First, let me state right off that this article is about a HOAX - as sick
as it was, no real cat was endangered.

However, it was a sick prank, and I sincerely hope the city sues these
folks for as much as they can get. Good thing I didn't hear it (though I
never listen to that station anyway); I would have been in my car driving
around Devore looking for the balloon.

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_3812035

Radio prank sparks listeners' outrage
Kelly Rush, Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO - It was the kitten that launched a thousand phone calls.

Listeners tuning in Thursday morning to alternative radio station X103.9-FM
were regaled with a horrific story of fun gone wrong.

A 4-month-old kitten, which happened to be in the studio at the wrong time,
apparently was placed in a basket and was lifted 300 feet in the air by
attached helium balloons.

The basket, the disc jockeys said, was last seen flying somewhere over Devore.

The announcement spurred hundreds of phone calls to the station from dismayed
listeners some of whom jumped in their vehicles and took off in search of
the basket and just as many phone calls to animal-control agencies around
the county.

Turns out it was all a big hoax. The kitten in the basket was a plush toy,
and by 10:30 a.m., the basket, which was about 300 feet up in the air
briefly, was back in the station office, sans the cat, said morning show
co-host Jen Carr.

"We were trying to find a way to show the bad things that could happen (
with animals) if you're careless. It got out of hand obviously," she said.
"It was meant to be a joke; it was never meant to be something taken so
seriously."

But Sue Hoak, San Bernardino animal control operations manager, wasn't
laughing. Her agency's emergency hot line was tied up for hours with calls
from listeners and from other animal-control agencies wondering how the
situation was being handled.

An agency staffer called the radio station and was assured the cat really
was in a basket floating somewhere high above the greater San Bernardino
area.

It wasn't until a San Bernardino police officer and an animal-control
officer showed up at the station that the joke was revealed.
"I have an inclination to send them a bill for all the time
involved and for tying up our phone lines," Hoak said. "It's very
irresponsible of the radio station and the disc jockeys to put on a stunt
like this like it's funny."

Martin Mersereau, who manages the domestic animal abuse department
for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said morning radio
personalities are stooping to new lows in "their desperate bid for
listeners."

"We hope the city, on behalf of hardworking citizens, will waste no time
in suing their eyeballs out," he said.

The idea for the prank began with a real kitten, Mr. Tinkles, belonging
to station engineer Fred Fullmer. He started bringing the cat to work
about a week ago, Carr said.

The Thursday morning shtick is billed as a test gone wrong: The DJs are
sucking on helium balloons and talking in squeaky voices. Carr already
loves playing with the cat, which is in the studio.

They start attaching balloons to a basket to see how many are needed to
float a rubber chicken. Enter the cat.

They go outside to see how much helium it would take to get the kitten
airborne. And then the basket with the newest addition to Fullmer's
household floats off, out of reach.

"We absolutely did not expect the outpouring of anger and total chaos that
ensued with people being really irate about it," Carr said. "I don't
believe we'll be doing this again."

The cat, so to speak, is out of the basket.