Famous kat series- Part 9: Toonces the driving kat

Well, I’ve introduced you to some of my favorite and smartest relatives, but one of my readers reminded me of a couple I’d furgotten to include. They deserve mention too, so here we go!

Toonces had a very special ability – He could drive (unlike most humans on the road today)!

Unfortunately, he didn’t do it very well….

He was the furry star of several Saturday Night Live episodes (beginning May 20, 1989), and its said that his bad driving is a result of a brain injury resulting from an accident during a taping of The Dukes of Hazzard (how fitting, since his driving is hazardous)!

Apparently, Toonces is most capable of driving cars off cliffs, and was involved in an incident with a UFO and the Washington Monument.

Somehow, though Toonces is quite the danger on the road, he has  managed to become popular enough to have t shirts and mugs made with his picture!

There’s even a flippin MOVIE!

Okay, I’m so jealous now, I think I’ll move on before I decide to contact my old buddy “the Judge” (kat mob boss) and put a hit out on good old toonsie-woonsie.

I’m gonna go pout now….
(just remember you like me better)!

To learn more (but why would you want to when you have me)?

Okay, if you insist…

Photo from Google images

Introducing some more of my relatives!

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/slideshow/crazy-cats-8663624#.UomcPbSM5vQ.wordpress

I’m still wiped out from running from the Creature all weekend… So, I decided to introduce you to some more of my extended family.

Just like any family album, it’s best enjoyed with a fresh cup of coffee, tea, catnip, or a bucket of valium. Enjoy.

Famous Kats Series Part 8: Hank the Kat who ran for Senate

Vote fur Hank!
photo: Google Images

Okay, you’re gonna think I’ve been dipping too long at the catnip, but honestly, kats really CAN do anything we want!

Take fur example, the Maine Coon kat, Hank  – who ran fur the Senate. He ran fur election in the 2012 U.S. Senate election in Virginia. And apparently, the citizens of Virginia had more confidence in his abilities than in the abilities of the other candidates, seeing as he came in third behind the two major candidates (Bet that didn’t go over well with them)!

Hank’s owners, Matthew O’Leary and Anthony Roberts, put  Hank into the race out of exasperation with regular political campaigns. In the beginning, Hank ran fur State Senate- but obtained only 9 write-in votes. Then, he and his humans started thinking… any other candidate in that position, would simply respond by running fur the next highest position- the United States Senate. After careful deliberation, Hank gave them his approval and he ran fur the U.S.Senate (Now, if only he’d run fur President….)!

Hanks mock candidacy targeted specific issues; Spay and neuter programs, Animal Rescue, and Positive Campaign Reform. The idea was to raise funds and awareness fur different animal welfare groups and it resulted in $16,000.00 worth of contributions to the campaign!

In the end, Hank came in third- with 7,300 votes. And, O’Leary and Roberts had raised $60,000.00 fur animal charities! Was Hank upset he didn’t win? Reports say, he slept through the whole thing.

Fur more infurmation: click Here!

And fur a PURRRSONAL message from Hank…

Now PLEASE, HANK – fur the LOVE OF GOD- run fur PRESIDENT!

Hank the Maine Coon who ran fur Senate. (PHOTO from Google Images)

Famous Kat Series Part 7: Casper the Commuting Kat

Casper (1/01/1998 - 1/14/2010)

One of my favorite famous kats is Casper, the Commuting Kat.

Casper’s name was originally Morse… named after a tv show called Inspector Morse. He was adopted from an animal rescue center and lived in Plymouth, England.

Soon after adopting him, his human changed his name to Casper – after Casper the friendly ghost, because her new fuzzball had a talent fur disappearing.

His human knew that Casper disappeared every day when she went to work, but she didn’t know where he went.

Then she was told by bus drivers that he would wait at bus stops with other passengers and board the bus, choose a seat, then ride the bus fur the entire route!

When she learned that passengers and the drivers watched out fur him and made sure he got off at the right bus stop every day, she wrote a letter to the bus company thanking them fur their kindness to him. That led to an article in the newspaper The Guardian, and eventually to an appearance on BBC News, and a book- Casper, the commuting Cat.

Though he was never known fur being afraid of humans or traffic, he died at the age of twelve years old, after being hit by a taxi.

Maybe being an indoor kat isn’t so bad after all…

Photo from Google images

Famous Kat Series: Part 5- Crimean Tom

Crimean Tom.... Hero kitty

Meet Crimean Tom, aka. Sevastopol Tom.

In 1854 the port of Sevastopol, Russia was occupied by French and British forces.

British soldiers were finding food and clean water to be dangerously scarce, until they happened upon a pile of rubble with badly injured men on each side. On the pile of rubble was a Tom kat, sitting peacefully.

They took care of him, and he led them to a place near the docks, buried under piles of rubble.  He had survived the war by feeding on the mice he’d found in abundance there.

When the soldiers cleared away enough rubble, they saw why he had led them there… Behind the rubble was a hidden storehouse of food! The mice who came to feed on the food had attracted the Tom and was the reason he had remained relatively well fed.

The soldiers were saved from starvation because of him, and he became known as Crimean Tom (because of the nearby Crimean peninsula), and is also called Sevastopol Tom (named after the Port where he was found).

He became such a hero, that when he died (Dec. 31, 1856), he was preserved and stuffed, and was presented to the Royal United Service Institution.

To read more:

http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/featuring/war05.html

http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/detail.php?acc=1958-02-27-1