Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-03
PRETTY BIG KITTY
PRETTY BIG KITTY
Pet OceIot Arouses Arlington Mothers
By BRIAN KELLY
Star Staff Writer


Elizabeth, an Arlington resi-
dent, is only six months old,
but thus far she has had neigh
bors, police and the county's
highest officialdom thoroughly
COMPOUNDED.
Elizabeth is an ocelot.
Ocelots may look like junior
leopards, but in the eyes of
some they make wonderful
house pets, which accounts for
the presence of Elizabeth and
her growly mate, Sabu, in the
home of Mrs. Raymonde Huret,
a Partisan who lives at 1915
North Stafford street.
HE (Sabu) is a little meaner
than she (EliZabeth). He
doesn't let anyone but me
touch him." confided Mrs.
Huret yesterday.
EIectrifies Mothers
If Sabu sounds catty, it was
his consort Elizabeth who cleo
trified mothers in the Stafford
street neighborhood last week
and sent Arlington officials
running to their law books.
She escaped the Huret house.
hold.
The next day, a worried
neighbor Spied the friendly
jungle cat on the railroad
tracks, rounded up her children
and called the police.
Arlington's finest promptly
responded, to find Elizabeth
curled up on another neigh
boris front porch.
Lawton B. Gresham, Arling-
ton dog warden, was about to
eat lunch moments later when
he heard this message on the
police radio:
pretty Big Kitty"
Hello, headquarters? This
is a pretty big kitty for us to
handle. Can you send some
help?"
Mr.. Gresham, who earlier
had been advised of Eliza
beth's absence from home,
dropped his sandwich and
rushed to help the police.
AS it turned out, Elizabeth
was no match for the heavily
gloved warden, who later con-
fessed, I've caught most ev-
else, but it's the first
time I've ever caught one of
these"
While the police and neigh
borhood children watched from
3 distance, the warden dropped :
q loop of rope around Eliza
oeth's neck.
Elizabeth was impounded at
the Animal Welfare Leagues
noosegow for hayward pets
until Mrs. Huret retrieved her
some hours later.
Asks ReDort nm Law
County Board Member Leo
Urbanske heard of the Incl
dent and asked County Mana
ger Bert w. johnson for a re-
port on county ordinances reg
ulating the keeping of such
animals as pets.
1t turns out there is no such
Now the county's
legal sleuths are exploring State
game laws for guidance.
Meanwhile, some neighbors
Of Mrs. Huret are unconcerned
BY Sabu and Elizabeth; others
have expressed fear for their
safety. Mr.. GreSh-
ANS view is that the cats
definitely should be kept at
home.
One concerned mother, Mrs.
Robert j. Payne, 4215 North
Fifteenth street, recalled the
incident in 1856 when a pet
nargay, a similar but wilder
type of feline, chewed the toes
Of an infant in Beltsville, Md,
one night. Mrs. Payne said
she occasionally finds an oce-
lot in her backyard, where her
children often play.
Cites Own Children
But Mrs. Huret, who works
as a secretary at the Belgian
Embassy, says her own children,
Dominique, 8, and Philippe, 10,
get along very well with the
cats, especially Elizabeth.
If anything, Mrs. Huret said,
is too friendly; that's
why she gets in trouble.
Anybody can pick her up"
she said.
AS for sulky Sabu, he keeps
TO himself in the house and {
emits an occasional rumble. 4,
Like the cat who has just !
a small subway train I