Reprinted from New York Newsday (July 13, 2004)
Senator: Circus cat's act is cruel
By Merle English (Staff Writer)

A cat that makes a death-defying leap from a platform onto a hand-held pillow
is a top act at the Cole Brothers Circus, but a Brooklyn senator says the
feat is an act of animal cruelty.

"This kind of act should never be allowed," Sen. Carl Kruger said yesterday.
"It goes beyond entertainment to animal cruelty."

Kruger said the cat leaps from a height of 50 feet, the equivalent of five
stories.

Kruger, who attended a Cole Brothers Circus show Sunday in Marine Park, said
the circus should be evicted from city property because of the cat act.

"Kids and parents in the tent turned their head away, and instead of applause
there were gasps," Kruger said of the performance by Valeriy Tsoreaev's
Acrobatic Housecats, which Kruger says he did not attend.

"They allege it is properly trained, but they force it to risk its own life,"
Kruger said of the cat, adding that the Cole Brothers have a long history of
mistreatment of animals and has been cited "many, many, many times," by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Kruger said he wrote Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, asking him not to
allow Cole Brothers into a city park again.

Rodney West, a spokesman for the circus, said the cat is a trained stunt cat
that was featured in the movie "Big Fish" doing the same feat.

He said the cat has been performing for three years and has done the act 17
times since July 5: twice per day and three times on Saturdays and some
Sundays.

"It has never missed," West said. "It's a very exciting act. It is normally a
crowd pleaser. Very rarely do we have some people that are concerned."

West said the circus is inspected by several government agencies.

Renee Storey, a Cole Brothers vice president, said the cat jumps from about
40 feet and is safe. She added that the circus has passed several inspections
by the USDA.

The circus will be at the Forest Park Bandshell through Aug. 1.