Desperately seeking Viviane - the Tibetan brown bear

Even if the weather is not quite playing ball at the moment here in France, you can tell it's summer.

How come?

Well those silly stories start surfacing in the mainstream media, taking up more than their fair share of time and space, and bringing perhaps relief and a smile to an otherwise gloomy day.

The most recent one is the tale of Viviane, a Tibetan brown bear, who is one the loose.

Normally the 32-year-old whiles away her days at the Sigean African reserve, a 300 hectare wildlife park not far from the city of Narbonne in southern France.

No, don't ask what a Tibetan bear is doing at an "African" reserve alongside lions, giraffes, rhinos and the like.

Nobody's quite sure how Vivian managed to escape, but at the weekend escape she did, perhaps deciding that she was tired of the reserve owners' apparent lack of geographical knowledge and who knows, set on investigating the whole wide world that lay beyond her enclosure.

Ever since she has been playing a game of hide and seek, keeping local authorities busy with police, firefighters and vets armed with tranquilisers taking part in the search.

A Tibetan brown bear (screenshot BFMTV report)

While the fruit and veggie eating plantigrade apparently doesn't present an immediate danger, police have warned the public not to approach her.

"If someone sees her, they shouldn't panic because this type or bear is rather timid and not at all aggressive," the directeur de cabinet du Préfet de l'Aude, Nicolas Martrenchard, told reporters.

"But there are some things worth avoiding," he added.

"People shouldn't get too close to her, try to feed or trap her and at the same time they would be advised to avoid eye contact or startling her by running away."

Wise words indeed because measuring 1,60m and weighing in at 130 kg plantigrade, Viviane, as timorous as she might be, is probably not an animal you would wish to encounter or upset.

On Monday she was spotted a couple of times and is now believed to be on the nearby l'ile Sainte Lucie - no not the Caribbean island but another reserve in the area surrounded by swamp land.

But that doesn't seem to be making the job of capturing her any easier.

Not only is the search area a vast one, according to Martrenchard, it's also not easy to access...unless you're a bear who also happens to be good at hiding.


L'ourse Viviane aperçue dans l'Aude - 25/06 par BFMTV

France's first automatic dog washing machine

Fed up of the struggle involved in washing your pooch when it returns muddy and smelly from a walk in the forest?

Tired of having to clean the bathroom after you've perhaps wrestled with an unwilling dog intent on escaping as you, shampoo in one hand, shower head in the other, succeed only in flooding the place?

Or simply no longer willing to make regular and sometimes costly trips to a specialist groomer to have your faithful four-legged friend washed and blow-dried?

Help is finally at hand in the shape of Shower Dog Corner - a washing machine for man's best friend - now available in France.

Shower Dog Corner (screenshot TV Sud report)

Actually it has been up and running since March, but it was only this past week that the cameras of the local station TV Sud made their way to Montpellier to see how it works.

All right the Japanese have been doing it to their hounds - and cats come to that -  for some time, and pet owners in other countries have also been getting in on the act.

But it's apparently a first in France, a salon in Montpellier which offers a half-hour session in, what to all intents and purposes is, a dog washing machine.

The creator of Shower Dog Corner, Eduardo Segura, is Spanish and it was while watching a television report on its success in Spain that Mauro Balbis hit on the idea of introducing it on to the French market.

"I saw a report on "30 millions d'amis" and I got in touch with Eduardo," Balbis told TV Sud.

"When I went to see him and saw how the machine worked and how simple it was, I was won over."

So much so that he ordered one and set up shop.

Mauro Balbis (screenshot TV Sud report)

The whole process takes less than half an hour. You simply put your dog in the machine, close the door (of course) choose the programme and pay your money before sitting back to watch Fido spin.

No, of course that's not what happens - not the rotating part anyway.

Rather the dog is automatically sprayed with water and shampoo for just four minutes and then blow-dried for the remaining time.

Just in case you're worried, the machine is both SPA and veterinary school-approved, uses less water than would be required during a session at a conventional parlour and doesn't get rid or the protective grease contained in the fur.

It's also best for big dogs and "those of a nervous disposition" who might be refused entry to a more conventional parlour.

If, for some reason, Fido doesn't look too happy or begins to panic, you can always open the door and let the poor thing out.

Right Mrs Kipling, in the car. We're off to Montpellier.

Mrs Kipling?

Mrs Kipling

Insolite : Lavomatique pour chien à Montpellier par TVSud

Whatever happened to François Hollande's camel? The answer

As if you needed reminding, things aren't going too well for the French president, François Hollande, at the moment.

The Cahuzac affair and low poll ratings aside, there's another example of just how bad things have become.

The fate of the "presidential" camel.

No, not a reference to anyone in particular at the Elysée palace, but rather the gift from the people of Mali back in February to the French president as a "thank you" to Hollande for "liberating" the country.

Remember how during a visit to Timbuktu, Hollande was somewhat upstaged by the bellowing from the young camel (or dromedary to be entirely accurate) and promised - none too seriously - that he would, "use it as a means of transportation as often as possible."

Plans to have the animal shipped back to France though, came to nothing and instead the Powers That Be decided it would better off remaining in Mali and being looked after by a local family.

Except - the least that can be said - is that things don't appear to have turned out very well for the camel.

As reported in the French media, the defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who among his many, very important responsibilities has been charged with giving the government weekly updates on the camel's well-being, was informed last week that it was no longer with us.

It had been eaten.

No comment from the Elysée palace yet.

But for those who wish to remember the animal's Warhol-like 15 minutes of fame, here's that video from February again.

No room at the Elysée for France's wannabe "presidential cow"

It hasn't been a particularly good week for the French president François Hollande.

Well certainly not as far as potential presidential pets are concerned.

First up of course there was the bellowing camel offered to him by grateful Malians, and then reports that it had been stolen and wouldn't after all be making its way to France.

Now comes the tale of a cow that has - in a manner of speaking - been refused entry to the lawns of the French president's official residence, the Elysée palace.

It's seems representatives from the Association des éleveurs bovins or Cattle breeding association (somehow the French seems more...er...poetic) wanted to show their...um...appreciation of the French president ahead of this year's Salon d'Agriculture which opens in Paris on February 23.

What better way, they must have thought, than to offer him his own cow?

After all, there aren't any other pets at the presidential pad right now.

François Hollande at Salon d'Agriculture, 2012 (screenshot France Télévisions report)

Well, while Hollande was in Brussels cutting a budget deal with the other leaders of the European Union, it was left up to officials at the Elysée palace to break the bad news to the association, that no, they wouldn't be allowed to hand over the beast in person.

Instead, they'll just have to hope that Hollande pops in to pay them a visit during the agricultural fair.

All a bit of a shame really because, as you can see from the video, Hollande was up close and personal with cows during his marathon 12-hour visit to the annual fair last year.

Heck he even helped give one of them a shower.

There again, he was in campaigning mode.

Moo!

Love your cat? Have it neutered or spayed

It's surely a lesson the French animal welfare organisation Société protectrice des animaux (SPA) could learn from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to All Animals (SPCA).

screenshot from SPCA video

It's not enough to neuter male cats and dogs or spay females once they land in a refuge for whatever particular reason.

Rather the message has to be drummed home in every way possible to pet owners who somehow still don't seem to be aware of just how important it is to have an animal neutered or spayed.

To that end, the SPCA's Montréal section has released a simple 30-second spot reminding, in this particular case, the need there is to neuter Tom cats.

It features Sultan with accompanying text demonstrating in feline terms at least, what a total sex machine he is - or at least has been allowed to become.

It's amusing, instructive and would surely work just as well in France.




So, time to spread the word - not only to the converted but also those who insist on...well doing absolutely nothing.

Pass it on.

Yvonne, Germany's runaway cow, is safe and happy

After three months "on the run" Yvonne - Germany's "fugitive" cow - is safe and happily reunited with her son and sister and enjoying a new life at an animal sanctuary in southern Germany.

Yvonne, Germany's runaway cow (screenshot from Guardian website)

Yvonne's story is one that has captured the imagination of both the German and international media over the past couple of months ever since she, in the words of NPR, "Darted to freedom just as she was about to be sent to the slaughterhouse."

After 98 days on the run, she has finally been captured.

Actually, to be absolutely precise and, in spite of all the attempts German authorities have made to find her, Yvonne "gave herself up" when she wandered into the meadow of a farmer last week.

Yes, a silly summer story with a happy ending.




Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, first hit the headlines back in May when broke through an electric fence of a farm in the village of Zangberg, 80 kilometres northeast of Munich.

She had been due to be sent for slaughter.

Her exact whereabouts remained a mystery for the next three months although she was believed to be "in hiding" somewhere in a nearby forest.

At one point she was spotted crossing a road, almost colliding with a police car, which led to the local authority giving hunters the go-ahead to shoot on sight because she was reportedly a potential threat to traffic.

It was an order they later overturned after animal rights groups protested and the national daily tabloid Bild Zeitung took up her cause.

The paper offered a €10,000 reward for anyone who could find her, and kept the story alive with regular updates.

The Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary also stepped in, stumping up €700 to buy Yvonne from her former owners and taking the lead in the search to find her; and it resorted to some extraordinary measures.

They included enlisting the help of her sister Waltraut, who had also made a dash for freedom when Yvonne disappeared but had later returned, to lure her out of hiding.

And the services of Ernst, the so-called "George Clooney of bulls" to woo her home with his "deep baritone moo".

Ernst the bull (screenshot from ZDF news report)

They also called upon the "skills" of an animal communications expert from Switzerland, Franziska Matti, to tempt Yvonne to return.

But as Matti said after she had "spoken" to the cow (telepathically of course) "Yvonne was not ready to come out of hiding" and even though "she knew that Ernst had been waiting for her she was scared and thought that humans would lock her up and she would no longer be free."

Huh!



Yvonne remained elusive - until last week that is when she wandered on to a meadow of farmer Karl Gutmann to join the rest of his grazing herd.

He informed the Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary who confirmed it was Yvonne by her ear tag.

Gutmann claimed his reward and Yvonne headed off to spend the rest of her days with her son Friesi and her sister at the animal sanctuary in the southern Bavarian town of Deggendorf.

But, even though Gut Aiderbichl says on its website that she has arrived safe and sound and is settling in, it wasn't exactly been an easy job loading her on to the transporter.

True to her reputation apparently, she struggled and even pushed over the vet who was trying to tranquilise her.

A love story - Jean-Claude and Juliette, the reformed hunter and his wild boar

It might not exactly be along the lines of Shakespeare's tragedy, but the story of Jean-Claude Martin and Juliette could have had a similar ending, had the French justice system not come to its senses at the last moment.

Jean-Claude Martin and Juliette (screenshot from Europe 1 report on Dailymotion)

On Friday a court ruled that the pair could remain together; he a hunter of an age that should perhaps know better, she a three-year-old female boar.

The couple first "met" back in 2008 when Martin from the village of Lachau in the south-eastern département of Drôme found the then 800-gramme Juliette all alone and stuck in a hole in the forest, unable to get out and, as he told Europe 1 radio, "Facing certain death".

He rescued her, took her home, bottle-fed and cared for her until over the years she grew into a fine beast, weighing in at a mighty 100 kilogrammes.

Martin apparently tried to release Juliette back into the wild, but she was having none of it and kept returning for a little more TLC.

So the by-now former hunter put away his gun and gave in to the path of "true love", building a pen for her and Juliette became as much his darling as he did hers.

"She followed me everywhere and played with a ball," Martin said.

"Juliette knew her place in the household, got on with the dogs and in a manner of speaking we lived together."

But while Juliette's fame soon spread throughout the village and she became something of a mascot, officialdom threatened to put an end to their "idyll" and worse still, Juliette's life.

As TF1 news reports, in 2010 Martin received a visit from wardens of l'Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (the government-run organisation for overseeing hunting and wildlife in France, ONCFS) and was told that as he didn't have a licence to keep her, she would either have to be returned to the wild or be put down.

ONCFS even went as far as to take Martin to court for illegally "possessing a wild animal" but on Friday the case was thrown out and Martin acquitted.

Speaking afterwards Patrice Grillon, Martin's lawyer - and presumably Juliette's come to that - told Agence France Presse how relieved his client was about the decision.

"Jean-Claude Martin has a very special bond with his sow and there's no doubt she would have died had he not intervened in the first place," he said.

"Over the years it's clear that Juliette has become a domesticated animal," he added.

And Martin?

Well he's in pig heaven and can continue giving Juliette her daily treats of biscuits and sugar lumps.

Oink!

Grunt!




Jean-Claude et Juliette la laie

par Europe1fr

French pigs grunt and fart but are also great to eat

Well that's the message pig farmers in northwestern France are trying to get across about the animals they raise to make a living.

screenshot from Les éleveurs de porcs bretons website

Vegetarians move along, this won't appeal.

"Il grogne, il pète, et pourtant grâce à lui vous mangez sain, sûr, bon et breton !" is the slogan the association Les éleveurs de porcs bretons (Brittany pig farmers) has come up with to help update their image.

Or put another way, "It grunts, it farts, but thanks to it you eat healthily, safely, well and what's more it's from Brittany...yes it loses a little something in translation.

It features in an advertising campaign the association will be launching on June 13 with posters being put up in over 400 villages and towns throughout the region and it's an attempt to improve the image of the pig-farming sector among Bretons and at the same time encourage them to eat something so important to the economy of the region.

Appearing on the poster is "David" - a thirty-something, cleancut, boy-next-door type farmer - and alongside him, what TF1 news calls, "A cute piglet reminiscent of the star of the film 'Babe'."

It might be a more than quirky way of trying to counter the image the public has of pig farming, but as the association's press release says that's exactly its intention.

"There's a certain mistrust of pig farmers and that's exactly the kind of public perception we want to change by being deliberately provocative and offbeat," says the release.

"We also want to encourage Bretons to eat a meat that's farmed locally and remind them just how good it is."

And there's also a testimonial from that farmer "David" featured in the campaign.

He is in fact David Riou, a pig farmer from Finistère in the far west of Brittany.

He wants pig farming to break away from the polluting and unhealthy image it has had, but he's aware the sector faces an uphill battle to change peoples' opinions.

"Of course our farms have an impact on the envirnoment and over the years all those headlines about the spreading of manure, nitrates in the water the crisis of green algae have left their mark," he says.

"We've been working for the past 15 years to make sure our environmental impact is lower, but it takes time," he continues.

"For example over the past decade we've lowered by 20 per cent the level of nitrates in our local river, and we mustn't forget that the industry employs around 31,000 people locally."

Pass the apple sauce.

Five-star luxury for pampered pooches in Paris

You know the world has quite literally gone barking mad when special accommodation is on offer for Man's Best Friend, often more luxurious and sumptuous than living conditions for those of us with only two legs.

Such is the case of the recently-opened Actuel Dogs hôtel in the suburbs of Paris which, as its name suggests, is exclusively for guests of the four-legged kind.

With just six rooms it could perhaps be described as a "canine boutique hôtel" and has been inspired by similar set-ups in the United States and Japan.

Ulysse, one of the guests at Actuel Dogs (screenshot from Agence France Presse video report)

It's the brainchild of animal behaviourist Stan Burin and his wife Dévi, who wanted to offer dog owners a place to leave their pets while they went out to work.

"We started out from the principle that dog owners were looking for something other than kennels," Dévi, told RTL radio.

"What we're offering in a sense is a pet-sitting or foster service if you like, except we've pushed the concept a little further," she continued.

"Rather than introducing the animal into a setting intended essentially for humans we've created an environment specifically aimed at the well-being of the dog."

What exactly that implies is explained by taking a look at the hôtel's website to discover what owners - or should that be their furry friends - are getting for their euros.

There's a games room, a heated swimming pool, a massage room, bathroom, single rooms and suites and à la carte menus.

And that's not all. The hôtel is close to one of the city's major parks, the Bois de Vincennes, and takes full advantage of its location by offering individual or group "doggy walks", the more physically exerting "doggy jogg" as well as "doggy rando" or hiking and "doggy vélo" where your four-legged friend can enjoy running alongside a bicycle.

Although Dévi insists that the hôtel isn't exclusively for dogs whose owners have deeper-than-average pockets, such luxury of course has its price.

Half-day board starts at €26, while full-day during the week begins at €35 for a standard room and €45 for a suite and that includes two walks and "unlimited access to the games room."

Owners can also keep track of how their pets are faring in pooch paradise by webcam or email.

And whoever said it's a dog's life?

Woof!

Dog owners help slaughter their Labrador-Boxer cross

It is, as the regional daily Le Maine Libre reported earlier this month, unbelievable the lengths to which some people will go to rid themselves of an unwanted animal.

Rather than take their Labrador-Boxer cross Dora to the nearest animal shelter for rehoming, an elderly couple in the western French département of Sarthe helped a friend hang and stab the four-year-old dog to death before throwing her body in a river.

All three "protagonists" have admitted to what they did, but as the animal charity Fondation 30 millions d'amis writes on its website, the most likely sentence they'll receive when their case is heard by a court next month is a fine and perhaps community service.

The Loir, the river into which Dora's body was thrown (from Wikipedia, author Ted Wilkes)

The couple, both in their 70s, from the village of Lavernat could reportedly no longer cope with the spirited Dora and decided to give her to a friend living in the nearby town of Château-du-Loir.

Dora continued her naughtiness and, no longer able to tolerate her behaviour and apparent attempts to run away, the 45-year-old decided to do what any sane-thinking person would.

She hanged the dog in her garden and beat her!

But Dora survived, only to be subjected to the "helping hand" of her previous owners who stepped in and stabbed her to death with a machete.

Together, all three then tied the body to a concrete block and threw it in the river.

The corpse was discovered at the beginning of January and police were able to trace the owners by an identifying tattoo in the animal's ear.

They all admitted to what they had done and now face a court case at the beginning of February.

Because they will "plead guilty" and the case is being judged under civil code the maximum penalty they can be given is a fine or some sort of community service, which as far as Fondation 30 millions d'amis is concerned does not fit the "barbarous nature of the crime committed."

It says on its website that if the case were being tried under the penal code they would be facing a maximum of a two-year suspended sentence and 30,000 euros fine.

What the charity would like to see is a change in how a guilty plea affects possible sentencing under the civil code because "torturers of animals often go unpunished for their crimes."

Cockers rescued from the "kennel of shame"

Sadly the following is not a fluffy kitten tale or a cute puppy one. Nor is it one likely to go viral on the Net. Instead it's an all too common occurrence especially in the weird and not-so-wonderful world that is dog breeding.

Just one of the 152 cockers (screenshot from video of the rescue)

They call it "the kennel of shame" in their report detailing what animal inspectors discovered when they arrived at the home of a dog breeder in the village of Peyrat-le-Château in the west-central département of Haute-Vienne shortly before Christmas.

And surely the charity Fondation 30 millions d'amis used exactly the right term in describing the deplorable conditions in which they found 152 English cockers spaniels living.

Cockers living in a car (screenshot from video of the rescue)

Rather than the active, good-natured and merry bundles of fun that characterise the breed, inspectors encountered undernourished and often sick dogs locked in cars and caravans or crammed into a 12 square metre chalet.

Many of the dogs were starving and had no access to fresh water.

"One bitch had a severed leg" reported the Fondation. "Some of the dogs even had their eyes gouged out".

After the rescue the dogs were taken to nearby animal shelters where, according to one volunteer Martine Attali, it could take many of them at least a month to be brought back to a condition in which they can be found new homes.

"They are weak and dehydrated and require emergency care," she said.

Although undoubtedly a "success" for the Fondation in its efforts to campaign against "all forms of animal suffering", the rescue of the cockers will hardly leave it rejoicing as a brief look at its site reveals that, even though the numbers of dogs involved was perhaps unusually high, this is far from being an isolated case.

And the maximum penalty it can expect as a result of the breeder being prosecuted?

"A fine of €30,000 and two years imprisonment (under article 521-1 of the penal code)," reports the Fondation.

"And maybe a lifelong ban from keeping animals."

A pitiful story made all the more unpalatable by the comparatively paltry maximum sentence that can be handed down in such a case.

The Fondation is a charity created in 1995 and is a spin-off from a hugely successful television programme of the same name.

Brrr and baa - the tale of Moïse the sheep's rescue

It has been cold here in France recently, just as it has throughout much of Europe.

Many parts of the country are bracing themselves for more snow on Thursday with daytime temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius or barely creeping above.

So what's needed perhaps is a cheerful animal tale guaranteed to warm the cockles of the heart is nothing else.

And here's one concerning a sheep named "Moïse" (or Moses in English) - a not entirely inappropriate name she was given (as will become clearer as you continue reading) following her "little adventure".

Image from Wikipedia, author Andreas Cappell from Erlangen, Germany

Moïse usually does her "ruminating" in the fields just outside the town of Bar-sur-Aube in eastern France.

Now sheep, you'll probably agree, are not blessed with the reputation of being the smartest of creatures when it comes to thinking for themselves.

In fact it could be fair to say that they're pretty low down on the IQ scale of things, with a strong instinct to "follow the leader" and go where the food is.

And if there's no fellow flock member around to follow then what is a sheep to do but stay put?

That's exactly what happened to Moïse who proved herself to be the quintessential ewe when she became separated from the rest of the flock by a couple of dogs at the weekend.

According to the regional newspaper, Libération Champagne, Moïse took refuge on a little island surrounded by shallow water in the middle of a field.

The only problem was that while she was there the mercury dipped well below zero, the water froze and Moïse was to all intents and purposes bleatingly-well stranded.

"Firefighters to the rescue" as a local unit from a nearby station was called in on Tuesday morning to help.

The ice was apparently only thin (perhaps Moïse hadn't realised) which meant the rescuers could approach in a small boat (see the picture accompanying the original report).

But as they inched forwards, getting ever closer, Moïse did what any self-respecting sheep would do and panicked, jumping into the icy water and managing to get herself stuck in the silt.

The lifeboat did a round of the island and by the time it had returned to the spot where Moïse had "taken the plunge" there she was, back where she had started.

Their second rescue attempt met with success and together - two men and a sheep in a boat - they headed across the ice to the safety of terra firma, where Moïse was given the once over to check that she was healthy, before "gambolling" off to join the rest of the flock.

Brrr and baa!

Donuts - the dog helping Alzheimer's

There are some stories that cannot fail to touch even the most cold-hearted and this is surely one.

The tale of how Donuts the golden retriever helps Alzheimer's patients.

The two-and-a-half year old arrived at the Résidence Pierre-Bonnef in the eastern French city of Belfort last August.

A Handi'Chien golden retriever (screenshot from France 3 report)

The Résidence is a home for the elderly and, as its website says, caters in particular for the physically or psychologically dependent.

Among them of course are a number suffering from Alzheimer's, and the presence of Donuts has proven to be a boost for both patients and staff according to the national daily Le Monde.

It gives the example of an 83-year-old woman with advanced dementia who walks for hours on end without any purpose.

"Just a couple of days ago the dog helped her sit down for just long enough to eat," writes the paper.

"The woman was briefly reassured, stroking the head and chest of the animal, while a nurse fed her the only meal she would agree to eat."

Donuts was donated to the home by Handi'Chiens, an organisation founded in 1989 that trains dogs to assist the disabled.



Over the past couple of decades it has trained more than 1,000 dogs (a process which takes two years) that have gone on to help children and adults with different physical and mental disabilities.

And the testimonials as to how they have changed and enriched the lives of many people are both touching and inspirational.

You can read some of them here (in French) to see what difference dogs such as Donuts have made in the everyday lives of so many.

Their presence in homes for the elderly is relatively new in France, but growing apparently and for good reason as Geneviève Breton, Donuts' guardian, explained to Le Monde.

"Thanks to him we are able to make a link with these elderly people who are so completely lost in their own silence, that might otherwise not exist," she said.

"While caressing and kissing him, they're also unknowingly helping their articulation," she added.

"He doesn't judge, instead he looks them in the eyes and offers up love."

More than just a tale of "Camel sits on grandmother"

Or even "crushes woman".

When a child's life is thought to be in danger some people don't think twice about trying to protect them no matter what the consequences might be.

Such was the case of a woman in France last weekend who saved her grandson from possibly being crushed by a camel belonging to a visiting circus.

Although the report that appeared in the regional newspaper, Le Dauphiné libéré, might have at first sight raised a smile in that it read along the lines of "Camel sits on grandmother", the injuries the woman sustained were far from being a laughing matter.

And perhaps it's a story that more accurately serves to show the prevailing instinct there is within all of us to protect the most vulnerable.

The incident happened in the Alpine French town of Thyez, which was playing host to a visiting circus.

And as is often the case here in France, when not performing, the animals were kept in an area where families could come during the day and see them up close.

That was exactly the treat the child's grandparents had in mind when they took him along to see the animals, among them a camel who they thought was correctly tethered and presented no danger.

"The three of us were walking along hand in hand about 15-20 metres away from the animals," the woman's husband told Le Dauphiné libéré.

"We thought that was a reasonable distance," he continued

But as things turned out they were mistaken.

Because the rope acting as a tether was longer than they had thought.

The little boy tripped just as the camel approached them and the woman, fearing that her grandson could end up being crushed, put herself between the advancing animal and the toddler to protect him.

That was when the camel stumbled and ended up sitting on the woman, who was still shielding her grandchild.

"She screamed at me to tell me that the child was underneath her and I just had enough time to pull him out," her husband said.

While the child survived the incident without a scratch, his grandmother wasn't so lucky and was taken to hospital with broken bones, fractured ribs and a dislocated hip.

A lucky escape for the grandchild and a painful end for the woman, but not a reason to lodge a formal complaint against the circus as far as her husband was concerned.

"It would only harm the reputation of all circuses," he said.

"That's not what I want and it would only mean that they would stop coming to towns such as ours and the children wouldn't be able to see the animals," he continued.

"But the animals certainly need to be kept on a shorter tether and temporary enclosures built so that there's no danger of them charging or breaking loose."

Yeboah - a French lover in London

French men have something of a reputation - deserved or not - when it comes to "ardour and amour".

Whether they actually live up to it is, of course, open to debate.

But what of their male counterparts in the rest of the animal kingdom?

Can they turn on the charm when necessary? And does it work with the women?

Perhaps - no strike that - probably not a question you've really thought about.

But if the antics of one particular French ape and the attention he has received from three females at London Zoo are to be believed, then there might - just might - be something to it.

The ape in question is 12-year-old Yeboah, a gorilla who arrived in London from La Boissière du Doré zoo in western France last December.

Described as a "stud", Yeboah was shipped across the Channel to keep a bevvy of beauties (gorilla-cally-speaking) company after the death of their silverback mate "Bobby" back in 2008.

And the 127-kilogramme hunk certainly seems to have hit it off with all three; the more mature 35-year-old Zaire, the 16-year-old Effie and the slightly younger 11-year-old Mjukuu known as "Jookie".

Mind you perhaps it should come as no surprise.

You see when "les girls" learnt last summer that Yeboah would shortly be joining them, they apparently went "ape", "bananas" or whichever awful pun you wish to choose (and most of them seem to have been well and truly used).

They were given posters of their new beau several months before he made the trip across the Channel, and while one reportedly "shrieked in delight" and another "hid it in a tree", the third took matters a step further (too far?) and ate the thing!

Ah the path of true love...or lust.

Flatulent turtles send alarm bells ringing

Christmas and New Year might have come and gone, but here's a tale that (among other things) involves the mightily underrated brussels sprout - a seasonal favourite to dedicated fans.



Thanks must go in advance to the weekly French news magazine, Marianne, which on page 27 of the most recent issue brings its readers this story from across the Channel: one that might otherwise have gone unnoticed in the media here.

It concerns that humble aforementioned vegetable, its undesirable side-effects (on animals, human and otherwise), an aquarium in the British town of Great Yarmouth and some of its inhabitants - turtles.

Apparently staff at the town's Sea Life Centre took the unusual step just before the Christmas period of lowering the amount of water in the tank containing a certain "George", an eight-year-old green turtle.

It was a preventative measure just in case George - and the other turtles - reacted as they had done a year earlier to the seasonal treat of brussels sprouts they had been given - namely with flatulence.

Apparently the vegetable not only supplies a healthy dollop of vitamins, fibres and minerals for George and friends but also a pretty fair blast of wind.

So much so that the previous Christmas had been something of a nightmare for staff, with the accompanying "symphony of air bubbles" causing water to overflow on to the floor, and setting off the sensitive alarm system in the middle of the night.

This time around there were no such worries though.

George still got his brussels, but the precautionary measure taken by staff of lowering the water levels also meant that they were able to enjoy the holiday period without being woken by an alarm.

A French cat with "swine flu"

It's a slightly different take perhaps to begin with on the "swine flu" - or H1N1/influenza A as it's more commonly called here - epidemic in France.

The first case of a domestic pet coming down with the flu, confirmed last week by the director general of health, Didier Houssin.

The sick animal is a cat in the Bouches-du-Rhône département in the south of France and belonging to a family that had also been suffering from the flu.

The vet taking care of it had apparently found the cat to have bronchial pneumonia and diagnosed flu.

No need to panic though that the nation's pets will soon be victim to the same epidemic that has already seen the death of 150 people in this country (according to official statistics released by the health ministry on Wednesday) as it is for the moment just an isolated case.

"There have been several cases of this type abroad in pig and dogs in China recently," said Houssin.

"And then a cat in the United States," he continued before usefully adding that the best way to avoid pets falling victim to the flu was for "people who owned them to get themselves vaccinated."

Ah yes. The vaccination process which started off tentatively in October among health professionals and then a couple of weeks later was extended to certain sectors of the general public according to a priority list of those most susceptible to the possible effects of the flu such as those with nursing infants, children, expectant mothers and people with respiratory problems.

Where does the country stand at the moment?

Well the 3,000 special vaccination centres set up to "handle the hordes" were pretty underused during the first few weeks but then of course the French panicked somewhat and there were reported cases of some people waiting more than three hours before being able to get themselves (and/or their children) vaccinated.

From that slow start though, almost 3.8 million people have now been vaccinated, and the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, expects the number to reach four million by the end of the week.

And she's obviously hoping that the numbers will increase significantly especially as the rest of the general public have started to receive their "official invitations" required before they can make their way to a vaccination centre.

While the figures for those consulting their doctors with suspected symptoms of the H1N1 had, according to official figures, stabilised over the past week, Bachelot warned against any general complacency.

"You should know that in general, outbreaks of flu evolve in waves and it is very possible that more waves will follow," she said.

"What the experts say is the second wave is often more virulent than the first."

Has anyone seen my wallaby?

Understandably perhaps not a question often asked here in France where the most usual "lost" signs when it comes to domestic pets, would be for a missing moggy or a peripatetic pooch.

But for Franck Giroussin the fate of his wallaby, Eora, has become a cause for concern, especially as a cold spell hits large parts of the country including his "habitat" in the southwest of France.

Unlike the Xertigny crocodile, the case of Eora involves a documented animal, who until September this year had been happily enjoying life in his enclosure in the village of Ambax (population just 69 - people that is) in southwestern département of Haute Garonne.

Since heeding the call of the wild and grasping his chance to break free, the missing marsupial has been spotted on a couple of occasions.

The first time was in Espaon just 15 kilometres away when two elderly women apparently saw "a kangeroo in a field" but kept the information to themselves for fear of appearing ridiculous.

And then a few days ago Eora made another appearance - this 19 time kilometres from his home base on the edge of a forest in the town of Rieumes.

Hardly a huge distance for the one-metre macropod which can "leap six metres in length and reach a top speed of 40 kilometres and hour," according to Giroussin.

He has alerted police, local authorities and vets in the area of the animals disappearance.

While Eora is certainly not aggressive and therefore presents no danger and won't bite anyone, he is apparently of a rather nervous disposition and not that easy to approach, let alone capture.

Which is why Giroussin has invested in a special rifle with a hypodermic tranquiliser as being "the only way to catch him" and urges anyone catching sight of the wallaby to contact him or the police directly.

Let's just hope that in a country in which hunting is still a very popular pastime in rural areas, someone won't mistakenly take a shot at Eora thinking they're bagging a more familiar animal.

An affair to follow.

Spend a night at the French hamster hotel

Here's a story that might have passed you by: the opening recently of a so-called "hamster villa" in the French city of Nantes.

For an introductory offer of just €99 a night guests can enjoy the experience of what it's like to live like a hamster.

That means they can run themselves breathless in a giant wheel getting nowhere quickly, eat organic grains (yum yum) and drink water from a specially made fountain, all the time wearing special hamster hoods - should they so wish.



The creators of the full-on hamster "experience" are interior designer Frédéric Tabary and set designer Yann Falquerho and the idea is, according to Tabary, "to give people the real feeling of what it's like to be a hamster."

"They're are supposed to come here for fun and to mess around," he says.

"We want them to smile and relax from a society which is often so rigid."

The room currently comes equipped with a conventional shower, a bed and even a most unhamster-like microwave oven, and there are plans to provide a Wifi connection and squeeze a flat screen TV into the 18 square metre space.

And why a hamster house? Well it's something of a personal childhood thing if Falquerho is to be believed.

"When I was small I had a real passion for hamsters and I was never allowed one," he says.

"Now I'm getting my chance."

The pair are no strangers to what even they admit is the slightly bizarre, although another room in Nantes they currently rent out is perhaps a little less strange in that the decor of "Captain Nemo's hut" is inspired by French novelist Jules Verne's fictional character of the same name.

But their next concept promises to make the hamster villa look positively "normal" in comparison, as Tabary says they're currently in discussion with investors for a project which will give people the sensation of "sleeping in their mother's womb."

Enough said perhaps.

A slice of life in France - Big cats pacing in Seine and Marne

While Disneyland Paris is the largest and probably best known theme park in the département of Seine-et-Marne in the Ile de France region surrounding the capital, it's not the only one competing for visitors.

Just a few kilometres away is Le Parc des Félins which, as its name suggests, is home to cats large and small.

There are 130 of them at the moment, kept in enclosures which cover 60 hectares allowing visitors to get up close, but not too much so, with felines from four continents.

The park opened in 2006, having outgrown its previous home at the Parc d'Aulneau near Chartres in the Eure-and-Loir département in north-central France.

A visit is undoubtedly educational in bringing children (and adults for that matter) face-to-face with some marvellous creatures.

There's the chance to learn a little or even a lot more about them; their natural habitats, behaviour, origins and how they survive the threats they face in the wild.

But any trip for many must surely also be tinged with more than a little sadness.

The park invites us to "seize the opportunity to see these amazing animals in the most natural captive environment behaving as they do in the wild."

And therein must lie the problem for many a visitor - and even more so for the big cats.

Yes the cheetahs have long grasses in which they can hide should they wish.

And there are trees around for the leopards or the tigers to laze under, but what exactly does animals living in "the most natural captive environment behaving as they do in the wild" mean?

Maybe there's an answer, somewhere.

The park criticises the life circus tigers lead and the conditions in which they're kept, calling them "inadmissable" and there's signs throughout proudly proclaiming how well it meets the needs of its residents.

"Tigers need space to run and jump, open fields to lie in the sun and many trees to rest in the shadow and mark their territories," read on of the signs.

"We have built this enclosure with these facts in mind," in bold letters as if to emphasise how grateful the animal should be.



But when you get to the white tigers what you can see is an animal distinctly less than happy with its lot.

Going about its daily business seems to consist it of pacing up and down - endlessly.

Presumably just as it would in the wild.

It passes in front of the camera, pacing along the well-worn path at the front of the caged enclosure, turns and retraces its steps, turns and retraces its steps, turns.....and you get the picture.

And it's not the only big cat around to exhibit such behaviour.

A Sumatran tiger in another enclosure gives a similar performance accompanied by an eerie wail that probably has more to do with a chest infection rather than a complaint about its life....but.

Elsewhere a Sri Lankan leopard hardly bothers to blink as it lies majestically in front of the cameras, while the lions quite properly just turn their royal backs in everyone.



But there you have it. That indeed must be the explanation of what "the most natural captive environment behaving as they do in the wild." means.

Is this really how we want to treat or see such magnificent animals?