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Animal charity offers up mousers to Parliament
Ginger tom Simba is the purrfect candidate for chief mouser.
New figures reveal rising cost of pest control 

A leading animal charity has been urging Parliament to take on one of its cats to sort out a growing mouse infestation since 2014, it has been revealed.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home first approached Westminster authorities to suggest taking on one of its mousers in early 2014, after the cost of pest control for Parliament during the 2012/13 financial year was revealed to be £73,552.

That figure has since doubled and includes the cost of hiring a full-time pest control technician.

Battersea's head of catteries, Lindsey Quinlan said: "Battersea has been hearing persistent reports of mice scuttling around the Houses of Parliament for several years now, and the latest figures released clearly demonstrate that tax payers are funding a rising cost for pest control in our Government buildings.
 
"Battersea has over 130 years in rehoming rescue cats and was the first choice for Downing Street, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and the Cabinet Office when they sought our mousers to help with their own rogue rodents. We'd be more than happy to help the Houses of Parliament recruit their own chief mousers to eliminate their pest problem and restore order in the historic corridors of power."

Battersea hopes its success in rehoming Larry, Palmerston and Gladstone in recent years could help relieve any perceived health and safety concerns about having the cats in the offices. In 2016, the charity re-homed some 50 cats to working farms and believes it is ideally placed to advise MPs on how to ensure the welfare of cats roaming the site.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home currently has around 62 cats looking for a home, including several who would pounce on the opportunity given the chance. Potential candidates include seven-year old Peggy, who has a proven track record of bringing back presents, and a gorgeous ginger tom called Simba, who loves to chase and pounce.

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.