Do you like wine?

Then, check out my new weblog about Wine Country Cats at http://www.winecountrycats.com. You'll find interviews with the people who run Northwest wineries and photos of their cats.

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Rare lion cubs killed in Ethiopia

This AP story exposes how a zoo in Ethiopia is handling its $1000 a month revenue shortfall: Poisoning its lion cubs and selling their carcases to taxidermists for $170 each. A half dozen of these rare Ethiopian lion cubs have been killed this year alone. Not only is this an extremely sad situation, but it seems financially idiotic as well. The numbers don't add up. This is not the answer to their financial problems.

The article goes on to say that the wildlife UK charity, Born Free Foundation, has called for an end to the cub killings. And as nice as that is, I think it would be a lot more effective if the Born Free folks made it possible for people to donate money through them that would go to the zoo to take care of these cubs and keep them alive. If you go to the Born Free website, it's all about getting donations. Instead of wagging their finger at an impoverished zoo whose officials have run out of options, how about if they help the zoo find a way to solve their financial woes?

Cats to compete in parody of reality TV show

I just read a Reuter's story about how the makers of Meow Mix cat food have found a great new way to advertise: Take 10 homeless cats, and put them in a stylish storefront window that doubles as a stage set in New York City for 10 days of being filmed and gawked at by passersby, put the resulting footage together with some catty voiceovers by actors pretending to be the different cats, then have people vote on which cats to vote out of the "house." The kitties voted out are actually being placed in permanent homes, and the last cat napping supposedly gets hired by the company as the Feline VP of R&D, a taste tester of Meow Mix products.

You can watch the three-minute spots on Animal Planet starting June 16th at 9 p.m. or on the Meow Mix House's website which also sports a 24/7 meowcam of the kitties.

(Geez, what's next? Feline Fear Factor where kitties compete to see who takes longest to run under the bed when the vacuum cleaner is turned on?)