cat
population, which was making
him stressed, so his owners
suggested to the museum
staff that he move into the
gallery permanently.
Named after his former
owners (Clingan) and his new
ones, Oswald now spends
most of his time at The
Stirling Smith, with occasional
jaunts back to his old house.
Michael says that this suits
him down to the ground:
“He’ll go for a wander back to
his old house sometimes. The
children who live there nowThe fl uffy shape
at this Scottish
gallery isn’t
contemporary
art — he’s the
resident cat!
62 Your Cat November 2017A
Stirling
š
Wo
rkin
g^ cats
job
62-63 YC Working Cats CS CC.indd 62 29/09/2017 12:44