Stalking Cat (his lakota name; really Dennis Avner, aka "Cat man" "Cat" or "Tiger Man") recently sent us a message to let us know that he will be attending CritterConDiego 3.

Stalking Cat has recently appeared on several programs like Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Larry King Show, and several others because he is surgically and cosmetically altering his self into his totem animal. Visit stalkingcat.com for more information and to view pictures of his current state of trans-fur-mation.

Since late 1999, the Australian Museum has involved in a project unique in this world- the cloning of an extinct species, namely the Tasmanian Tiger. While no living representative of this species has been witnessed since the death of the last one in captivity in 1936, the museum possesses several preserved pups. While the ones that were preserved in formalin are unusable due to the effect of the preservative on the cell structure, there is a female pup that was preserved in ethanol. She is the linchpin of the cloning project, as this allowed intact DNA strands to persist. While the successful replication of individual Tasmanian Tiger genes, as detailed at http://www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/newsrelease.htm,
does not mean there will be a living representive of the species any time soon, it does mark something singular. For the first time in human history, there is the indication that we may be able to bring back from the darkness of death and total extinction a unique species that was destroyed solely by our hands.

The 'blooper' clips of the flash-animated comedy "The God and Devil Show" feature short snippets from the episodes, and are available full-time (whereas the full episodes are posted on a limited basis).

Of interest to furries is the "Sigfried and Roy" blooper, which features a white, leather-clad "sabre-toothed uber tiger morph." Licking his leg/thigh/crotch, no less. Direct link here.

Bangladesh has seen a soaring rate of tiger maulings this year, with 22 people killed in the last three months, compared to 24 in the entirety of last year.
Wildlife officials blame poaching, which has halved the tiger population in the last 5 years. They say it's taught the remaining tigers to consider man an enemy

CNN's Larry King Live is carrying a Ripley's Belive it or Not special, including Tigerman and a few other strange folks. Oh yeah, and Dean Cain ("Superman" TV show).

From a National Zoo press release: The Sumatran tiger cub born on September 18 at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park made its public debut December 27 at 11 a.m. At the debut, the 20-pound, three- month old male cub, named Berani (Bahasa Indonesian for brave) was on view for the first time inside the large glass-fronted enclosure opposite the Bat Cave at the Zoo's Great Cats exhibit. His eight-year-old mother, Soyono, is nearby, or with Berani, as she chooses. Berani is still too young to venture out into the outside yards (particularly in cold weather).



Also, on January 10, 2002, the National Zoo will celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Giant Panda Exhibit with Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, followed by Panda Day on January 12.

Further Confusion has bad, good and even better news about our expected
visit from Kirshner this year. First the bad news; due to a scheduling
snafu that caused a double booking of our convention weekend, Kirshner
will not be able to attend with their cats.



Now the good news! We have contacted Ron Whitfield, of Marine World
Africa fame, and scheduled a visit from him and one of his gorgeous tigers
to replace the expected visit from Kirshner's tiger!

Over 250 elephants, tigers, rare bears, and leopards have been estimated to have been killed in Cambodia and it's provinces in the last 18 months. Estimates aren't available for 21 of the 24 provinces of this war torn country, but the rare animals being removed from populations currently estimated at 500 elephants, 200 tigers and even less leopards is astounding. Many of these illegal hunting operations involve the police and military. Outsiders fear these rare tigers and elephant sub species will become extinct in the near future.

From CNN.com -- In a desperate bid to get numbers of an endangered species of tiger up, Chinese animal keepers have called on the services of Viagra

Mara, a 14 year old lioness, joined Jambi, a rare male tiger, in being felled by a batch of tranquilizer-tainted meat that was shipped to the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand earlier this month.

A Chinese zoo has sentenced a lion to life in a cage for attacking two tourists, who were throwing chickens at the animal. A similar charge against a tiger, who attacked a caretaker, is pending.

According to NewScientist:
"Fires in eastern Russia are threatening the last stronghold of the Siberian tiger, according to WWF."

Apparently, Six hundred square kilometers are ablaze near an area densely populated by this endangered species. The WWF have six fire brigades attempting to control the fires.

For more information, check out NewScientist's article

An Interview on Gamesdomain with the EQ Team, regarding the newest version of the MMORPG, includes screenshots of a new tiger player-model.

Ananova is running a story about a mother Great Dane who has adopted baby tigers in Germany.

The original article with a picture of the cubs and mother (auf Deutsch!) is currently here (look for Kleine Tiger bei der Doggenmutter), and the sites for the zoo are here and here.

Full article here, including picture.

Dennis Smith is tattooed from head to toe with orange and black stripes and his teeth have been filed to needle point.


He has also had latex whiskers implanted and surgery to his lips so he has a permanent snarl. He now wants a surgeon to graft tiger fur on to his skin, like a perma-wig.


Mr Smith, who has changed his name by deed poll to Cat Man, said: "I have a collection of old tiger pelts from the days of hunting. I want these grafted on to me. It will cost another $100,000 but will be worth it.


"When I have the coat of a tiger, I feel I will have reached my goal in life."