Colin's Not The First Celebrity 'Work Pet'

Media Release from WHISKAS

4 December 2001

COLIN'S NOT THE FIRST CELEBRITY 'WORK PET'

Colin's, the famous stowaway cat from New Plymouth, isn't the world's first celebrity 'work pet'.

Colin's is winging her way back to New Zealand after stowing away on the methanol tanker Tomiwaka and spending two weeks at sea before landing at Yeosu, Korea. Her return to New Zealand has been organised by the makers of Whiskas in New Zealand.

Whiskas spokesperson Jeff Herkt said he believed the earliest celebrity work pet was 'Owney', an abandoned and freezing mongrel who was discovered outside a New York post office in 1888.

"The dog was recovered by sympathetic postal workers, warmed inside mailbags and nursed back to health," Mr Herkt said.

"For the next nine years, a grateful Owney accompanied Albany postal workers on their routes and later travelled on mail cars a distance of over 140,000 across the nation, eventually becoming an unofficial mascot of the United States Postal Service."

"Like Owney, Colin's is a wonderful example of an animal that brings a lot of pleasure to people everywhere. That's something Whiskas is delighted to support," Mr Herkt said.

ENDS

For more information:

Jeff Herkt - 64 21 973 829 Catherine Etheredge - 64 9 309 1494, 64 25 276 9712

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