ELDERLY MAN LICKING
WOUNDS AFTER CAT ATTACK
07/13/01
QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - An elderly Canadian man was said to
be recovering on Thursday following a savage attack by his pet
cat, which drew four carloads of police, two ambulances and
an animal control officer.
The National Post newspaper said Gerard Daigle, 80, lost a
pint of blood and required stitches after his cat Touti, a diminutive
roughly meaning Tiny, launched a frenzied attack after Daigle,
who was apparently giving his pet parrot a shower, inadvertently
sprayed the cat with water.
Daigle, who lives in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, halfway between
Montreal and Quebec City, could not be reached for comment on
Thursday. The newspaper said he was saved by his 81-year-old
wife who wrestled the cat away, only to have it turn on her.
"The cat wanted to eat her, too," the paper quoted Daigle as
saying.
The couple managed to chase the cat into the bedroom and slam
the door. Police responded in force because they thought they
were dealing with a domestic emergency.
It is not known why Daigle was giving his parrot a shower.
GIANT LIZARD BITES
MAN MARRIED TO SHARON STONE
06/12/01
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A rare 10-foot Komodo dragon at the
Los Angeles zoo has mauled the foot of San Francisco Chronicle
Executive Editor Phil Bronstein, causing serious damage that
required surgery, the newspaper reported on Sunday.
The animal, an Indonesian species, attacked while Bronstein
and a zookeeper were inside its cage on a behind-the-scenes
tour of the zoo.
"He was in the Komodo dragon cage when he was bitten.
We have number of celebrities who want to go behind the scenes
and he had a fondness for these dragons, according to his wife,"
zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca told Reuters.
Bronstein was shoeless at the time of the attack, according
to the Chronicle.
He had been wearing white tennis shoes but because the dragon
is fed white rats, the zookeeper suggested Bronstein remove
his shoes so the dragon did not mistake them for its next meal.
The dragon, which has serrated teeth designed for ripping flesh,
clamped down on Bronstein's foot and thrashed its body around,
Stone, who was watching from outside the cage, told the Chronicle.
Stone said Bronstein grabbed the jaws of the reptile and pried
them open before escaping through the small feeding door of
the cage while the zookeeper fended off the dragon.
The paper said the dragon's teeth harbor septic bacteria, so
Bronstein was treated with antibiotics and will be monitored
for possible infection.
Stone told the Chronicle the tour had been a surprise early
father's day gift for Bronstein, who had always wanted to see
an endangered Komodo dragon up close.
LaMarca said the dragon, which has been quarantined, was four
years old and was usually mild-tempered. "This was totally
unexpected," she said.
MAN BURNS BOTTOM IN
FLAME PRANK
05/29/01
PARIS (Reuters) - A man who tried to extinguish the "eternal
flame" burning under the Arc de Triomphe by sitting on it has
been treated in hospital for burns to his bottom.
The Paris daily Liberation said the unnamed prankster struck
Sunday night and was promptly pulled off the illustrious flame,
which honors the French who died during World War One.
His injuries were not serious, said the doctors who treated
him at the capital's Bichat hospital.
The flame has been burning since 1921 over a grave containing
the unidentified remains of a French soldier killed in the war.
A drunken Mexican soccer fan caused a scandal during the 1998
World Cup by putting the fire out with a glass of unspecified
liquid.
The previous year an Australian was arrested for using the
flame to cook an egg.
ADVERTISERS HOPE EAU
DE URINE WILL LURE PET LOVERS
05/31/01
LONDON (Reuters) - British advertisers have come up with a
novel ploy to attract pet owners that is not so much as scratch
n' sniff as whiff of woof.
TV channel Animal Planet is using posters scented with canine
urine to publicize its pet awards in the hope that dogs will
make a beeline for them, dragging their owners behind them.
"It is not actual urine, it is the scent of urine. I haven't
actually smelt it myself, but I am told it is lovely for a dog,"
Animal Planet's commissioning editor Emma Read told Reuters.
The posters will be stuck at a dog's eye level on lamp posts
along favorite walking routes in London, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Another poster will be at human eye level to catch the attention
of owners when their dog stops to sniff.
Read said she did not think humans would be able to detect
the scent.
"We are not going to go around stinking up the streets of England."
The channel's next major campaign will be an Adopt a Wild Animal
promotion later this year.
AMOROUS MONKEY BUSINESS
OUTRAGES TOWN
05/30/01
COLOMBO (Reuters) - A sex-crazed male monkey has caused an
uproar in a central Sri Lankan town, stalking and attacking
girls in public and flirting outrageously with cats and dogs,
a newspaper said on Wednesday.
The monkey has roused the anger of residents of Kundasale by
following young women around the town, jumping on them without
warning and clinging tenaciously until it was chased away with
sticks and stones, the Daily News reported.
Apparently having little success with human females, the primate
also makes advances on other animals to which it has "a very
strong affinity (particularly) cats and dogs of the opposite
sex," the newspaper said, adding the creature fed its libido
by stealing chocolates from local shops.
The monkey business has outraged the town in Sri Lanka's conservative
rural heartland where public displays of affection are frowned
upon even between humans of the opposite sex.
MTV APOLOGIZES AFTER
"SHOWER RANGERS" INCIDENT
04/05/01
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The MTV cable network apologized on
Thursday to two 14-year-old girls who were sprayed with excrement
by performers during the taping of a television program called
``Dude, This Sucks.''
The teenagers sued MTV in Los Angeles Superior Court for infliction
of emotional distress, negligence and battery because of the
incident which took place last January in Big Bear, a mountain
community near the city.
Brian Graden, the network's president of programming, admitted
the incident took place and apologized, vowing that the footage
will never be aired.
Monique Garcia and Kelli Sloat said they were invited to stand
near the stage during taping of the show and were given no warning
that two men calling themselves the ``Shower Rangers'' would
abruptly defecate on stage.
"We were having a good time until the second act of 'Dude,
This Sucks' went on,'' Garcia, a middle school student in Big
Bear, said at a press conference to announce the lawsuit. "All
of a sudden I was smelling something disgusting and I started
to gag,'' she said. "I looked around at my friends. They
were covered in something. As I looked down at myself I realized
that I was too.''
Gloria Allred, a prominent Los Angeles attorney representing
the two girls, said the girls, along with four friends, watched
crew members cover camera equipment with plastic tarps before
the "Shower Rangers,'' who are not named in the lawsuit,
took the stage.
