Health officials in the Mexican state of Chihuahua are recruiting hundreds of cats to fight a rat plague in a remote mountain area, the AP news agency says.
The authorities have put advertisements in the local press asking people to donate unwanted pets.
They hope to collect up to 700 animals, who will be vaccinated before being sent to the town of Atascaderos.
Officials says hundreds of thousands of rats are plaguing residents after traditional killing methods failed.
