"Mutant Cat" found in Edmonds, WA

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The True Story Behind That Giant Mutant Cat
Click here to see a video of this story.  August 15, 2001
 
By Kevin Reece

Cordell Hauglie And 'Snowball'
Cordell Hauglie And 'Snowball'

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EDMONDS - It's a picture e-mailed around the world: a smiling, bearded man in his living room, holding, as the headline says, a giant mutant cat.

Web sites say it's a nuclear accident, that the cat's name is Snowball, she eats raccoons and weighs 87 pounds.

Well, Cordell Hauglie of Edmonds is the man in that picture holding the remarkable cat.

He's been on Web sites in nearly every country, and in every language. He and Snowball are international stars.

"We were getting e-mails back from Israel, Australia, London -- I was recognized in a restaurant one day," says Hauglie with a laugh. "Hey, this is ridiculous."

Real Name: Jumper

It's ridiculous because Snowball was born on Hauglie's computer.

Snowball is actually named Jumper. And although he (not she) is a big cat, he's been blown a bit out of proportion.

"It would be nice for all the things I've done in my life to be recognized for something else other than creating a giant cat," Hauglie says.

A year ago all he wanted to do was send a photo of his daughter's cat.

"But I said, 'You know, I think we can make him a little larger,' " Hauglie remembers.

'Don't Believe Everything You See'

He e-mailed the joke to a few friends. They e-mailed it on, and someone, still unknown, attached the made-up mutant storyline.

Newspapers and Internet sites picked it up as the truth, and an urban legend was born.

"I thought, 'Who's gonna believe a house cat that is this big?' I mean that's ridiculous!" Hauglie says.

As it turns out, millions believed, and taught us all an Internet lesson:

Not all things on the Web are what they appear to be.

"Nothing is beyond belief any longer, especially when it's on the Internet," says Hauglie. "The other lesson is, don't believe everything you see, especially if it's a large cat."

For More Information:

www.urbanlegends.com





-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

But I LIKED this illusion, I really did...

-- disappointed helen (want@big.cat), August 16, 2001.

This cat is not an urban legend. It is an urban legend that it is an urban legend. It lives. It purrs. It kicks shit out of pit bulls.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), August 16, 2001.

"I thought, 'Who's gonna believe a house cat that is this big?' I mean that's ridiculous!" Hauglie says.

I don't know about that. Now if the story had concerned an 87 pound house cat which spoke fluent French, it would have been an obvious hoax.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), August 16, 2001.


Sillies !!

The cat is just your regular, normal size house cat.

The man is a Lilliputian !

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), August 16, 2001.


The Largest Domestic Cat (from cat records)

Himmy, owned by Thomas Vyse of Redlynch, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, still holds the title of being the heaviest recorded cat. When he died at the age of 10 in 1986, he weighed 46lbs 15 ¼ oz (21.3 kg). Imagine him jumping on your knee whilst you're watching TV ! A neutered male tabby, his neck measured 15in (38.1cm), his waist 33 in (83.8cm) and he was 38 in (96.5cm) long. Another cat named Poppa came very close to Himmy's record. He was a male tabby, owned by Gwladys Cooper of Newport, Gwent, UK and weighed 44 ½ lbs (20.19 kg) a year before he died in 1985. Himmy, owned by Thomas Vyse of Redlynch, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, still holds the title of being the heaviest recorded cat. When he died at the age of 10 in 1986, he weighed 46lbs 15 ¼ oz (21.3 kg). Imagine him jumping on your knee whilst you're watching TV ! A neutered male tabby, his neck measured 15in (38.1cm), his waist 33 in (83.8cm) and he was 38 in (96.5cm) long. Another cat named Poppa came very close to Himmy's record. He was a male tabby, owned by Gwladys Cooper of Newport, Gwent, UK and weighed 44 ½ lbs (20.19 kg) a year before he died in 1985.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), August 16, 2001.



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