This Week In the News

[House Fire Kills Dog, Pet Birds] [Civet coffee: good to the last dropping ] [Boy Saves Aunt From Fire, Dies While Trying To Save Cats ] [Pfizer gets FDA approval for obesity drug for dogs] 

House fire kills dog, pet birds

Senta Scarborough and JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 9, 2007 08:53 AM

A family dog and three pet birds died in a late afternoon house fire in southwest Mesa on Monday.

The fire caused $100,000 in damages and displaced the two women who lived there, officials said.

A discarded cigarette in the living room ignited the 4:30 p.m. blaze at a one-story home in the 2300 block of West Osage Drive Monday, said Mike Dunn, Mesa deputy fire chief. One of the occupants was able to get out of the home, but she couldn't find her dog.

When fire fighters arrived, they had been told there might be pets inside and brought out a medium-sized dog. Efforts to revive the dog in the street failed, however. The fire was out in less than 30 minutes. The home is southwest of Dobson and Guadalupe roads.

Dunn said the American Red Cross is providing the displaced residents assistance.

NBC5.com

Boy Saves Aunt From Fire, Dies While Trying To Save Cats

POSTED: 9:21 am CST January 6, 2007

UPDATED: 10:04 am CST January 6, 2007

CAMBRIDGE, Ill. --

A Cambridge teenager is being hailed as a hero for saving his aunt from a fire at their house, but he lost his own life when he went back into the burning building to search for the family's two cats, authorities say.

Seth A. DeShane, 14, was pronounced dead late Thursday at the family home, which was destroyed in the fire.

"He really saved his aunt," said the Rev. Kris Dietzen, pastor at Cambridge Lutheran Church. "He woke his aunt up and told her the Christmas tree was on fire.

"He got her out of the house. She thought he (Seth) was behind her, but he went back inside."

Dietzen said that when Seth's aunt realized the boy had gone back inside, she tried to get back in herself, but by then the smoke was so thick and the fire so intense, she had to leave the house.

"She ran to a neighbor's farm, and they proceeded to call 911," Dietzen said.

The fire is being blamed on malfunctioning lights on the Christmas tree on the first floor, Chief Edward Bole, of the Cambridge Fire Department, said. The front half of the two-story home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

Firefighters from Geneseo and Osco also fought the blaze.

An autopsy will be completed Saturday, and an inquest will be scheduled, Henry County Coroner David Johnson said.

Seth, an eighth-grader at Cambridge Junior High School, was the son of Robert J. and Karen S. Robinson DeShane.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

Civet coffee: good to the last dropping

By Chris Brummitt, Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia — SARS fears have stopped the Chinese from eating civet cats. But that hasn't turned off others from sipping the strangest of brews — one they insist is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the weasel-like animals.

The story goes like this: Civets live in the foliage of plantations across Southeast Asia. These fussy foragers pick the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system break down the flesh of the fruit before the animals expel the bean.

Workers collect beans from the plantation floor, wash away the dung and roast them to produce a unique drink that devotees might say is good to the last dropping.

Skeptics, though, dismiss it all as a weird and unverifiable marketing gimmick.

Still in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, the owner of three fashionable cafes, Agus Susanto, sells what he claims is a mix of regular beans and those that have passed through civets. The blend and the cafes are both called "Kopi Luwak" — in English: "Civet Coffee."

"Our coffee has a strong taste and an even stronger aroma," Susanto said by telephone from his factory in central Java.

In Vietnam, now the world's second-largest regular coffee grower, a blend supposedly containing some civet beans is produced by the Trung Nguyen company under the "Weasel Coffee" brand.

In the Philippines, the Old Manila Coffee House used to sell a civet brew, but supplies have dwindled over the years, said Ellen Tuason, its finance officer.

"Some of our guests said it was an aphrodisiac. It has a strong coffee smell, but different. There is a distinct odor and flavor," she said.

The beans are also marketed internationally. Several US-Internet based coffee traders claim to offer them for up to $150 a pound, ($325 a kilogram) making among the world's most expensive beverages.

However, many in Asia's coffee trade doubt whether the beans are truly produced in significant quantities, if at all.

"There are maybe a few bags here, a few bags there, but mostly its just a myth," said Victor Mah, a Singaporean who has been selling coffee from Southeast Asia for more than 25 years.

Others just won't swallow the claims.

"I think it's a big scam," said Mark Hanusz, who spent eight months traveling Indonesia researching his book about coffee called A Cup of Java.

In the past few weeks, authorities in southern China have exterminated thousands of civet cats on fears that they carry and spread the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus.

The World Health Organization also sees a potential relationship between the furry black and white animals and the disease that killed 774 people worldwide last year.

If that link is confirmed, consumer interest in civet coffee could plummet.

But in Jakarta, Susanto isn't worried. He expects to keep selling what he claims is 100 metric tons (110 tons) of civet coffee a month.

"There are many different kinds of civets in this world. The Indonesian ones are different from those in China," he said.

Henry Harmon, an American from Boston, Massachusetts who owns a chain of coffee shops in Indonesia, said he thinks the drink is for real, though he has no plans to introduce it in his stores.

"It has a nice romantic — well semi-romantic — twist to it, but I'd be worried about product liability lawsuits," Harmon said. 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-01-20-civet-coffee_x.htm

Pfizer gets FDA approval for obesity drug for dogs

Saturday, January 06, 2007 8:06:58 AM ET
newratings.com

NEW YORK, January 6 (newratings.com) – The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Friday approved a drug manufactured by Pfizer Inc (PFE.NYS) to control the weight of obese dogs.

The FDA approved the sale of Slentrol, a liquid formula for the treatment of dogs whose weight is 20% more than their ideal weight. Slentrol's label calls for the constant monitoring of the monthly weight change of a dog being treated by the drug and, thus, the introduction of the necessary change in its dosage. The FDA warned that the usage of Slentrol can cause vomiting, loose motions, diarrhea, lethargy and loss of appetite in dogs. The drug should not be used by humans or cats.

 

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