Nov 7, 2007 The world's most expensive cat by Gulliver
Meet the $22,000 designer cat that has become the latest exotic
pet for fashionable homeowners in America.
The specially-bred Ashera is the largest, rarest and most
exotic house cat in the world.
The pricey puss is a result of breeding the African Surval
and the Asian Leopard cat with a domestic cat.
Bred by Los Angeles-based Lifestyle Pets, the company claims
the Ashera "is a new ultra-exotic breed of domestic cat
that already has wealthy animal devotees paying to get on
the waiting list".
The modified moggy is similar to the average household cat
in shape, and eats normal dried cat food.
But it has the markings of its wild cousins and is bigger,
standing four feet high on its hind legs.
It can also grow up to weight a whopping 30 pounds.
Concerns have been expressed that the cat's wild ancestry
may emerge as hyperactive behaviour when it is kept as a domestic
house pet.
Bit in response to this, the developers have included ten
years of sessions with a renowned animal behaviourist in the
hefty price tag.
The cost of the cat includes nail caps to stop the kitten
destroying furniture, hand delivery to the owner's home and
a one-year guarantee.
Ashera fanciers can order the latest must-have pet through
the website of California-based Lifestyle Pets.
But don't be in a hurry - there is a year-long wait to claim
one of the special cats.
The Ashera was developed by British businessman Simon Brodie
and his team of geneticists at a US lab.
A black swan dumped by her lover has been reunited
with her old flame - a giant pedal boat in the shape of a white swan she
had been pining for all winter.
Petra made headlines all around the world in 2006 when she grew so fond
of the plastic boat she could not bear to be parted from it.
The romance between the odd couple blossomed after German zoo officials
in the town of Muenster released Petra on a local lake next to the boat.
She became so besotted with her pedal boat love that she refused to leave
its side, even refusing to mingle with the other swans.