BY DRU SEFTON
c.2006 Newhouse News Service

I almost choked when I came across this …!

It was a year or two ago when I came across an article about “polecat coffee” and it had the same description of how it came to be – coffee beans swallowed by polecats, then expelled, then dried and what-not by villagers, ending up as wonderful, but expensive, coffee for the discerning few.

It was just a few weeks ago when I tried to track down that article so that I could include it in the blog but it had vanished into cyberspace.

Now this!

Well – for all you scientists out there who are interested in a paddling ferret’s stroke … read on!

I wish I could say it made sense to me but ….. alas, ’twas all gobblydeegook. However – what fun to do research on ferrets! Of course as long as no ferrets were hurt in the studies!!

Fish FE, Baudinette RV.Department of Biology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, USA.

The domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) swims by alternate strokes of the forelimbs. This pectoral paddling is rare among semi-aquatic mammals.

If you need to get your ferret to Dublin … fly Gulf Air. They obviously care about people’s pets

Gulf Air has extended its service for passengers planning to fly with their pets to Europe.

As part of the pets travel scheme (Pets), which was introduced in 2002, passengers travelling from Bahrain to London have been able to take microchipped and vaccinated cats and dogs, as cargo, without the need to go through quarantine.

The Pets service has now been extended to Gulf Air customers flying to Dublin.

Well – there’s no doubt that Brigitte Bardot is an animal lover and activist … wonder where she’ll settle if she leaves France.

The original “sex kitten” is looking her age .. but good on her. At least she doesn’t look like a plastic doll, like some others do after countless facelifts, etc.

Brigitte Bardot, angered over what she called France’s insensitivity to the plight of minks, has threatened to move to Sweden.

The French film star, who runs a foundation for animal rights, wrote a letter today to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson calling his nation one of only a few countries “that takes into consideration animal well-being”.