[prisoner6]

The civet cat ranked as the second most popular "exotic" animal eaten by Hong Kong Chinese in a 1996 survey conducted by animal rights group Traffic East Asia.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty...

prisoner6

[twntaipan]

Looks like the civit cat has extracted quite a revenge from the Chinese.

Sort of makes you wonder if the delicate Chinese palate might not be the source of lots of diseases that jump from animals to humans.

[Free Trapper]

The question now would be where did SARS come from to infect the civets?

All kinds of live and dead (frozen,dried,etc.) animals are shipped to Hong Kong,Taiwan,etc. from all over the world.

SARS could have come from anywhere if this story holds water.

[Momma Lou]

Several years ago I had two German Shepherd pups die of coronavirus.
Don't the Chinese eat dogs?

[ex-Texan]

This practice of 'eating' Abyssinian civet cats is just the tip of the iceberg. Now pardon me while I run to the rest room to barf . . .

Click Abyssinian Kitty Kitty

[The Pheonix]

The civet cat is a wild animal, and goes by its scientific name of "paguma larvata"

it does not look like a house cat at all

It looks like a sort of a spotted mongoose,

it is a fruit eater

[Free Trapper]

FYI,civet cats.

If SARS can be carried by many other critters I believe we're in deep trouble.

Thanks for keeping the info on SARS posted.Do you have a ping list you could put me on?

[mewzilla]

I've got a new name for SARS: Bastet's Revenge.

[The Pheonix]

the civet cat lives in the Tropics, ie countries like

Southern China, (not in the North), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan,Burma

[stlnative]

[The Pheonix]

The civet cat is a highly elusive animal and hunts only at night

It is being trapped,usually early in the morning

it loves certain kinds of fruits

SOURSE: Any old Encyclopedia

[aristeides]

This would seem to be consistent with the earlier story that cats can be infected by SARS but do not have symptoms. If the SARS virus's natural host is the civet cat, very likely it can live in the civet without doing any harm to it.

[vetvetdoug]

This story just keeps getting better all the time.....

[texson66]

Here's a close up of an African civet cat: Civet Cat

How could anyone eat this little guy?

[Nebullis]

The civet cat is known in the US as the ringtail. They range in the Southwest of the US.

[boris]

Oops. No more Luwak coffee...

[Nebullis]

Here's a picture of the culprit, the masked palm civet

[manic4organic]

OK, does anyone scratch their heads about the ancient "civilization" of China? Tiger penises, now civet cats? For Pete's sake, somebody build those folks a good Texas barbecue shack!

[Prince Charles]

A Hong Kong government statement said researchers from HKU and health officials in southern China "had successfully isolated the coronavirus causing SARS from civet cats."

Weird factoid for today: The secretions of the anal glands from civet cats are used to make perfume.

[Free Trapper]

I've been worried about the animal trade spreading disease for a long time.

This thread is where I've pretty much decided the sky has already fallen.

Is there room in your Mutthouse for me? Whiiine...:O(