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Tuesday night turned out to be quite a night! I was covering a story about animal abuse at the Geauga Humane Society. A couple, convicted of killing two kittens, was sentenced to a week in jail, and 40 hours of community service at the Humane Society,. We were doing a story on what this couple would actually do at the shelter and the hope for reform.
I spent the day at the shelter, held several cats and petted some dogs. Everything was fine. Then, we showed up for my 10pm live shot. We were the lead story and the executive director of the shelter told me "Becky", the cat, would be a good cat for me to hold. Now, Becky, like many of the cats at the shelter, is an abused cat. Someone cut her tail off and she has been through many surgeries and lots of trauma. I held her a few times before the live shot and she was getting a little anxious.
I didn't pick up Becky again until seconds before my live shot. As I was reading my intro, and my voice began to project and the camera lights came on, Becky freaked. She turned and attacked my face, scratching my left cheek and the side of my head. I was obviously shocked and dropped the cat and stared at the camera, like a deer in head lights. Then, before they rolled my story, I started to laugh. That was a laugh, not a cry!
I am one of those people that instantly laughs when someone falls down (even though I don't mean to and am genuily concerned if someone falls, but the laugh always comes first!) or has a mishap, so maybe this was karma that a cat attacked me on live television!
There were several warning signs and I should have put the cat down sooner. However, since I'm not really a cat person ( I have a dog...a schnoodle) and since I was concentrating on my story, I missed the warning signs. Had I just been holding the cat without trying to report the news, I would have noticed the warning signs and set Becky free!
As for me, I have about three scratches on my face, (the cat has her claws) but other than that, I'm fine....just a little embarrassed! As for Becky, she is up for adoption and is looking for a loving home..
If you're looking for a laugh and want to see my most embarrassing moment, check out the link below. http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?c
ontentId=2670282&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY
&pageId=3.2.1
