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12 years ago
Meet the Feral Cats of Disneyland!
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What child didn’t grow up wishing they could live in the Cinderella castle at Disneyland? Who hasn’t closed their eyes and wished with all their might that they could be Cinderella? Well … maybe you didn’t need to set your sights so high to gain entrance to the illustrious castle, if you had wished to be a cat you may have had better luck!
It is a little known fact that Disneyland is not only home to fantastical creatures, but also a colony of feral cats! Cats have taken up residence at Disneyland since 1955. Allegedly, Walt Disney found the cats living in the building that is now Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and rather than evicting the four-legged intruders from the grounds, he let them stay. The cats were natural hunters and could fend for themselves. They even proven helpful to control any unwanted rodent populations – yeah, we’re looking at you Minnie! Disney now runs a TNR program to help control the cat population and there is even a vet clinic that helps ensure they all stay healthy.
The colony of cats have become rather famous in their own right and an entire Instagram account and website have been created to document their escapades.
Where you might expect Mickey, Minnie and Pluto to run up to you for a picture, the cats prefer to avoid humans.
The Disney Cats Instagram account is dedicated to the photos that park-goers snap of the cats.
An added bonus to being a Disney Cat … never having to wait in lines!
And novelty photos are free!
The official motto of the cats reads, “Disneyland is our land. We prowl its streets when the humans go away. And we try our best to forget that it was all started by a mouse.”
The cats have assimilated into the park seamlessly. Can you even tell which is a real cougar?
Nothing says “magical evening” like dinner for two with a Disney Cat.
So, next time you’re waiting on line at California Screamin’ take a look around … you might find a furry friend to keep you company.
You can read the full profile of all the Disneyland Cats website.
All image source: DisneyCats/Instagram
Cinderella\’s Castle is in Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World. Sleeping Beauty\’s Castle is in Disneyland. The first couple of sentences break my heart because of the inaccuracy. Fortunately, the second paragraph is correct.
Could cat feces help cure cancer?
With an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer to be diagnosed this year, finding a cure for the disease remains a top priority for many researchers. Now, investigators have looked to a parasite commonly found in cat feces – Toxoplasma gondii – to create a cancer vaccine.
T. gondii is a single-celled parasite that resides in the intestines of any warm-blooded animal, although its ideal environment is a cat\’s intestines.
According to the researchers of this latest study – including David J. Bzik, PhD, and Barbara Fox of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH – they already knew that T. gondii has anti-cancer properties.
They explain that when the parasite enters the human body, cells that effectively fight cancer – such as cytotoxic T cells – are produced as a response. The team says that although cancer can shut down the body\’s immune system, T. gondii can help restart it.
Mutant T. gondii parasite the \’super strong hero\’ that halts cancer progression
Since T. gondii replicates inside the body in order to spread, the researchers note that it is unsafe to inject live strains of the parasite into cancer patients, who will already have weakened immune systems.
As such, they created a mutant T. gondii parasite – named "cps" – that is unable to replicate, which they say makes it a safe cancer vaccination. According to Bzik:
"Aggressive cancers too often seem like fast moving train wrecks. Cps is the microscopic, but super strong, hero that catches the wayward trains, halts their progression and shrinks them until they disappear."
On testing the cps vaccine on mouse models with aggressive melanoma and ovarian cancer, the mice showed significantly high survival rates. Bzik says the cps vaccine stimulates "amazingly effective immunotherapy against cancers, superior to anything seen before."
The researchers say the vaccine could even be tailored to each patient. "In translating cps therapy to the clinic, we imagine cps will be introduced into cells isolated from the patient," Bzik explains.
"Then, Trojan Horse cells harboring cps will be given back to the patient as an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine to generate the ideal immune responses necessary to eradicate their cancer cells and to also provide life-long immunity against any future recurrence of that cancer."
The researchers note that before cps can be tested in humans, they need to better understand the mechanisms behind it. However, they say that so far, it appears to hold "incredible promise" for new cancer treatments.
Medical News Today recently reported on a study published in The Journal of Leukocyte Biology that suggested antihistamines may be effective against cancer.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279776.php
I have been to Disneyland dozens of times from opening til close, I have never seen one. (I also haven\’t been looking.)
Will have to see if I find one next trip.
Could cat feces help cure cancer?
With an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer to be diagnosed this year, finding a cure for the disease remains a top priority for many researchers. Now, investigators have looked to a parasite commonly found in cat feces – Toxoplasma gondii – to create a cancer vaccine.
T. gondii is a single-celled parasite that resides in the intestines of any warm-blooded animal, although its ideal environment is a cat\’s intestines.
According to the researchers of this latest study – including David J. Bzik, PhD, and Barbara Fox of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH – they already knew that T. gondii has anti-cancer properties.
They explain that when the parasite enters the human body, cells that effectively fight cancer – such as cytotoxic T cells – are produced as a response. The team says that although cancer can shut down the body\’s immune system, T. gondii can help restart it.
Mutant T. gondii parasite the \’super strong hero\’ that halts cancer progression
Since T. gondii replicates inside the body in order to spread, the researchers note that it is unsafe to inject live strains of the parasite into cancer patients, who will already have weakened immune systems.
As such, they created a mutant T. gondii parasite – named "cps" – that is unable to replicate, which they say makes it a safe cancer vaccination. According to Bzik:
"Aggressive cancers too often seem like fast moving train wrecks. Cps is the microscopic, but super strong, hero that catches the wayward trains, halts their progression and shrinks them until they disappear."
On testing the cps vaccine on mouse models with aggressive melanoma and ovarian cancer, the mice showed significantly high survival rates. Bzik says the cps vaccine stimulates "amazingly effective immunotherapy against cancers, superior to anything seen before."
The researchers say the vaccine could even be tailored to each patient. "In translating cps therapy to the clinic, we imagine cps will be introduced into cells isolated from the patient," Bzik explains.
"Then, Trojan Horse cells harboring cps will be given back to the patient as an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine to generate the ideal immune responses necessary to eradicate their cancer cells and to also provide life-long immunity against any future recurrence of that cancer."
The researchers note that before cps can be tested in humans, they need to better understand the mechanisms behind it. However, they say that so far, it appears to hold "incredible promise" for new cancer treatments.
Medical News Today recently reported on a study published in The Journal of Leukocyte Biology that suggested antihistamines may be effective against cancer.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279776.php
My mom and I had a very sad encounter with a "Disney Cat" outside of the entrance to Café Orleans. There was a very large shrub on each side of the entrance, and in the shrub on the left, was what appeared to be a "hole" in the leaves. As we were looking at this "imperfection" in the well groomed bush, a beautiful little bird landed in the opening, and in the blink of an eye, a cat leaped forward from it\’s hidden location inside the hole and grabbed the bird. It was awful! The bird was screeching for it\’s life while the cat was busy killing it, and feathers were flying everywhere. We were mortified! We immediately found a grounds keeper and he told us the cat would be taken care of right away. Now I find out that the cats are welcomed there, and while it wasn\’t mentioned that they also love to kill birds, I\’m sure the bird killing aspect of the cats is also welcomed in Disneyland. How terrible for the birdies!
Hi, but you realize that cats do hunt birds right? It is the f-ing circle of life and if you didn\’t get that being in Disneyland then you are an idiot. Sorry a cat getting its dinner disturbed you after you got full on your over priced dinner. FYI you are a piece of shit!
You can thank humanity dear. Do you REALLY think that the cats WANT to be homeless ? Don;t you think they\’d RATHER be a pet, with a good home, and fed by their family instead of hoping to catch a bird ?
Have you ever considered what slaughterhouses are like ? Bet you eat meat. Don\’t you ? I don\’t. And I don\’t think abandoned domestic pets should starve either.
Dear "Educated Reader", telling yourself and others that you\’re educated is never going to make it true. As you\’ve just proved to the whole world.
Here\’s an excerpt from my standard-issue prepared reply for bible-home-schooled cretins just like you:
An animal genetically engineered through selective breeding, such as CATS, are NOT AN INDIGENOUS SPECIES ANYWHERE on ANY continent. They are no more natural to any native environment anywhere on earth than some insect that was invented in some lab, that once released out into nature will destroy all native wildlife, JUST AS CATS DO. Someone kept a "pet" bee one time. He too selectively bred this pet. After he selectively bred it it was called an Africanized Bee. It accidentally escaped his supervised confinement. Luckily for us they\’re not destroying the complete food-chain where they are found, are limited in their range, and they\’re not spreading many deadly diseases to all humans and wildlife — all those fun things that these domesticated-species cats do. (edit: THESE MAN-MADE CATS ARE DESTROYING THE CIRCLE OF LIFE, THEY ARE NOT ANY PART OF THE CIRCLE OF LIFE. YOU FU**ING *MORON*!!!)
If you phenomenally stupid cretins are going to use ecology, biology, speciation, and genetics in your arguments, the very LEAST that you could do is have a base comprehension of what you are talking about. Don\’t you think?
No. And that\’s the problem with terminally ignorant morons like you, you CAN\’T think.
Oh, if ONLY there was a legal cure for "stupid"!
If the sum of your education comes from bible-home-schooling replete with sing-along bambi-cartoon curricula then you have ZERO weapons in this argument — as you\’ve just proved to the whole world. Next time, try to not bring your imaginary cartoon-magic-wand to a real gun-fight. Thanks!
You are aware too, aren\’t you, that out of ALL types of pet-owners on the face of this earth, that cat-owners are directly responsible for the suffering deaths of more animals and more species of animals than any other pet-owners on the planet. <strong>Cat-owners are a triple-threat to ALL animal life on earth.</strong> If not having animals killed for their own consumption, then they are having animals killed and crammed into bags and cans and having a "CAT FOOD" label slapped on them for their cat\’s consumption, and if they let their cats outside then they are senselessly torturing billions of native animals and countless thousands of native species to death yearly just for their cats\’ play-toys. As well as the countless BILLIONS of offspring of all those animals that are either starved to death or never get born. How many animals are they going to have senselessly killed or tortured today for their entertainment and their purely and wholly self-serving "but cats make me feel good!" values?
Hey Lorri! Here\’s some fun FACTS for that Toxoplasma gondii parasite infested damaged brain of yours!
You are aware, aren\’t you, that out of ALL types of pet-owners on the face of this earth, that cat-owners are directly responsible for the suffering deaths of more animals and more species of animals than any other pet-owners on the planet. CAT-OWNERS ARE A TRIPLE-THREAT TO ALL ANIMAL LIFE ON EARTH. If not having animals killed for their own consumption, then they are having animals killed and crammed into bags and cans and having a "CAT FOOD" label slapped on them for their cat\’s consumption, and if they let their cats outside then they are senselessly torturing billions of native animals and countless thousands of native species to death yearly just for their cats\’ play-toys. As well as the countless BILLIONS of offspring of all those animals that are either starved to death or never get born. How many animals are they going to have senselessly killed or tortured today for their entertainment and their purely and wholly self-serving "but cats make me feel good!" values?
Could cat feces help cure cancer?
With an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer to be diagnosed this year, finding a cure for the disease remains a top priority for many researchers. Now, investigators have looked to a parasite commonly found in cat feces – Toxoplasma gondii – to create a cancer vaccine.
T. gondii is a single-celled parasite that resides in the intestines of any warm-blooded animal, although its ideal environment is a cat\’s intestines.
According to the researchers of this latest study – including David J. Bzik, PhD, and Barbara Fox of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH – they already knew that T. gondii has anti-cancer properties.
They explain that when the parasite enters the human body, cells that effectively fight cancer – such as cytotoxic T cells – are produced as a response. The team says that although cancer can shut down the body\’s immune system, T. gondii can help restart it.
Mutant T. gondii parasite the \’super strong hero\’ that halts cancer progression
Since T. gondii replicates inside the body in order to spread, the researchers note that it is unsafe to inject live strains of the parasite into cancer patients, who will already have weakened immune systems.
As such, they created a mutant T. gondii parasite – named "cps" – that is unable to replicate, which they say makes it a safe cancer vaccination. According to Bzik:
"Aggressive cancers too often seem like fast moving train wrecks. Cps is the microscopic, but super strong, hero that catches the wayward trains, halts their progression and shrinks them until they disappear."
On testing the cps vaccine on mouse models with aggressive melanoma and ovarian cancer, the mice showed significantly high survival rates. Bzik says the cps vaccine stimulates "amazingly effective immunotherapy against cancers, superior to anything seen before."
The researchers say the vaccine could even be tailored to each patient. "In translating cps therapy to the clinic, we imagine cps will be introduced into cells isolated from the patient," Bzik explains.
"Then, Trojan Horse cells harboring cps will be given back to the patient as an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine to generate the ideal immune responses necessary to eradicate their cancer cells and to also provide life-long immunity against any future recurrence of that cancer."
The researchers note that before cps can be tested in humans, they need to better understand the mechanisms behind it. However, they say that so far, it appears to hold "incredible promise" for new cancer treatments.
Medical News Today recently reported on a study published in The Journal of Leukocyte Biology that suggested antihistamines may be effective against cancer.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279776.php