A stray cat enjoyed a $1,000 fish feast at Russia’s Vladivostok airport, after managing to get inside a delicatessen fish counter, it’s reported.
The cat was filmed by staff at Vladivostok airport, helping itself to marine delicacies including squid and dried octopus, the PrimaMedia.ru news website reports.
The animal was seen scrabbling at packaging and happily munching away on the contents. It was a costly break-in for the store’s owner, who had to bin the entire contents of the fish counter, worth about 60,000 roubles ($1,000). Nobody knows how the cat managed to get into the store, although according to airport staff it’s a local stray and sometimes wanders into the airport.
It seems the cat is now a minor celebrity, with “fans” lining up to visit the scene of the crime. “Our staff practically can’t work because of the flow of fans,” Irina Kuzmina, the shop’s owner, tells PrimaMedia.
“From the arrival hall, people come directly to us with questions about the cat. But they don’t buy anything, they only ask questions.”
Some members of the public are concerned about the cat’s fate, because it hasn’t been seen since being busted mid-meal. The airport has received letters from dozens of concerned people offering the animal a home, the website says.
[youtube 6tLArLiSU7M 650]
National Cat Day is an American public holiday celebrating cats and encouraging adoption rather than buying from pet stores supplied by kitten mills.
The holiday celebrates fabulous felines of all breeds, shapes and sizes.
National Cat Day is celebrated on October 29th each year.
The annual event was created to raise awareness about the millions of homeless cats and kittens waiting for homes.
National Cat Day is a public holiday celebrating cats and encouraging adoption rather than buying from pet stores
National Cat Day is an official holiday of the Animal Miracle Foundation, founded by Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Advocate, Colleen Paige to help galvanize the public to recognize the number of cats that need to be rescued each year and also to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the cat(s) in their life for the unconditional love and companionship they bestow upon us.
Since its inception, nearly 1 million cats have been saved since National Cat Day began back in 2005. This year’s goal is to “facilitate the adoption of 10,000 shelter cats” on October 29, 2013.
[youtube kO4HTCWYn0A 650]
A cat has been detained in the grounds of Arapiraca jail in Brazil with contraband goods for prisoners strapped to its body with tape.
The white cat was apprehended crossing the main prison gate.
The incident took place at a jail in Arapiraca city, 250 km (155 miles) south-west of Recife in Alagoas state.
The confiscated items included drill bits, files, a mobile phone and charger, plus earphones The cat was taken to a local animal centre.
A cat has been detained in the grounds of Arapiraca jail in Brazil with contraband goods for prisoners strapped to its body with tape
The jail holds some 263 prisoners.
A prison spokesperson was quoted by local paper Estado de S. Paulo as saying: “It’s tough to find out who’s responsible for the action as the cat doesn’t speak.”
Officials said the items could be used to effect a means of escape or for communicating with criminals on the outside.
The incident took place at New Year, but the photo has only recently been released.
[youtube IzzjOeWKkTo]
A cat spooked Fox 17 morning reporter Nicole DiDonato when it jumped on her back as she did a live shot in front of a camera for a local newscast.
Nicole DiDonato, a morning reporter for Fox 17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did a live report on Thursday about the day’s happenings following the Fourth of July when a gray cat sneaked up from behind and jumped on the journalist’s shoulder.
She continued to finish her report before she broke out into laughter as the cat remained on her left shoulder the entire time.
Nicole DiDonato’s shot was one of three in a segment of upcoming stories the morning after this week’s Independence Day.
She appeared calm and unaware that a feline was nearby as she began to report on the city celebrating its new title as BeerCity USA.
Suddenly, the arm of a cat leaped in the air onto the front of Nicole DiDonato’s left shoulder as a surprise to both the reporter and the audience watching the shot.
The journalist’s face lit up in shock making it clear she had no idea the cat would interrupt her work.
Nicole DiDonato did a live report on Thursday when a cat sneaked up from behind and jumped on the journalist's shoulder
The cat made its appearance as it peeped its head from behind Nicole DiDonato’s until it clearly showed its face to viewers.
No longer camera-shy, the animal managed to prop itself completely on top of the reporter’s shoulder making itself comfortable.
Remarkably, Nicole DiDonato barely hesitated as she continued to do her report despite having an unplanned feline resting on her.
At one point, she turned her head to the right in embarrassment – and the cat followed her direction.
After she completed her report, Nicole DiDonato began to laugh uncontrollably nearly falling to the ground.
The cat did not move from her shoulder.
On Twitter, Nicole DiDonato said she had seen the cat before she went live on air.
The journalist tweeted: “Learned my lesson: Never making eye contact with a cat before a live tease ever again.”
Nicole DiDonato went on to tweet: “Gotta hand it to the little guy, his strength and athleticism… mighty impressive.
“Hope his owners know what a celeb he is.”
The reporter expressed her relief that the cat was a friendly one.
Nicole DiDonato tweeted: “I am glad that cat was a nice one or we could be dealing [with] quite a different outcome this am!”
[youtube EtJlfXqZroQ]
Veterinarians and biologists say that cats’ remarkable ability to survive falls from great heights is a simple and predictable matter of physics, evolutionary biology, and physiology.
“This recent story isn’t much of a surprise,” says Jake Socha, a biomechanist at Virginia Tech University.
“We do know that animals exhibit this behavior, and there have been lots of records of these cats surviving.”
With scientists unwilling to toss cats off buildings for experimental observation, science has been unable systematically to study the rate at which they live after crashing to the ground.
In a 1987 study of 132 cats brought to a New York City emergency veterinary clinic after falls from high-rise buildings, 90% of treated cats survived and only 37% needed emergency treatment to keep them alive. One that fell 32 stories onto concrete suffered only a chipped tooth and a collapsed lung and was released after 48 hours.
From the moment they’re in the air to the instant after they hit the ground, cats’ bodies are built to survive high falls, scientists say.
They have a relatively large surface area in proportion to their weight, thus reducing the force at which they hit the pavement.
Cats reach terminal velocity, the speed at which the downward tug of gravity is matched by the upward push of wind resistance, at a slow speed compared to large animals like humans and horses.
For instance, an average-sized cat with its limbs extended achieves a terminal velocity of about 60 mph (97 km/h), while an average-sized man reaches a terminal velocity of about 120 mph (193 km/h), according to the 1987 study by veterinarians Wayne Whitney and Cheryl Mehlhaff.
Veterinarians and biologists say that cats' remarkable ability to survive falls from great heights is a simple and predictable matter of physics, evolutionary biology, and physiology
Cats are essentially arboreal animals: when they’re not living in homes or in urban alleys, they tend to live in trees.
Sooner or later, they’re going to fall, biologists say. Cats, monkeys, reptiles and other creatures will jump for prey and miss, a tree limb will break, or the wind will knock them over, so evolution has rendered them supremely capable of surviving falls.
“Being able to survive falls is a critical thing for animals that live in trees, and cats are one of them,” says Dr. Jake Socha.
“The domestic cat still contains whatever suite of adaptations they have that have enable cats to be good up in trees.”
Through natural selection, cats have developed a keen instinct for sensing which way is down, analogous to the mechanism humans use for balance, biologists say.
Then – if given enough time – they are able to twist their bodies like a gymnast, astronaut or skydiver and spin their tails in order to position their feet under their bodies and land on them.
“Everything that lives in trees has what we call an aerial righting reflex,” says Robert Dudley, a biologist at the animal flight laboratory at the University of California – Berkeley.
Cats can also spread their legs out to create a sort of parachute effect, says Andrew Biewener, a professor of organismal and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, although it is unclear how much this slows the rate of descent.
“They splay out their legs, which is going to expand their surface area of the body, and that increases the drag resistance,” Prof. Andrew Biewener says.
When they do land, cats’ muscular legs – made for climbing trees – act as shock absorbers.
“Cats have long, compliant legs,” says Jim Usherwood of the structure and motion lab at the Royal Veterinary College.
“They’ve got decent muscles. In that they’re able to jump quite well, the same muscles divert energy into decelerating rather than breaking bones.”
The springy legs increase the distance over which the force of the collision with the ground dissipates, says Prof. Andrew Biewener.
“The impact forces are much higher in stiff collisions,” he says.
“If they can increase the collision time over a longer period that reduces the impact force.
“And a cat’s legs are angled under the body rather than extended downward, like human or horse legs.”
“You’re not transmitting the forces really directly,” says Dr Socha.
“If a cat was to land with its legs directly under him in a column and hold him stiff, those bones would all break. But they go off to the side and the joints then bend, and you’re now taking that energy and putting it into the joints and you’re getting less of a force at the bone itself.”
However, house cats in urban or suburban areas tend to be overweight and in less than peak physical condition, warns Steve Dale, a cat behavior consultant who is on the board of the Winn Feline Foundation, which supports cat health research.
“That detracts from their ability to right themselves in midair,” Steve Dale says.
