pet connection

From the Web log at The Scientist:

In January of last year, The Scientist staff writer Kerry Grens investigated a company called Allerca that claimed to have created the world’s first hypoallergenic cat. Grens uncovered a string of shady dealings and questionable science associated with the company, including the fact that its founder, Simon Brodie, had served two and a half years in jail for fraud. Read Grens’ full story here and a follow-up story here.

Last month, San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Penni Crabtree was investigating the Dutch seizure of three exotic cats that had been sold for about $40,000 by a U.S. company claiming to make designer cats. That company, known as LifeStyle Pets, happens to be an offshoot company of Allerca. The three seized cats were supposed to be a special mixed breed of “exotic” cats, called Ashera (you can read Crabtree’s full story here ).

Over the course of Crabtree’s reporting for the story, allegations emerged that the seized cats were not in fact a specially bred mix but just Savannah F1 cats, purchased from a breeder in Pennsylvania. On January 24, Crabtree called and Emailed Brodie for a response to the allegations. Instead of returning calls or Emails, the next day Brodie issued a press release that was picked up by Mass Media, a distribution newswire (read the release from Brodie’s Web site here ).

The press release accused Crabtree of accepting money from a competitive pet product company, Idexx Laboratories, in exchange for giving Cyntegra — another of Brodie’s pet companies — bad press. According to the release, Crabtree is being investigated as part of a lawsuit that Cyntegra is pursuing against Idexx. The release also stated that Grens was being investigated for accepting money from Idexx.

Crabtree told The Scientist that these accusations are ridiculous. Grens (now senior science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia) wrote in an Email to The Scientist that she had never interacted with or spoke to anyone at Idexx, never accepted money from them, and was not aware that she was being investigated by Brodie.

In response to the press release, Union-Tribune attorney Scott Wahrenbrock sent a letter to both Brodie and Mass Media demanding a retraction. Brodie did not respond, but privately sent out the press release again to hundreds of reporters, Wahrenbrock told The Scientist. He added that Mass Media removed Brodie’s press release from their Web site and have assured Wahrenbrock that the retraction letter written by the Union-Tribune will be posted there within 24 hours.

Read the rest.