Grandma Saves Child From Claws Of Leopard
Updated 10:38 AM ET August 2, 1999
KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) - A three-year-old baby boy was admitted in a hospital in west Nepal after his grandmother rescued him from the claws of a leopard, police said Monday.
The leopard jumped on Khageswar Bhattarai while he was playing in the yard of his house last week in Suping village in Pyuthan district in west Nepal.
Pyuthan is about 218 miles west of Kathmandu.
The child's grandmother pounced on the cat and wrestled the boy away, police said.
"The granny fainted for a while shortly after rescuing the baby who has sustained scratches on the neck," Sita Bhattarai the boy's mother told Reuters by phone from Pyuthan.
04:17 PM ET 08/02/99
Lions Attack Student in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) _ A British student was dragged out of his tent by a pride of lions and torn to pieces in a nature reserve in northern Zimbabwe, police and parks officials said Monday.
David Pleydell-Bouverie, 18, was with a tour in the Matusadonha National Park, 300 miles northwest of the capital Harare, when the group of 10-12 lions attacked early Sunday, said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
Pleydell-Bouverie, son of Richard Pleydell-Bouverie, Britain's High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and nephew of the Earl of Radnor, was filling in before college as an unpaid helper with a Zimbabwean tour firm, the British High Commission in Harare said.
Parks officials said the student and professional safari guide Bradley Fouche were in separate tents away from their tour party when Fouche was awoken by screaming and saw Pleydell-Bouverie being dragged from his tent.
The guide set fire to his shirt to try to scare away the lions and by the time he reached his rifle the student had been carried into thick bush nearby.
The student's head and other body parts were found in the bush, Bvudzijena said, adding that rangers later shot two lionesses from the pride that attacked him.
Regulations in the park, where lions are common, require visitors to be accompanied at all times by a qualified guide, with a firearm at hand for any emergency.
Sally Bown, spokeswoman for an association of professional bush guides and hunters in Zimbabwe, told the Associated Press in a telephone interview that experts were investigating whether Fouche and his firm were negligent and could be prosecuted for culpable homicide and have their operating license revoked.
Fouche declined to comment because of possible legal actions against him.
http://usatoday.com/news/nweird.htm 08/03/99- Updated 03:05 PM ET
Ocelots obsessed with Obsession
DALLAS - Next to wild feline romance, what brings out the animal in endangered ocelots is - well, Obsession. The Calvin Klein men's cologne seems to be the preferred scent of the four spotted felines in a Dallas Zoo research project. Only about 100 ocelots remain in isolated parts of south Texas, and researchers are trying to lure the animals into one area where they can breed. ''We tried ocelot poop. We tried snake shed and snake musk,'' said Cynthia Bennett, the zoo's research curator. ''They all got a response, but nothing got a response like the Calvin Klein.'' Chula, a 7-year-old, was especially receptive. ''She'd rub up against it, she'd roll on it,'' Ms. Bennett said. ''She'd lay on it. It was almost embarrassing.'' Zoo officials contacted corporate offices of fashion titan Calvin Klein with the happy results. ''They thought it was cute,'' Ms. Bennett said. ''I think they were grateful we weren't trying it on vultures.''
August 3, 1999 the Toronto Sun
Serial killer stalks cats
5 felines found dead in North York
By SHARON LEM -- Toronto Sun A serial cat killer has been slaying a cat a week for the past five weeks and dumping them near a playground in North York, a humane-society official says.
One cat has been found dead every week for the past five weeks in garbage containers in the Leslie St.-Finch Ave. area. The fifth cat found last week had been cut in half.
"I feel anger and dismay over someone who would do something like this to helpless animals," Michael O'Sullivan, Humane Society of Canada executive director, said yesterday.
"It's happening in the same area so there's probably a good bet it's the same person. I'm not sure (if it's a serial cat killer,) but it's someone who doesn't like animals," said O'Sullivan, a father of two who owns two cats and two dogs.
Cat owner Carolyn Johnston, who lives nearby, is outraged.
"It's very disturbing to know that someone is harming cats like this. I have two cats and I don't let them go out, but in light of this I will definitely be keeping them close," she said.
The first report of the incidents was received late last week from the property manager of the townhouse complex in the vicinity of 70 to 90 Castlebury Cres.
"We're actively investigating this. We don't have any suspects but we're encouraging the public to call if they have any information," said Toronto Police Acting Staff-Sgt. Steven Sattz.
He said the five dead cats were disposed of before the report was filed and a post-mortem could be performed.
"I can't surmise anything right now, but obviously if you speak to a psychiatrist, it's out of the ordinary," Sattz said.
O'Sullivan said a $2,500 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible.
No one has claimed the cats or reported missing cats.
"We are treating this case very seriously. The person responsible ought to be warned that when it comes to fighting cruelty, we don't give up," O'Sullivan said.
Six months ago 13 cats went missing from owners in the Beaches neighbourhood and they were never found.
O'Sullivan says there is a link between animal abuse and violent crimes such as child abuse, wife beating and murder.
"A person involved in harming the cats could very easily harm a person," he said.
Cruelty to animals is a criminal offence. If convicted, a person could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 for each separate offence.
Anyone with information should call police at 33 Division at 416-808-3300 or 416-222-TIPS.
5 aout1999
>From AP:
House cats and other small animals are becoming the dominant predators in many of San Diego's rugged canyons, replacing wild coyotes that were driven away by urban development, according to a new study.
Because cats, opossums, skunks and raccoons are no longer preyed on, they are free to eat more rodents and birds, threatening their population, said biologist Kevin Crooks, co-author of the study in Thursday's journal Nature.
"Predators like coyotes are often persecuted by humans, but they can have important ecological roles," Crooks said.
For two years, Crooks and his colleagues surveyed about 30 of San Diego's canyons.
They found that where coyotes still live, dead felines were found in most of those areas and 21 percent of coyote droppings contained cat remains.
But when the coyote threat disappears, more felines are allowed to roam and hunt.
This Cat Is Still Purring After 203 Years
Updated 9:58 AM ET October 15, 1999
LONDON (Reuters) - A 29-year old ginger and white tomcat called Spike has been crowned Britain's oldest cat -- he's the equivalent of 203 in human years.
Owner Mo Elkington says the 10-pound puss has lived so long because she feeds him the "healing" aloe vera plant, whose extracts are commonly used in skin moisturizers.
"I put some in his food every day. It keeps his fur healthy and protects him against rheumatism," said Elkington, an aromatherapist.
She only discovered Spike was a record-breaker when she took him to a vet.
"I'd no idea his age was that unusual but the vet was staggered so I called the record people."
Spike is now officially entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest living cat. Britain's oldest ever cat died in Devon in 1957, aged 34.
Chat porte-bonheur
LONDRES (AFP) - Mar 17 Aoû 99 - 18h34 heure de Paris - Un chat noir s'invite depuis des dizaines d'années à la table d'un des hôtels les plus anciens et les plus réputés de Londres, avec la bénédiction de la direction. Sa mission: conjurer la malédiction des dîners à 13.
Baptisé Kaspar, ce chat noir d'environ 90cm de haut, aux lignes courbes "art-déco" taillées dans du bois de platane, joue le rôle du quatorzième convive lorsqu'un repas doit réunir treize personnes à une même table dans le salon Pinafore de l'hôtel Savoy, en plein coeur de Londres.
Pour ces occasions très spéciales, il quitte l'étagère sur laquelle il trône d'ordinaire et s'assied alors à la table, dans le treizième fauteuil, avec une serviette blanche autour du cou et un jeu complet d'argenterie et de couverts en porcelaine. Et, tout comme les autres invités, il a droit à tous les plats, vins et desserts compris.
L'histoire commence en 1898: Woolf Joel, un habitué du Savoy, donne un dîner pour célébrer son départ vers l'Afrique du Sud. Quatorze convives sont prévus, mais l'un d'entre eux se décommande au dernier moment. Woolf Joel s'amuse alors de la superstition qui veut que le premier des treize à quitter la table doive bientôt mourir.
Il sera assassiné dans son bureau de Johannesburg quelques semaines plus tard. Attristée par cette nouvelle et inquiète de ses répercussions chez sa clientèle, la direction de l'hôtel Savoy décide qu'un membre de son personnel prendra systématiquement la place du quatorzième toutes les fois qu'un repas réunira treize personnes. Cette initiative, peu appréciée des riches clients de l'hôtel, sera vite abandonnée.
Au milieu des années 20, un membre de la direction du Savoy, oublié depuis, a alors l'idée parfaite pour éloigner la "malédiction": un chat noir, animal considéré comme un porte-bonheur en Grande-Bretagne. Et l'hôtel s'empresse de commander la statue de Kaspar au styliste Basil Ionides. Le chat Kaspar veille depuis lors, conjurant le mauvais sort aussi longtemps que nécessaire.
Contribution des litieres pour chats au programme de la navette spatiale
D'après SPACE.COM (http://www.space.com/news/spaceshuttle/zeolite.html), la compagnie American Absorbents Natural Products (http://www.aanpi.com), fabriquante des litières pour chats Sweet Paws, participera à un programme de recherche qui visera à déterminer si le zéolite, un ingrédient clef de cette litière, peut contribuer à accroître la croissance de la végétation dans l'espace.
Y a-t-il un chat dans l'avion ?
TEL-AVIV (AFP) - Dim 18 Jui 99 - 18h39 heure de Paris - Un chat noir et un oiseau se sont, semble-t-il, donné le mot dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche pour empêcher un avion de la compagnie israélienne EL AL de décoller à temps de l'aéroport Ben Gourion, près de Tel-Aviv.
L'appareil, un Jumbo 747, devait transporter 390 passagers à New York et Miami. A l'heure prévue, il a commencé à rouler sur la piste lorsque l'équipage remarqua la présence d'un gros chat noir parmi les voyageurs. Le pilote fit alors marche arrière et ordonna d'ouvrir les portes, ce qui fit aussitôt fuir le passager clandestin.
On referma les portes et les roues de l'avion se remirent à courir sur la piste, à une vitesse de 120 noeuds, lorsqu'on remarqua qu'un oiseau avait profité du remue-ménage pour pénétrer dans un des moteurs.
L'appareil fit de nouveau marche arrière pour extirper l'intrus et vérifier le moteur et les freins qui ont été endommagés. Les passagers sont alors priés de quitter l'avion, et de passer, avec leurs bagages, à un autre appareil.
Après une dernière fouille, pour bien s'assurer qu'aucun chat, oiseau, ou tout autre animal, ne s'est introduit illégalement dans l'avion, le départ est enfin donné, avec cinq heures de retard.
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Vous trouverez d'autres nouvelles insolites sur
http://afp.liberation.com/afp/ins/
Chats: attention aux coups de soleil
LONDRES (AFP) - Mar 22 Jui 99 - 18h08 heure de Paris - Plusieurs associations britanniques de protection des animaux ont alerté mardi les propriétaires de chats sur les risques de coups de soleil sur les oreilles dont pouvaient souffrir leurs animaux.
Les brûlures du soleil peuvent causer des cancers et forcer les vétérinaires à amputer les oreilles des animaux afin de stopper le dévelopement de la maladie, ont précisé les associations, selon lesquelles plusieurs cas ont déjà été observés dans le pays.
Les vétérinaires encouragent les propriétaires de chats à couvrir les oreilles des animaux avec des crèmes solaires d'indice de protection 35 au minimum, ont-elles indiqué.
Découverte d'ossements de lion dans un navire antique romain
Lundi 17 Mai 1999 - 12h25
PISE (Italie), 17 mai (AFP) - Des ossements de lion ont été découverts dans l'un des dix antiques navires romains retrouvés en décembre près de Pise (Toscane, centre), a-t-on appris lundi auprès du directeur des fouilles, Stefano Bruni.
"Le lion devait être destiné à un spectacle, nous l'avons trouvé parmi la cargaison d'un navire datant de la fin du deuxième siècle avant Jésus Christ", a indiqué M. Bruni, soulignant que des restes de chevaux gisaient près des ossements du félin.
Huit des dix embarcations en bois, en parfait état de conservation, ont été mises au jour. Le chantier des fouilles se trouve sur un terrain de 400 m2, situé à sept mètres en dessous du niveau de la mer et à dix kilomètres du littoral.
Les fouilles devraient s'achever en août prochain. Un premier navire, long d'une dizaine de mètres, sera transféré à la mi-juin dans un hangar industriel qui servira de laboratoire de restauration pendant 18 mois pour toutes les embarcations.
Celles-ci seront ensuite installées dans un musée à Pise, qui sera spécialement créé pour l'occasion, et où elles seront exposées dans de l'eau afin de mieux les conserver.
Différentes pièces, dont des amphores, des instruments nautiques, une broche en or, ont déjà été extraites de la boue.
L'étude de ces navires, dont certains datent du 5ème siècle après Jésus Christ, vont permettre de mieux connaître les techniques antiques de navigation sur la Méditerranée, selon les archéologues.
Les embarcations avaient été découvertes par hasard lors de travaux d'extension de la voie ferrée Gênes-Rome.
16 janvier 1999 - Les individus qui maltraitent les animaux seront punis plus sévèrement OTTAWA (PC) - Le ministère fédéral de la Justice vient de compléter une consultation sur les crimes contre les animaux et veut légiférer pour punir plus sévèrement les individus qui maltraitent les animaux. Les lois canadiennes en la matière n'ont pas été changées depuis plus de 100 ans. Les infractions font rarement l'objet d'une accusation et le plus souvent, les procès n'ont même pas lieu. Pourtant lorsqu'un cas est rapporté, c'est l'indignation générale. Le ministère a été inondé de lettres lorsque des chiens ont été battus à coups de bâton de baseball en Alberta ou qu'un âne a été blessé par un chasseur frustré en Ontario. Des études ont montré que la cruauté envers les animaux est un indicateur d'autres formes de violence au foyer et que bon nombre de meurtriers avaient des antécédents de mauvais traitements envers les animaux. Le ministère envisage d'augmenter de six mois à cinq ans les peines d'emprisonnement, d'imposer des amendes élevées, d'interdire aux délinquants de posséder des animaux et de les forcer à rembourser les frais pour les soins fournis à l'animal. © La Presse Canadienne, 1999
11:05 AM ET 01/06/99 *1104< ^AP-India-Tiger-Cubs Two Tiger Cubs Poisoned in India LUCKNOW, India (AP) _ Two six-month-old tiger cubs that strayed from a sanctuary along with their mother have been found dead, apparently poisoned by local villagers. A day after finding the cubs, forest officials were searching Wednesday for the tigress near her former home at the Suhewala Wildlife Sanctuary, 350 miles southeast of New Delhi. ``The tigress with her cubs were spotted by the residents of a village bordering the sanctuary. The panicky villagers must have sprayed poisonous insecticide on the carcass of a goat and left it,'' said R.L. Singh, the chief wildlife warden. Singh, who was still waiting for the post-mortem report, said the tigress may have fallen sick after eating the poisoned meat. Some villagers said they had seen the tigress and the cubs last week, but did not admit to poisoning them. One tiger, five tigresses and four cubs have been poisoned to death since December 1997 after they strayed from the sanctuary onto sugarcane fields and killed domestic cattle. Tiger populations around the world have been decimated by hunting and man's encroachment on their habitats. The National Geographic Society estimates 100,000 tigers roamed in the wild a century ago, but only 5,000 to 7,000 exist in the wild today _ half in India.
Vietnamese Use Pythons To Curb Rats HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Demand for pythons is rising in the Mekong Delta because they have proven effective in killing and frightening off rats that are devastating crops, a Vietnamese official said Saturday. The official said the price for a month-old python has shot up to $4 from 70 cents several months ago. An adult python can go for $21, a large sum for poor farmers. Officials said 81 million rats have been killed so far this year by traps, poisons or other methods compared with 55 million rats for all of 1997. The central government launched an anti-rat campaign earlier this year. But there also have been human casualties: Dozens of people have died from accidentally stepping on electric rat traps or ingesting poisons meant for rats. No statistics on Vietnam's booming rats population are available. It is believed to be in the hundreds of millions. Rat numbers have been growing in recent years due to increased availability of food and the shrinking number of predators, such as cats or snakes which have been served as meat or sold to China for traditional medicines. Officials estimate that rats are causing $5 million to $6 million in damage a year to crops. The government this year decided to close down restaurants that served cat. It also banned exports of cats and snakes and encouraged people to raise cats.
07:17 AM ET 12/16/98Panther Disrupts Air Base in India Panther Disrupts Air Base in India LUCKNOW, India (AP) _ Troops guarding India's air space have sent an SOS to wildlife authorities: Fighter jets are no comfort in the face of a prowling panther. ``My men are scared to venture out of the barracks fearing attacks,'' Air Commodore B.N. Gokhale, commander of the Gorakhpur base, about 400 miles southeast of New Delhi, said today. ``This panther can strike anytime.'' The panther was first seen Saturday near the runway of the base, home to MiG and other fighter aircraft. On Tuesday, wildlife officers organized a group of about 75 people to beat drums and cymbals and light small fires around the base, which is in a forested region, hoping to scare away the hunter cat. ``That was all we could do for the present,'' said Gorakhpur divisional forest officer Sudhi Kumar Sharma. ``We are awaiting instructions from our seniors.''
01:47 PM ET 12/07/98Asian Tigers Closer to Extinction
*1104< AP-Shooting-Tigers<,0796 Asian Tigers Closer to Extinction By JERRY HARMER= Associated Press Writer=
TA PHAYA NATIONAL PARK, Thailand (AP) _ A network of motion-sensitive cameras is revealing what conservationists have long feared: one of Asia's most magnificent beasts, the tiger, is even closer to extinction than previously thought.
Conservationists have long warned that hunting and loss of habitat threaten the region's tigers with extinction. Now, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society is conducting a survey to determine the extent of the danger.
To the dismay of the scientists, the initial results indicate a steeper than expected decline in the population of Southeast Asia's biggest cat. Leading the project in Thailand is Tony Lynam, 33, a zoologist from Perth, Australia. For two years, he has combed the jungles, searching for tiger tracks and gathering anecdotal evidence from villagers.
The core of his research, though, is about 30 unmanned cameras placed in waterproof boxes and strapped to trees close to the ground along paths tigers are suspected of using.
Each camera sends out an infrared beam. Every time something breaks the beam, the camera clicks. The technique, first used in India, gives a rapid, comprehensive analysis of a forest's wildlife and habitat. Lynam and his Thai assistants space the cameras to cover 16 square miles of forest. After a month to six weeks, they return, collect the cameras and develop the film.
``That's the really exciting part,'' Lynam says. ``You simply don't know what you've got. It could be tigers, or it could just be 10 porcupines.'' The photos are breathtaking: candid shots of tigers on the prowl, a split second before the shock of the camera flash intrudes.
In one picture, a flesh wound in a tiger's flank is visible. In another, the tiger is so close to the lens that the frame is filled with its coat and distinctive stripes.
But the bad news is that although Lynam has 40 pictures of tigers, they represent just six individual animals _ from four major Thai national parks.
``The alarm bells are ringing bloody loud,'' Lynam says. ``There are fewer tigers than we'd ever thought out in those forests. What it means is that tigers really are on their way out.''
No one knows how many tigers are left in the wild in Southeast Asia. The entire Asian continent is thought to have only 5,000, half of them in India. Some experts estimate that one tiger dies a day.
Thailand is at the center of the tiger's global habitat. Ideally, the animals should be most numerous in the center, but a comparison with India underlines the reality.
In one Thai reserve of 80 square miles, Lynam's team found a single tiger. There are 60 in an Indian reserve of 246 square miles.
The Thai Royal Forestry Department is cooperating fully with the project. Staff are being trained to carry on the work after Lynam's team moves on. ``The tiger is an indicator of the forest,'' says Viroj Pimmanrojnagool, the department's director of wildlife research. ``If we have tigers, it means our forests are still rich with biodiversity.''
The main reasons for the tiger's decline are loss of habitat to human encroachment and poaching to provide tiger organs for Asian traditional medicines.
Experts say that a forest of less than 54 square miles cannot support tigers. As expanding settlements and roads require more trees to be cut down, tigers are being squeezed out of existence.
Although it's banned, hunting in Thailand's national parks is common. For every shot Lynam's cameras take of a tiger, bear, deer or elephant, there is another of a man, or group of men, walking through the forest, guns in hand. Some pictures record hunters going into the jungle in the morning empty-handed and returning in the evening with bulging sacks.
Ta Phaya National Park is part of a forest complex that stretches from central Thailand eastward to the Cambodian border. It should be prime tiger territory, but it isn't.
During a recent trek to collect cameras, Lynam and his team found snare after snare, including one rigged to fire a rocket-propelled grenade. Thai army rangers assigned to protect Lynam's team say banditry and hunting are major problems.
When research is completed in the next three to five years, the World Conservation Society will make suggestions to the Thai and other Southeast Asian governments on how to conserve tigers.
Lynam says the forests need to be protected, conservation areas set aside, and anti-hunting laws enforced. ``The tigers are still there _ look!'' Lynam says, jabbing at his photos. ``The situation's critical, but it's not too late.''
Mutant Kitties
3:00 a.m. 30.Nov.98.PST
Homepages devoted to beloved pets rarely provoke much attention. But a debate on the ethics of genetic engineering is hurtling across the Internet after Texas cat breeder Vickie Ives Speir posted pictures of her cat's litter online. She calls them Twisty Kats. Their extra-small front legs make movement difficult and cause them to sit up on their back legs like kangaroos. Speir says that keeps them from preying on small animals, like birds. Critics say she's gone too far.
06:26 AM ET 10/01/98
S.African man slays leopard with screwdriver
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A South African man killed an enraged leopard with nothing but an old screwdriver after it had attacked villagers near the country's massive Kruger National Park, police said on Thursday. ``I've never heard of an incident like it in my life...they grabbed it and killed it with a screwdriver,'' a police spokesman said. Tinos Mkansi, 49, was driving an open pick-up truck loaded with eight passengers when the leopard sprang from the bush. ``I almost had a heart attack. The bloody animal leapt onto my windshield as I came to halt next to the road. It then jumped into the back of the bakkie (pick-up truck) right in the middle of my passengers,'' he told the Star newspaper. Mkansi said that the leopard immediately seized one the passengers, Lawrence Sihlangu, and he had to move fast. ``I knew I had to act quickly or Lawrence was dead...I couldn't find any weapon except the screwdriver, so I used it to stab the leopard from behind,'' Mkansi told the newspaper. ``I had to stab it repeatedly in the neck and ribs before it collapsed and died.'' Mkansi halted his truck to investigate an abandoned bicycle and a large pool of blood -- evidence of an earlier attack by the leopard on two other villagers which left one man in a serious condition after it tore at his face. Ndluvo said that the men had fended the leopard off with a knife and had already managed to blind it in one eye before it jumped at the passing vehicle. The incident is the second involving a leopard in or near the Kruger Park in the last few weeks. In August a park ranger was fatally mauled while a crowd of tourists he had been guarding tried in vain to scare it away. ^REUTERS@
01:27 PM ET 10/01/98
Man and cat get CJD simultaneously, say doctors
(Release at 2301 GMT, Thursday, Oct 1)
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Italian doctors said on Friday they had found an unusual case of a man and his cat who developed Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) simultaneously. The researchers said the strain of the degenerative brain disorder had never been found in a cat before and seems to be similar to the disease in its owner. ``We do not know whether it had been transmitted between the man and the cat. What we have found in this case is that the man and the cat show almost the same pathology,'' Dr Gianluigi Zanusso, of the University of Verona, said in a telephone interview. Cases of spongiform encephalopathies, the group of brain wasting diseases that includes mad cow disease (BSE) and the human equivalent CJD, have been reported in cats before. But unlike all the other feline cases whose illness resembled BSE, the disease discovered in the Italian cat was similar to the sporadic form of CJD of its owner. The unidentified 60-year-old man, who died three months after being admitted to hospital, had the most common form of the brain disorder that scientists believe is caused by a mishaped brain protein known as a prion. It was not a new variant CJD that strikes much younger people and which has been linked to eating beef contaminated with BSE. In a letter to The Lancet medical journal, Zanusso said the occurrence of the disease in the man and his cat could be pure coincidence, an infection from a common source, or a result of horizontal transmission between the owner and his pet. He and his colleagues are injecting mice with samples of brain tissue from the man and the cat to confirm it is the same strain of disease in both. Zanusso said the cat developed behavourial changes and features that were also different from other reported cases of the feline disease. Researchers have ruled out food contamination as the source of the infection because they found a different strain of the prion protein from the ones usually transmitted through food. Zanusso said the cat died several months after the owner which could suggest the animal caught the disease from the man. Dr Moria Bruce, a researcher at the Institute of Animal Health in Edinburgh who has done extensive research on prions, said the evidence that the man and the cat had the same strain of disease needs to be confirmed by transmission studies. ``It could be coincidence and it is obviously very interesting,'' she told Reuters. ^REUTERS@
05:44 PM ET 10/01/98
Kellogg, Exxon in cat fight over Tiger logo
(Adds Exxon comments)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - There's a cat fight brewing in Memphis
as two feisty felines face off to decide which one is king of
the advertising hill.
Kellogg Co., the nation's largest cereal company, is suing
Exxon Corp. for trademark infringement, alleging that the global
energy company's Tiger character is too similar to Kellogg's
Tony the Tiger, whose well-known ``They're grrrrreat!'' growl
has been promoting Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal for more than
four decades.
``Tony the Tiger has been around since 1952,'' said Anthony
Hebron, a spokesman at Kellogg's Battle Creek, Mich.,
headquarters.
``We've invested in building his name and his recognition,''
he added. ``We have worked to make Tony the Tiger one of the
most recognizable spokescharacters in the world.''
A federal judge in Memphis dismissed the suit, which was
first filed in 1996, but Kellogg is appealing the dismissal,
saying the judge did not rule on the merits of the case. Hebron
said the cereal company chose Memphis because it is midway
between Exxon's Texas headquarters and Kellogg's Michigan base,
and both companies do business there.
Ed Burwell, a spokesman for Exxon, said the two tigers have
peacefully coexisted for 30 years, and Exxon sees no reason why
they can't continue to get along. He said the companies make
such different products, it is unlikely consumers will be
confused.
``We are not aware of anyone coming into an Exxon
convenience store thinking we were a Kellogg company, and as far
as we know, there hasn't been anyone going to Kellogg looking
for Exxon Frosted Flakes,'' he said.
Exxon launched its animated tiger advertising campaign in
1964, but Kellogg said it had no trouble with the character
until the 1990s, when Exxon began using it to promote its
convenience stores, Hebron said. That's when the gloves came off
and the battle began.
``We sell food,'' Hebron said. ``We've always sold food. Now
someone else is using a character resembling ours to sell
food.''
^REUTERS@
NAPLES (AFP) - Lundi 23 Mars 1998 - 16h33 heure de Paris - Les parrains de la Camorra ont trouvé un moyen plus sophistiqué que les systèmes d'alarme et plus chic que les chiens de garde pour protéger leurs maisons: avoir un félin à demeure. En une semaine, les policiers ont eu la surprise de découvrir un léopard et un lion chez deux parrains de la Camorra (mafia) à Naples. Mardi dernier, la police avait découvert un léopard femelle chez le "boss" Vincenzo Mazzarella. Lundi c'est un lion mâle adulte que les policiers ont découvert dans la villa de Raffaele Brancaccio, un autre chef mafieu de Naples. Les deux animaux, dont la provenance demeure incertaine sont désormais au zoo de Naples. Les deux parrains ont échappé à la police et sont toujours dans la nature. Une "guerre" des clans fait rage entre les différentes factions de la Camorra pour le contrôle des trafics en tout genre.