We all know tigers are big and scary with sharp teeth. Someone obviously forgot to tell this tiger that. He lives at a zoo in Pennsylvania and has refused to venture out since a new $500,000 enclosure was built for him and the other tigers. The tiger occasionally pokes his head out to have a look around but even after two months has not yet plucked up the courage to go outside.

These clouded leopard cubs have recently been born at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury. The two male and two female kittens were born in April and have recently made their first public appearance at the wildlife park. Clouded leopards are difficult to breed but the breeding program at Howletts has been quite successful with 30 births since 2003. The leopard is currently threatened with extinction in the wild due to the demand for it coat.

The recent wet weather seems to have encouraged the frogs in the garden to leave the pond and start hopping around looking for food. Unfortunately this means that in our garden they are almost certain to come into contact with one of the cats. The cats obviously think frogs are lots of fun. You can pounce on them and they jump, let them go and then they jump again. Frogs also scream when they are cornered and stressed. They make a very high pitched screaming noise which doesn't seem to deter the cats. It does, however, alert me to the fact that the cats are playing with another poor frog. So far this morning I have rescued two frogs and returned them unharmed to the safety of the pond. My cat Oliver has also learnt this morning (after picking a frog up in his mouth) that whilst frogs are great fun, they actually don't taste that good. I wonder whether he will remember this when the next frog comes along, my guess is that the urge to pounce on another jumping frog will be stronger than the memory of the bad taste.

I came across this unusual article that shows pictures of a leopard attacking a crocodile. Apparently this sort of behaviour has never been captured on camera before. The leopard filmed in the Kruger National Park, stalked the crocodile before dragging it out of the water. Although the crocodile fought back the leopard managed to get the crocodile by the throat before suffocating it. Surprising, my money would have been on the crocodile.

Whenever a new box arrives in our house it is never long before it has a cat in it so I am always very careful to check whether there is anything inside before getting rid of boxes. However, if you don't have cats you it might not occur to you to double check. One lady in Germany managed to mail her neighbours cat 500 miles across Germany after the curious kitty crept into a box she was about to post.  The box was sent from Rottach-Egern in Bavaria to Dorsten and it was only when the box arrived at its destination that the cat was discovered and freed.

A vaccine that could cure cat allergies is undergoing clinical trials. The research suggests that after the vaccine can make patients can develop a tolerance to cat allergens such as fur after just four treatments. The article doesn't say whether the effects of the vaccine are permanent or if it needs to be taken as an ongoing treatment. Perhaps this will be clearer after the clinical trials.

When a kitten became stuck in a drain it was rescued by firefighters using just a vacuum cleaner. They put a sock on the end of the nozzle and this little guy was soon freed from his hiding place.

This is Tama the cat. She has been credited with turning around the fortunes of a loss making railway company in Japan. The Wakayama Electric Railway axed all its staff two years ago because it was making a loss. Last year Tama was appointed as station master and given her own office. Since then the company's fortunes have picked up and the number of passengers has increased by 10%. Despite the success Tama does not draw a salary, receiving cat food instead.

We had to take Oscar to the vet the other day because he had a problem with his right eye. He had been unable to open his eye for most of the day and was obviously in quite a lot of pain because he was not his usual happy self. The vet said that he has a eye ulcer and has given us some drops which we need to use three times a day. Oscar is now starting to look a bit better, he can open his eye and is bouncing around as usual. We have to take him back for a checkup at the end of the week but hopefully it will have cleared up by then. As to what has caused the ulcer, apparently it is commonly caused by fighting so I'm guessing one of my other cats is responsible.

This is Ollie, fast asleep.

I took a picture of Willow today whilst she was using this large box as a new cat tent.  Isn't she cute?

Some rats are now becoming resistant to normal poisoning techniques and have been dubbed "super rats". The rats which have been found in the West Country have a mutant gene which helps them develop resistance to the poisons. If all else fails I guess they will have to resort to using an army of cats to counteract the problem.

According to this article pets are the latest victims of Britain's throwaway society. Figures from the RSPCA show that 7,347 animals were rescued from the street last year. Half of this figure were cats, a trend which the article describes as disturbing because cats are traditionally thought of as easy to care for. It appears that many people give up their pets for rather strange reasons with some examples being “My cat doesn’t match my new carpet.” Another said: “I’ve just bought a new leather sofa and I don’t want the cat to scratch it.” There is also a rise in people abandoning animals such as dogs and rabbits when they go on holiday and then not claiming them when they return. Tim Wass of the RSPCA says “It is an offence to abandon an animal and there is never any excuse for doing so. If people have pets they cannot care for, for any reason, then help and advice is always available from the RSPCA.” Reading this article I wonder why people get pets if they are unwilling to care for them.

According to this article we are likely to see fewer butterflies around this year because of last years wet summer. 2007 was the worst year for butterflies for more than a quarter of a century with numbers at a record low. This was mainly because butterflies do not fly in the rain and therefore they cannot reach plant nectar to feed or fly to breed. The charity Butterfly Conservation is hoping that we have a long hot summer this year so that numbers can recover. Unfortunately I think my cats are to blame for the lack of butterflies in my garden.

I woke up this morning to find that it had snowed during the night. Although there is not a great a deal of snow it was still enough to create some entertainment for the cats, well for Willow anyway. Oscar and Oliver pictured to the left went out to investigate before coming straight back inside and sitting on their bean bags refusing to leave the house again. Lucy pictured on the right simply sat under the bench looking miserable before also retreating inside.