It's probably a cultural thing. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea, is culturally similar in some ways (religion obviously, but also beyond tha

It's probably a cultural thing. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea, is culturally similar in some ways (religion obviously, but also beyond that; e.g. the language is similar) - and yes, there are tons of cats in that city. Or at least were, years ago when I visited. There was this inner courtyard somewhere, baking in the sun, with a huge pile of what we thought were dead cats. Like a rugby melee type of thing, but just laying down motionless. I mean, it was so hot we could not imagine how those critters could just lay there not moving. Then we noticed some of them were lazily moving their tails. They were not dead, they were sunbathing.