NATION OBSESSED WITH CAT (Lewis!)

[hyphenate]

NATION OBSESSED WITH CAT
Fairfield feline under house arrest now media celebrity
By ANDREW BROPHY [e-mail]

FAIRFIELD — Elizabeth Oberhand, who lives next door to Lewis, the cat with a mountain lion's reputation, can't believe the media frenzy that has catapulted the so-called ferocious feline to international notoriety. "It was on CNN this morning. It's ridiculous," Oberhand said Wednesday of Lewis' supposed reign of terror in a Holland Hill neighborhood. "The Associated Press probably got it on the wire and everybody ate it up."

Ruth Cisero, owner of the black-and-white, long-haired cat, said she was deluged with 120 phone calls from media outlets Tuesday after the story first appeared in the Connecticut Post, and another 80 called Wednesday, including the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Connecticut Post Web site with the story has received thousands of hits and e-mails from across the country have been flooding in to reporters.

**snip!**

The nationally syndicated "Inside Edition" dispatched a crew to Cisero's home Wednesday and plans to air a segment on Lewis today. Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" also wants Lewis, said Ron Merly, Cisero's boyfriend.

http://www.connpost.com/petnews/ci_3655062