FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING (OF A SORT).... Well, now, this is just off-pissing on so many levels:

GODE, Ethiopia - U.S. troops found two cheetah cubs — one of them blinded — being forced to fight each other for the amusement of jeering children in this dusty, forgotten village....

The troops provided medical treatment to the blinded cub, fed them both and tried to persuade Mohamed [Hudle, their keeper,] to hand them over to wildlife officials. They contacted U.S.-based cheetah experts as well as Ethiopian authorities.

U.S. military officials refused to discuss the animal rights turn their hearts and minds campaign took in Gode. But Befekadu Refera, an official of the Environmental Protection Agency in the capital, Addis Ababa, confirmed the U.S. military had contacted his agency about the cubs and even offered to fly the pair to Addis Ababa, 684 miles away for care.

But....

In Gode Wednesday, the rescue appeared to have hit a snag.

"I don't see why I should hand them over," Mohamed said. "When I was younger I looked after goats and camels, so I know what animals need."

Mohamed said he would only give up the cheetahs if he was paid $1,000 for each cub — 10 times the average income in this impoverished Horn of Africa nation with an estimated 77 million people....

"Unless these cubs are properly looked after and cared for they will soon die," said Befekadu of the Environmental Protection Agency.

I'm going to skip any further commentary here because everything I try to write comes out sounding like the easy sentimentalism of a pampered, clueless First Worlder, which is probably exactly what it is. But still, you know....

UPDATE: "Two cheetah cubs held captive and abused at a remote village restaurant in eastern Ethiopia are now in the custody of a government veterinarian and U.S. troops, a senior official said Monday."