Cats

Cats in Shanghai

Well, this story is a lot less cute than the last one, but it still has cats, and a happy ending. From Reuters:

The power of the Internet has saved more than 800 cats from being skinned and served up on Chinese dinner tables.
About 30 animal lovers rushed to a parking lot in Shanghai after reading an Internet posting sparked by animal rights activist Huo Puyang that said two trucks carrying cats in wooden boxes had been intercepted, Huo said on Monday…
…The felines were on their way to the booming southern province of Guangdong, where some residents pride themselves as gourmets who will eat anything that flies, crawls or swims.

What the story (or similar stories on the same incident from other sources) don't mention is how in China there is a distinction between which cats are prized pets and which are food. Long-hair cats like Persians are to be bred and prized, while the common short-hair cats like those in the photo above, or Luna, are potential meals (not that we want long-haired cats to be eaten, either). But it gets worse, some of these cats may have been pets:

Huo's daughter-in-law had been looking for their missing pets and stumbled into the trucks, one of which sped away. The daughter-in-law called Huo, whose animal-loving friends then sent out an Internet alert last Friday.

The activists ended up buying the cats from the driver, after police said there was no evidence that any of them were stolen pets.

For all we know, the poor kitties were actually destined to become pet food or toothpaste. Or maybe part of some shoddy plastic product at Wal Mart…but for now, there's a happy ending in their rescue:

They now hope to place them in homes after posting their pictures and profiles on the Internet.

“They were so frightened,” the report quoted one of the rescuers, Huo Puyang, as saying.

I'm generally not that into the whole pushing-democracy-in-China thing. I could care less about the Communist Party and such. But it is good to see Chinese activists standing up to the sleeze and corruption, whether its big businesses spiking products with poisons or truck drivers stealing cats off the street. The same article (in the “related link” below) documents other recent internet-organized actions in China.

Kitten and puppy in Hyderabad

Extreme cuteness was found on the front of Yahoo news yesterday (and I'm not talking about Ayman al-Zawahiri). From AP:

A puppy and a kitten play together as they are brought for vaccination on the occasion of Zoonoses Day in Hyderabad, India, Friday, July 6, 2007. Zoonoses are diseases and infections which are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and man. Zoonoses Day is celebrated on July 6 every year to bring the problem into people's consciousness, and to remind them to take action. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A)

The photo seemed pretty impropable, but it does carry a legit AP credit. Not only is getting the puppy and kitten to pose like that unusual, but so is the idea of a pet kitten in India, where traditionally cats are not treated as pets. But certainly a lot of the younger kids seemed fond of cats when I was there in 2006. And Hyderabad is a booming center of high-tech and bio-tech with a large professional class who may be more likely to have cats and dogs as companion animals in their homes.

Weekend Cat Blogging #109: Summer Heat and Reading

It looks like our hosts Upsie and Sher are facing the full force of the western heat wave as they host Weekend Cat Blogging #109. Upsie is enjoying an cold pack to beat the heat. You can see the roundup of cats in all colors and climates.

Here on the coast things haven't been quite so extreme, but we, too, have been experiencing higher than normal temperatures, especially earlier in the week. The upper floor of CatSynth HQ got quite toasty, and Luna spent a lot of time napping, especially on her comfy blue towel (which I occasionally sprinkled with cold water):

Fortunately, the weather has cooled down quite a bit this weekend here, so now we're back to enjoying summer, including our summer reading:

The book is Lizard, a collection of short stories by Japenese modernist writer Banana Yoshimoto.

Don't forget to check out the Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.

We hope all our friends in the Western U.S. and elsewhere are keeping cool and safe.

First LolCatSynth "contest"

Remember this photo from a few days ago?

Well, this photo has inspired several lolcat captions, including on this original post:

“im in ur ether, changing ur capacitanz”

There are several more suggestions on this repost at matrix.

So am calling the first LolCatSynth contest, to write even more lolcat captions for this photo. Please leave your suggestions in the comment section.

There isn't really any “prize” or “winner” for this particular contest, though I will be happy to do the actual captioning for my favorite submissions, as well as post them (with credit) to the popular lolcat sites.

Weekend Cat Blogging #108

WCB #108 is being hosted by Pet's Garden Blog, and in honor of the “bengal brats”, we are offering some more photos of our bengal-like neighbor:

On hot summer days, he sometimes would stop and drink out of the fountain sculpture in the yard.

The fountain is an original sculpture of mine titled Imbalance, completed in 2004 and then renovated in 2006. It has been featured on this site before.

Some neighbors do leave out water bowls as a safer alternative, though like many places there are controversies about outdoor cats. We prefer to simply think of them as part of our neighborhood.

Of course, it wouldn't be WCB without Luna starring, so here are some recent relaxing photos of la gatita bonita:

Check out all the other cats at Weekend Cat Blogging #108 and Carnival of the Cats #171 (at a still secure undisclosed location, I'll update when I found out where). We are also showing up late, yet again, for Friday Ark #145.

Speaking of strays, we're going to continue our experiment with Open Trackbacks for this post. Feline related trackbacks preferred.

Cats in Lebanon…Germany

Who doesn't love pictures of cute kittens?


Well, these kittens are in Lebanon, being cared for by members of BETA. Like many places closer to home, it is kitten season, and their shelter is overflowing with kittens who need homes. And this is on top of the cats and other animals that BETA has rescued from the recent confrontations and senseless religious/tribal violence still happening there.

Meanwhile, in Germany, a country famous around the world for its warm and fuzzy nature, animal shelters experience a summer influx of cats for very different reasons. According the the reports accompanying these photos from Reuters, many of these cats are surrendered to shelters, or simply abandoned, during the long European summer vacation season. You can click on the photo below for a second article.

They don't have pet sitters in Germany?