[CrackMonkey] [Pigdog] NEW HOPE FOR THE BLIND: SEEING-EYE WEASELS! (fwd)

[Nick Moffitt]

	More pigdoggery.

----- Forwarded message from Majnoona <majy at majink.org> -----


 NEW HOPE FOR THE BLIND: SEEING-EYE WEASELS! 

   AURORA, Ill. -- Animal trainer Drew Fendis is making guide dogs for
   the blind obsolete by replacing them with seeing-eye weasels!

   "Weasels are far better than dogs at leading blind people," says
   Fendis, who has already trained more than a hundred of the lean
   mammals and placed them in the homes of the visually impaired all over
   the world.

   "They're smarter. Their senses are more acute and they eat far less
   than your average German shepherd.

   "They're a little more difficult to train than dogs because, as a
   species, they're closer to the wild. But it's this very wildness of
   theirs that makes their senses so keen.

   "And a big bonus of using seeing-eye weasels is that they will also
   keep your home free of mice and rats -- their favorite foods.

   "But most importantly, they seem to have a mystical -- almost
   spiritual -- bond with blind people that makes them perfect for the
   job."

   Hans Gerber, a violinist with the Stockholm, Sweden, Philharmonic
   Orchestra, says he wouldn't trade his guide weasel, Fritz, for all the
   money in the world. "He not only lets me walk safely from one place to
   another, he can even sense dangers before they become apparent to
   anyone else," said Gerber on a recent visit to the United States.

   "One day I was in a hurry to get to rehearsal and Fritz was walking
   too slow. Nothing I did could get him to walk faster.

   "Then, as I turned a corner, a window washer in the building ahead
   dropped a bucket of water from a platform. It struck the sidewalk
   about 50 feet in front of me. If I'd been walking at my usual pace,
   I'd have been killed."

   Fendis says these ESP-like episodes are not at all uncommon with
   seeing-eye weasels. But he warns against anyone -- sighted or blind --
   approaching weasels in the wild and expecting to form an automatic
   bond.

   "It takes a long time, sometimes months, and very specialized training
   for the weasels to get used to humans," he said.

   "But once they do, they become a vital part of the blind person's
   life."


----------------------------------------------------------------------
This material is copyright 2000 by the Weekly World News and may not
be reproduced without the written approval of the Weekly World News.




----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks
LinuxCabal.Org  - Co-location facilities and meeting space 
Pigdog.Org      - The Online Handbook for Bad People of the Future
                You are not entitled to your opinions.