Think Think

Think Think is a grey tabby who rose from the most unpromising of beginnings to become one of Taiwan's most recognisable animals. In 2012 she was found as a skinny, mud-covered kitten with a skin condition in a landslide-hit area of Hualien on Taiwan's east coast, and was rescued and passed to the politician Tsai Ing-wen, who nursed her back to health.

When Tsai was elected Taiwan's first female president in 2016, Think Think — together with a second rescue cat, Ah Tsai — moved into the orbit of the presidential residence and became affectionately known as the island's 'First Cats'. The pair featured regularly on Tsai's hugely popular social media, appearing in photographs, campaign materials and even meeting visiting dignitaries, and they helped soften the president's public image and connect her with younger, animal-loving voters.

Think Think's journey from an abandoned, ailing stray to a celebrated presidential companion became a gentle, powerful piece of advocacy for adopting rescue animals rather than buying pedigrees. Her story showed a whole nation that a discarded kitten from a disaster zone could not only recover but flourish in the most public home in the country.