Well, French is good for something after all!

Edmonton's Valley Zoo is inviting the public to say "bonjour" to its newest Siberian tiger. Staff at the zoo have discovered that while Boris has lived in the land of rodeos and roughnecks for about a year, French remains his language of choice.

When the Quebec-born tiger arrived in May 2006, staff found him unresponsive to the English commands of staff. Ginette Heppelle, a French-speaking zookeeper from Saskatchewan was then asked to try a few lines in French.

"I said, 'Bonjour, Boris,' " said Heppelle, 29, who started work at the zoo around the same time Boris arrived. "I started to speak to him in French and he got up and came to see me."

Heppelle said Boris would even perk up when visitors gave greetings in French.

"Especially at the beginning, because that (French) is what he's used to," she explained just as Boris let fly with a powerful spray to mark his territory, much to the shock of photographers who scrambled to get out of the way.

Boris's preference for "la belle langue" may not come as a surprise to many animal trainers, who have known for years that higher-functioning animals will recognize and respond to particular human languages.

According to Dr. Christopher Sturdy, a psychologist at the University of Alberta who studies animal behaviour, dogs and cats can be taught in and respond to virtually any language.

Your "how's it goin, eh" scribe; (That's Canadian!)

Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

Gir---illas just want to have fun!

A 57-year-old Dutch woman who was attacked by a gorilla at a Rotterdam zoo said the ape was still her favorite even though she felt she was going to die when he bit her and then dragged her into his enclosure where she remained with him for over a half an hour....

I stood by the small apes in the Africa section when I heard a thud behind me. I turned around and there was Bokito. I had nowhere to go. He gripped me, sat on me with his full weight and bit me.

Bokito got me into his enclosure where he just wanted to have some private time with me!" the woman told the Telegraaf.

"He is and remains my darling," the paper quoted the woman as saying from her hospital bed, where she is being treated for bite wounds and a broken arm and wrist.

The 11-year old male gorilla burst out of its enclosure on Friday and went on a rampage in the zoo's cafeteria before being recaptured.



"I go to the zoo almost every day with my husband, and we're always going to see Bokito. I even have pictures and videos from Berlin when he was only four months old," the woman told Dutch mass-circulation daily Telegraaf.

"I could only think 'O God, I'm going to die, I'm going to die' but it turns out that the gorilla wasn't all that dangerous, he just liked me..... a lot!"

The Telegraaf said people had since come from across the country to Rotterdam Zoo to see the gorilla.

Your "monkey see, monkey do" scribe;
Allan W Janssen