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| Cat Olympics - The 50 Foot Free Drop |
| 2004-07-15 |
| Hey, I feel for ya, mucky; my cats wouldn’t be too pleased either... Yes, also via FARK. Cat’s 50-foot leap at circus called cruelty Toshi Maeda, Bryan Virasami and Merle English What’s good for the circus may not necessarily be good for the cat. That’s what some animal experts said this week about a Cole Brothers Circus cat that makes a death-defying 50-foot leap onto a hand-held pillow every day. Rincon, the brave Siamese cat also known as Supercat, may be well-trained, but critics such as state Sen. Carl Kruger have rapped the circus, saying the jump is feline cruelty that shouldn’t be allowed on city property. "I think if you ask the cat, I think the cat is going to say ’I don’t like jumping in a circus. I don’t like the circus.’ " said Dr. Javier Ramos, a veterinarian at the Riverside Animal Clinic in Manhattan. Cat’s response - "Meow!" He said just one slip can be dangerous; the cat could land on its head instead of its feet. And even if Supercat likes to jump, Ramos said repetitive jumps can lead to pain. "He’s going to have arthritis; he’s going to have problems in the joints," Ramos said. "It’s OK to do it once in a while, but if you do it every time, like a football player, you’re going to have problems in the joints." One of my earlier cats died from a seven foot fall from a tree; that was, however, a few months after she spent an entire month in my neighbor’s garage without food & water. She was a 10 pound cat, down to 5, then back up to about 8 after that. I didn’t want to let her outside after the incident, but she kept going for the door, so I relented, wondering when the inevitable would happen... |
| Posted by:Raj |
#5 "If I were a cat, I don’t think I would want to be doing that," said Joseph Pentangelo, an enforcement agent at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.If you were a cat, Joe, I'd call a very large rottweiler. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-07-15 5:30:30 PM |
| #4 Cats have lived from 70 floor drops they are hard wired to go into maximum flight resistance.... cats are more likely to be hurt in a low altitude drop before they can assume the proper kitty position. I recall that a properly furry cat, with the proper kitty freefall position has a terminal velocity of only 130-150 mph.... unless they are falling in a vaccuum of course. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-15 4:37:26 PM |
| #3 im agree with tu3031. ima thinking cats are not liking to be fling through air. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-07-15 4:07:53 PM |
| #2 A circus spokesman defended the act, saying Supercat has never missed his mark in about 1,400 performances over three years. He's only gotta miss once... and then the streak is over. Forever. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-15 3:27:12 PM |
| #1 Hmmmm, the LD-50 for humans is about 70 feet. In other words, fifty percent of the people who fall or are pushed from 70 feet up will die. This cat's pretty amazing. BTW, I have five cats. Speaking for them, three of the five say "Yahoo!" and the other two are pussies. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-07-15 3:07:24 PM |