Mausi Is Saved from a Potentially Violent Death on the Fast and Furious Autobahn Thanks to the Dramatic Intervention of a Münchner Couple

Mausi 

"Katze! Hinten!"
-- Hannelore B.'s urgent note to the truckdriver

Considering that motorists deliberately run down and kill hundreds of thousands, if not indeed millions, of them each year it is nothing short of remarkable, although by no means totally unheard of, every time that one of them actually goes out of her way in order to save a cat's life. That is even more so the case when such a kindhearted individual is willing to pay for the cat's emergency veterinary care out of her own pocket. As astounding as that may sound to some skeptics, Hannelore B. of München is such a person.

On March 23rd of last year, she and her husband, Erich, were motoring along Autobahn 8 (A8), which stretches from Stuttgart to München, when she by chance just happened to spot a calico cat cowering on the petrol tank of a truck as they approached Günzburg. "Ich dachte, das ist ein Lappen," Erich told TZ-Online of München on April 12th. (See "Mausi: Zweihundertzehn Kilometer auf dem Tank eines Lastkraftwagen.")

As it shortly became clear, his eyes were deceiving him and what he actually had seen was a rather frightened cat. The couple then attempted several times in vain in order to signal the trucker to stop.

Hannelore was not about to be deterred, however, and instead hurriedly scribbled "Katze! Hinten!" on a scrap of paper which she then held up to the window of her chariot. That finally got the driver's attention and he promptly pulled over at the Ulm-Elchingen Interchange where the A8 and A7 intersect.

That spontaneous act of heroism and compassion in all likelihood saved the cat's life because she easily could have either fallen or been blown off the speeding rig at any moment and into the path of the oncoming traffic. Even as things were, she was in pretty bad shape.

"Da war die Katze mehr tot als lebendig," Hannelore told TZ-Online in the article cited supra. "Sie war verletzt, das Fell war ölverschmiert."

Hannelore and Erich then drove the cat to the Germeringer Tierklinik in Fürstenfeldbruck, roughly twenty-five kilometers west of München. Compassion seldom comes cheap, however, and the veterinarians reciprocated by sticking the couple with a bill for €197 in return for attending to the cat's various, unspecified injuries.

The Ill-Fated Chattanooga Kitten

The magnanimous couple neither winced nor demurred but instead gladly coughed up the cutthroats' blood money. As a consequence, the cat escaped not only with her life but a new moniker as well: Mausi.

Mercifully, she was not in Chattanooga because if that had been the case she would not have had so much as a prayer in Hades of being treated. Back in 2010, a forever nameless kitten was left to die after several local veterinarians refused to treat it because its rescuer, David Livesay, would not foot the bill for its care. That outrageous dereliction of duty occurred on top of its earlier having been thrown out the window of an automobile by a motorist. (See Cat Defender post of July 16, 2010 entitled "Tossed Out the Window of a Car Like an Empty Beer Can, Injured Chattanooga Kitten Is Left to Die after at Least Two Veterinarians Refused to Treat It.")

By their actions, Hannelore and Erich once again have proven that the only charity worthwhile comes from the heart. Likewise, by even charging for saving Mausi's life the practitioners at Germeringer Tierklinik have demonstrated anew that the veterinary medical profession is comprised almost exclusively of mercenaries.

Soon after being treated, Mausi was handed over to Tierschutzverein München (TSV) where an immediate search was undertaken in order to locate her owner. Since the trucker had departed from Obertaufkirchen im Landkreis Mühldorf am Inn and, apparently, had not made any stops along his two-hundred-ten kilometer trek, TSV concentrated its search in that community.

The organization ultimately was able to locate the village where Mausi had lived but no one there was willing to come forward and reclaim her. All that TSV was able to learn was that she had been let out of an automobile at a commercial park.

It thus appears that she had been intentionally abandoned. After that she likely crawled into the truck's engine in order to keep warm and that would account for the oil in her fur.

Even though the pretty little girl quickly recovered from her harrowing ordeal, she nonetheless was forced to spend the next two months at TSV where she likely was confined to a cage. Her ship finally did come in, so to speak, when she belatedly was adopted by, hopefully, a loving and caring family who will appreciate and treasure her for as long as she lives.

Neukölln Persian Inside a Wheel Well

Cats that are drawn to the shelter and warmth provided by automobile motors invariably wind up in all sorts of dire straits. Although the injurious and deadly consequences of this perennial problem easily could be remedied if only motorists would check underneath their hoods before starting their engines that is not about to become common practice in a million years.

For instance, a lovely black and white Persian was discovered November 5th inside the engine of a blue Opel that was parked on Hertastraße in the borough of Neukölln in southeast Berlin. The fire department was summoned and promptly removed the right front wheel but the cat adamantly refused to relinquish its newly found resting place.

Finally, a policewoman arrived on the scene and she was able to lure out the cat with the promise of some treats. The nameless cat then was taken to an unidentified veterinary clinic near Düppel in the neighboring borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf.

Unfortunately, it has not known what ultimately became of it but owing to its valuable pedigree there is some reason to be optimistic that it either was reclaimed by its owner or adopted by someone else. (See Berliner Zeitung, November 5, 2012, "Da Rad ist ab, aber die Katze wieder da.")

Several weeks earlier in either late August or early September, an eight-week-old gray female later dubbed Odyssey was discovered in the right front wheel well of Cranford, New Jersey, resident Lisa Ford's Honda Odyssey Minivan. She first became aware that something was amiss when she and her daughter were out running some errands around town and heard unexplained noises coming from the engine.

She then pulled into Kurt Petschow's Sunoco station on Centennial Avenue where he graciously interrupted his busy day in order to mount what ultimately proved to be a highly successful rescue effort. First, he had to locate the source of the noise, however, and that proved to be anything but a simple task.

The Persian Is Brusquely Handled by an Ignorant Fireman

He accordingly took Ford's old jalopy for a test drive and when the strange noise commenced once again he initially thought that it possibly might be coming from one of the toys that were scattered about the interior. Once that was proven not to be the case he parked the car in back of the station not only in order to dismantle parts of it but to spare Ford's young daughter the possibility of having to witness an injured cat being removed from it.

A little over two hours later, Odyssey was discovered but, unlike Mausi, she was unharmed by her death-defying ordeal. An employee of the station, identified only as Joanne, then took her to a veterinarian in nearby Westfield for a check-up and some unspecified jabs.

Afterwards, Joanne took Odyssey home with her for a few days before an unidentified mechanic working at the station decided to provide her with a permanent home. "We were all so very thankful that this story had a happy ending," Ford later told the Westfield Patch on September 6th. (See "The 'Odyssey' That Started with a Meow.")

In much the same vein as the generosity demonstrated by Hannelore and Erich B., Petschow refused to accept Ford's offer to compensate him for his time and labor. "For this, no charge," he told the Westfield Patch. "We were more than happy to do this."

He also went about the task at hand in a remarkably caring but yet professional manner. "Not once did he suggest that I was inconveniencing him or his staff," Ford added. "While I was distressed about the situation, Kurt was kind and reassuring."

Countless other cats who become trapped inside car engines are nowhere nearly as fortunate as Odyssey. For example, back on December 23, 2005 an eight-month-old gray and white kitten subsequently named Miracle crawled into an SUV parked in Newark and as a consequence was forced to hang on for dear life to the drive shaft during a hair-raising seventy-mile jaunt down the New Jersey Turnpike.

As the unidentified driver neared Exit 4 in Cherry Hill a passing motorist noticed Miracle's predicament and took immediate action. "There's a cat under your car!" the eagle-eyed driver yelled.

Odyssey

The driver of the SUV immediately pulled over and removed Miracle from the undercarriage and transported him to the Animal Welfare Association in nearby Voorhees. Even by that time his paws had been burned, his fur singed, and one claw was missing. (See Cat Defender post of January 5, 2006 entitled "'Miracle' Cat Survives a Seventy Mile Trip Down the New Jersey Turnpike by Clinging to the Drive Shaft of an SUV.")

A fourteen-week-old black cat named Trace from Monmouth, Illinois, fared even worse when she took refuge in a car's engine in early October of 2010. In particular, her mistake in judgment cost her both of her rear legs.

Since her owner was penniless, that in all likelihood would have been the end of her if it had not been for the compassion of Dr. Geoffrey Weech of the Monmouth Small Animal Hospital who generously agreed to treat her for free. In a profession dominated by heartless shekel chasers and incompetents, he is a one in a million practitioner who fully understands that an occasional bit of pro bono work will neither kill nor send him to the poorhouse. (See Cat Defender post of November 17, 2010 entitled "Penniless and Suffering from Two Broken Legs, It Looked Like It Was Curtains for Trace Until Geoffrey Weech Rode to Her Rescue on His White Horse.")

One of the most heinous and detestable acts of animal cruelty imaginable occurs whenever owners elect to get shed of their unwanted cats by dumping them on busy thoroughfares. That almost always ends up with the cats and kittens being hideously crushed to death underneath the wheels of oncoming motorists who are totally unwilling to either swerve or brake around them.

Despite the ubiquity of mobile phones, only rarely are any of these villains ever apprehended. Since these hideous crimes are committed in plain view, the only logical conclusion to be drawn from the appalling inaction of most motorists is that they do not find anything disturbing about such aberrant and patently criminal behavior.

In spite of the gigantic odds against them, a few of these horribly abused cats and kittens still mange to survive. Some of them are able to make it to the safety afforded by nearby woods and bushes while others owe their lives to a handful of observant and caring motorists who stop and mount rescue attempts.

For instance, at around 6 p.m. on October 11th an unidentified female motorist on the A81 near Horb in southwest Baden-Württemberg spotted two simply adorable brown kittens on an exit ramp. She promptly notified representatives of Tierschutzverein Horb who, upon arrival, worked well into the night in order to locate and rescue them.

Miracle from Newark

"Dies lässt die Vermutang aufkommen, dass die Katzen ausgesetzt sein könnten," a spokesperson for the organization surmised to the Schwarzwälder- Bote of Oberndorf am Neckar on October 16th. (See "Gefährlicher Einsatz an der Autobahn.")

Although the kittens were famished, their fur was in excellent condition and free of both fleas and ear mites. They immediately were placed in foster care where they were expected to remain until being vaccinated and, hopefully, rehomed.

Eight days later on October 19th another kitten, this time around a six-month-old striped female, was discovered also on the A81 near the borough of Nordstellen in Gunzenhausen in Landkreis Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen. The kitten was described as "sehr zutraulich aber nicht gekennzeichnet." (See Schwarzwälder-Bote, October 23, 2012, "Wieder eine Katze an der Autobahn Einundachtzig.")

On Boxing Day of 2007, a marmalade-colored cat named Freeway narrowly escaped death when he was thrown from the window of a gray pickup truck on I-95 near Stuart, Florida. In fact, he only was able to elude the Grim Reaper's icy grasp thanks to the timely intervention of Catherine Barton who stopped and mounted a prompt rescue. (See Cat Defender post of January 14, 2008 entitled "Freeway Miraculously Survives Being Tossed Out the Window of a Truck on Busy I-95 in South Florida.")

Later on June 12, 2009, three-week-old Lucky was saved from an almost certain death by Judge Catherine DiDomenico after she was tossed out of a truck on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island. (See Cat Defender post of July 2, 2009 entitled "Three-Week-Old Lucky Is Rescued by a Staten Island Judge after She Is Tossed Out the Window of a Pickup Truck on Hylan Boulevard.")

Although it normally is not a good idea under any circumstances for a cat to crawl into the undercarriage of an automobile, that rule does not necessarily apply to those that already have been abandoned in traffic. That is exactly what a black kitten named Miracle had the presence of mind to do on June 22, 2009 after she cruelly was abandoned on the McClugage Bridge in Peoria, Illinois.

Trace

She would not even have had that option at her disposal if kindhearted Carol Jones had not stopped in the first place in order to mount what she initially felt certain had been a failed rescue attempt. (See Cat Defender post of July 6, 2009 entitled "Miracle Survives a Drowning Attempt on the McClugage Bridge and Later Hitchhikes a Ride to Safety Underneath the Car of a Compassionate Motorist.")

Bicyclists also have been known to rescue injured cats that have been run down by motorists. That is precisely what Elizabeth Benishin and Wayne Smith of Redwood City, California, did for Christopher back in March of 2010. (See Cat Defender post of November 13, 2010 entitled "Christopher, Who Has Persevered through Tragedy and Given Back So Much, Is Now Being Held Captive for His Valuable Blood.")

Public officials, such an Hamburg traffic cop Soenke de Vries, sometimes rise to the occasion and rescue cats that find themselves trapped on busy streets. In his case, it was an eight-week-old kitten named Luzie who had been abandoned inside the Neuer Elbtunnel. (See Cat Defender post of September 12, 2009 entitled "Luzie Sustains a Broken Hip and a Bloody Mouth Before She Is Successfully Rescued from the Busy Elbtunnel.")

Even members of road crews have intervened in order to save cats that were in extremis. For instance, that is precisely what Ryan Laks did on December 29, 2009 when he saved the life of a female kitten named Gia who had been put out on the upper level of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. (See Cat Defender post of August 12, 2010 entitled "Gia and Mr. T. Survive Separate Attempts Made on Their Lives  after They Are Abandoned on Busy Bridges During Inclement Weather.")

One of the most remarkable rescues in recent memory occurred on July 18, 2010 when boaters Karen and Dennis Allen fished a female kitten named Splat out of Clouter Creek after she had been tossed off the Mark Clark Expressway Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. (See Cat Defender post of August 10, 2010 entitled "Sunday Afternoon Boaters Pluck Splat Out of Clouter Creek after She Is Thrown Off the Mark Clark Expressway Bridge in Charleston.")

Rescuing cats that have been thrown out of automobiles can be extremely dangerous work, however, as Rachel Honeycutt of parts unknown in Georgia found out firsthand back in 2009. (See Cat Defender post of August 10, 2009 entitled "Georgia Woman Is Struck and Nearly Killed by a Motorist while Attempting to Rescue Kittens Dumped in the Middle of a Busy Highway.")

Of late, some motorists have become so emboldened as to toss cats out the windows of their chariots at gas stations. That was the terrible fate that befell a four-year-old brown and white tom named Diesel last June 9th.

Kittens That Were Abandoned in Horb

Specifically, he was cruelly abandoned by an unidentified man at a station on Schöbornstraße in Aschaffenburg, Bayern, approximately forty-one kilometers southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The friendly, green-eyed cat then was taken to the Aschaffenburger Tierheim where an uncertain fate waited him. (See Der Main Echo of Aschaffenburg, June 15, 2012, "Kater vor einer Tankstelle aus dem Auto geworfen.")

Later in the year on September 19th, a handsome black and white tom named Jim was found inside a potato chips' box at a Shell station on Halbeath Road in Dunfermline, Fife. His plight was discovered by an unidentified Good Samaritan who immediately contacted the Scottish SPCA.

"The garage is on a very busy main road and Jim could easily have been run over and injured so we're glad he is now safe," John Chisholm of the SPCA told the Dunfermline Press on September 26th. (See "Cat Found in Box at Busy Petrol Station.") "He's a really friendly guy in good condition so he obviously has been someone's pet until recently."

A thorough review of footage taken by a surveillance camera failed to turn up any images of anyone abandoning Jim so it is unclear whether he was dumped there or simply crawled into the box. He later was transferred to the charity's Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Rehmoing Center in Balerno, outside of Edinburgh, and eventually placed in a new home.

Perhaps the most inexplicable incident in recent years involving cats and petrol occurred early last year in, of all places, Brunei, when a black and brown cat later named Si Anam was found on an unmanned Royal Dutch Shell oil platform twenty kilometers from land. The stranded cat, who otherwise would have surely died, was stumbled upon by  electrician Hamdi Adnan when he was sent to the platform to perform some routine maintenance.

Si Anam was trapped and first taken to a nearby manned offshore platform before finally being turned over to health officials on the mainland. Although it is not known how cats are treated in Brunei, they are revered in the city of Kuching in the neighboring Malaysian state of Sarawak. (See Die Welt of Frankfurt am Main, December 11, 2011, "Alles für die Katze.")

Since it is highly improbable that the cat swam out to the platform, the most plausible explanation is that it either arrived there as a stowaway or was purposefully abandoned. Since it does not speak any language that humans can comprehend, the true story of its arrival likely never will be known.

Diesel

By way of comparison,  it remains to this very day a mystery as to how the Unsinkable Molly Brown made it to Governors Island back in 2011. (See Cat Defender post of July 25, 2011 entitled "The Unsinkable Molly Brown Rides the Waves of Outrageous Fortune to a Safe Harbor on Governors Island but It Is Unclear What Has Happened to Her.")

Even once on the platform, Si Anam was far from being out of harm's way given that dead crocodiles, snakes, and Nile Monitor lizards have been found there in the past. (See Brunei Bulletin, February 4, 2012, "Cat Found on Unmanned Offshore Facility.")

Automobiles additionally pose several unintended, albeit no less dangerous, perils for cats. In particular, they sometimes are stolen with felines trapped inside them.

That is precisely what happened to Jeff Young's cat, Herman, after his truck was stolen literally out from underneath him on February 9th of last year in Olympia, Washington. Although the authorities eventually were able to recover his vehicle, Herman was nowhere to be found. (See Cat Defender post of March 2, 2012 entitled "Homeless Man in Washington States Pauses in Order to Take a Snooze and It Ends Up Costing Him His Beloved Cat, Herman.")

Besides the threat posed by car thieves, antifreeze that either leaks from radiators or is intentionally put out kills countless cats each year. Heat exhaustion and dehydration that quickly ensue whenever they are locked inside airtight automobiles for long periods of time during hot weather are two additional concerns.

Aside from the heinous crimes perpetrated against them by ornithologists and wildlife biologists, cats face perhaps no greater menace than that posed by drivers who intentionally run down and kill them. Even so much as a cursory examination of the types of injuries sustained as well as the location of  corpses strewn alongside roads and streets makes it perfectly clear that every single one of these deaths was premeditated.

Nancy DeSanto's disturbing experience on Haystack Road in Palm Desert, California, illustrates that point.  On April 10, 2010, she and her young daughter discovered a kitten who had suffered a broken back but was still alive after having been struck down by a hit-and-run motorist.

She attempted to get other drivers to stop so that she could pull the kitten out of harm's way but they stubbornly kept right on coming until finally one of them at the wheel of a white GMC SUV struck the kitten again and this time broke its neck. That was the end of its short, tragic life and, almost every bit as reprehensible, the driver got away scot-free with his hideous crime.

"The little kitten died in the arms of a child who still has the capacity to love unconditionally," DeSanto later told The Desert Sun of nearby Palm Springs on April 18, 2010. (See "Drivers Ignored Cries to Help an Injured Kitten in the Street.") "Too bad we as adults have become so callous."

Those bits of anecdotal evidence are buttressed by the well-known fact that cats are agile and fast in addition to being terrified of loud noises and large objects. Just as importantly, motor vehicles of today are equipped with braking and suspension systems that allow them to be brought to a screeching halt on a dime.

Jim

In spite of all of that, it is doubtful that any motorist ever has been arrested for running down a cat. That petit fait alone is as good of an example that there is of just how little regard this world has for the sanctity of feline life. Furthermore, there are very few feline protection groups that are even willing to publicly mention, let alone champion, this cause.

Despite the large volume of annual feline traffic fatalities, only a handful of them ever make the news. Nevertheless, those deaths that are reported only can be described as heartbreaking.

Within the past three years, hit-and-run drivers in Plymouth have claimed the lives of both Casper and PCAT. (See Cat Defender posts of January 30, 2010 and November 21, 2012 entitled, respectively, "Casper Is Run Down and Killed by a Hit-and-Run Taxi Driver while Crossing the Street in Order to Get to the Bus Stop" and "Officials at Plymouth College of Art Should Be Charged with Gross Negligence and Animal Cruelty in the Tragic Death of the School's Longtime Resident Feline, PCAT.")

Motorists additionally have mowed down and killed Eco, the mascot of the Hamilton, Massachusetts, Police Department, Fred the undercover cat from Howard Beach in Queens, and Trooper in eastern North Carolina. (See Cat Defender posts of March 18, 2009, August 17, 2006, and August 28, 2009 entitled, respectively, "Eco, Who for Years Was a Mainstay at a Small Massachusetts Police Department, Is Run Down and Killed by a Motorist," "Brave Little Fred the Undercover Cat Has His Short, Tragic Life Snuffed Out by a Hit-and-Run Driver in Queens," and "In Memoriam: Trooper Survives Being Thrown from a Speeding Automobile Only to Later Die on the Operating Table.")

River in Fairhope, Alabama, Roo from Lower Windsor Township in Pennsylvania, and Big Bob in Indianapolis all have come within a hairbreadth of losing their lives to murderous motorists in recent years. (See Cat Defender posts of April 29, 2010, March 5, 2007, and January 5, 2011 entitled, respectively, "Long Suffering River Finally Finds a Home after Having Been Run Over by a Motorist and Nearly Drowned," "Run Down by a Motorist and Frozen to the Ice by His Own Blood, Cat Named Roo Is Saved by a Caring Woman," and "Gunned Down by an Assassin and Then Mowed Down by a Hit-and-Run Driver, Big Bob Loses a Leg but Survives and Now Is Looking for a Home.")

Of immediate concern, death watches have been posted for Milo of Southam in Warwickshire, Macavity in the West Midlands, and Dodger in Dorset because their owners inexcusably allow them to run loose in dangerous streets. (See Cat Defender posts of December 5, 2006, April 19, 2007, and January 25, 2012 entitled, respectively, "Milo, Who Visits the Vet by Her Lonesome, Is Named Old Blighty's 'Most Adventurous Cat'," "Bus-Hopping Macavity Earns High Praise from His Fellow Commuters for Being the 'Perfect Passenger'," and "The Innocence of Lambs: Unaware of the Dangers That Threaten His Very Existence, Dodger Charms Commuters on the Bridport to Charmouth Line.")

Although the dangers may not be quite as pressing, there also is concern for the safety of Freddie in Sharon, Wisconsin, Olivia in Modesto, California, and Krümel in Hattingen, Nordrhein Westfalen. (See Cat Defender posts of February 1, 2011, January 29, 2011, and September 17, 2012 entitled, respectively, "Lovable Freddie Puts Tiny Wisconsin Village on the Map but His Affection and Good Works Are Unappreciated," "After Scrimping by in a Polluted Parking Lot for Eleven Years, Olivia Is Ready for a Loving and Permanent Home," and "Contrary to the Neighborhood Scuttlebutt, Krümel Is Alive and Well, at Least for the Time Being, at the Hotel Garni Herold.")

Si Anam

Cats most assuredly have a right to be outdoors. They are not second-class citizens of this planet and therefore should not be treated as such. Nevertheless, they do not belong anywhere near speeding motorists.

To turn them loose in busy streets, however, constitutes the very epitome of irresponsibility. In rural areas as well as quiet urban residential districts that are free of both human and animal predators they should be allowed outside. In other instances they need to be provided with fenced-in yards that are covered on top with nets.

Unfortunately, cats without homes do not have any choice in the matter other than to play Russian roulette with motorists whenever they are compelled by necessity to venture across dangerous streets. All cats need  and deserve far better legal protection than they now enjoy but this is acutely the case for these impecunious cats.

Cat Crossing signs are a step in the right direction but much more urgently needs to be done. (See Cat Defender posts of January 26, 2007 and November 27, 2006 entitled, respectively, "Cat Activists Succeed in Getting Connecticut Town to Erect a Cat Crossing Sign" and "After Surviving on Its Own for at Least Two Million Years, Rare Japanese Wildcat Faces Its Toughest Battle Yet.")

In Deutschland, for example, several communities have enacted thirty kilometer speed limits while in England a number of them have imposed twenty mile an hour restrictions. Moreover, the benefits to be derived from such laws extend far beyond the safeguarding of cats.

All animals in fact benefit when motorists are forced to reduce their speed. So, too, do pedestrians and bicyclists. Such limits additionally decrease auto emissions and potentially even could slow down global warming.

"People have gradually been more and more sidelined by motorized traffic, and a bit of a backlash is happening," is how Tom Platt of Living Streets characterized England's go-slow revolution to USA Today on February 22nd. (See "Brits, Start Your Engines -- but Don't Go over Twenty Miles Per Hour.") "People want to reclaim their streets."

Oxford, Cambridge, York, Bath, Bristol, and Liverpool now have in situ twenty mile per hour speed limits on all of their residential streets and even on some of their commercial routes as well. Such a bon sens measure never would stand a chance of being enacted in a country like the United States where running down cats, pedestrians, and bicyclists has become a national pastime thanks, in no small measure, to the total unwillingness of the worthless law enforcement community to enforce the rules of the road.

Photos: TZ-Online (Mausi), WTVC-TV of Chattanooga (kitten), Berliner Zeitung (Neukölln Persian), Cranford Sunoco (Odyssey), Douglas M. Bovitt of Gannett (Miracle), WHBF-TV of Rock Island, Illinois (Trace), Tierschutzverein Horb (abandoned kittens), Victoria Schilde of Aschaffenburger Tierheim (Diesel), Dunfermline Press (Jim), and Borneo Bulletin (Si Anam).