RICHARD
02-26-2004, 04:35 PM
Cat passed to inspect sea containers
A cat in New Zealand has been registered as an inspector of sea containers by the country's agriculture ministry.
The cat belongs to an employee of the environmental lobby group Forest and Bird, who are said to be furious with the ministry.
"My Cat Bolletje" was given an interim certificate and online congratulations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for passing its internet bio-security awareness training course.
She was advised to keep her online notice until a formal accreditation certificate, valid for three years, arrived in the post, says The Press.
Forest and Bird conservation manager Kevin Hackwell said he passed the ministry's online test on behalf of his two-year-old cat in just eight minutes.
"My cat's pretty smart and I'm sure it could make a more reliable inspector of sea containers than some of the people that will become accredited online. At least it will go for the chase if it smells a rat," he said.
A Ministry spokesman said they wanted to make it "reasonably easy" for people to become accredited and had pitched its online training course at the level of fork lift drivers and labourers.
He added that he not think My Cat would have been issued with a formal certificate when the application was processed. "It looks too frivolous."
A cat in New Zealand has been registered as an inspector of sea containers by the country's agriculture ministry.
The cat belongs to an employee of the environmental lobby group Forest and Bird, who are said to be furious with the ministry.
"My Cat Bolletje" was given an interim certificate and online congratulations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for passing its internet bio-security awareness training course.
She was advised to keep her online notice until a formal accreditation certificate, valid for three years, arrived in the post, says The Press.
Forest and Bird conservation manager Kevin Hackwell said he passed the ministry's online test on behalf of his two-year-old cat in just eight minutes.
"My cat's pretty smart and I'm sure it could make a more reliable inspector of sea containers than some of the people that will become accredited online. At least it will go for the chase if it smells a rat," he said.
A Ministry spokesman said they wanted to make it "reasonably easy" for people to become accredited and had pitched its online training course at the level of fork lift drivers and labourers.
He added that he not think My Cat would have been issued with a formal certificate when the application was processed. "It looks too frivolous."