*** Animal lovers save cats from cooking pot
A last-minute appeal from Peruvian animal-lovers persuaded
authorities to cancel a festival of cat cookery intended to celebrate
a local saint's day. Organizers announced with regret that the "Great
Gastronomic Kitty Festival," scheduled for Saturday in the southern
coastal town of Canete, had been canceled at the insistence of animal
rights' groups. "We have saved the cats' lives. The cat is not an
animal for domestic consumption, it can transmit diseases like
toxoplasmosis," said Rosario Quintanilla, of Peru's association of
animals' friends. Publicity ahead of the celebration of Canete's
Saint Efigenica showed locals pursuing the cats, considered a
delicacy.