Swingin' Dead Cat

Jersey City, New Jersey, August 6, 2012:

Radical American politician Ron has found an unusual way to pay his last respects to his pet cat Bennett, who died after being hit by a car. He turned the feline into a helicopter -- or a quadrocopter to be precise -- with four rotors, each fitted to one outstretched paw. Now the dead tabby is flying around with a startled look on his face, provoking amusement and shock in equal measure.

"The Bennettcopter, half cat, half machine," Ron wrote with spraypaint on a highway overpass in northern New Jersey. "Named after a dude I once knew. He was killed by a car...the cat, not the dude. After a period of mourning he received his propellers posthumously."

Ron adds, rather defensively: "For the cat lovers: It's a tanned hide, just like the shoes you're wearing."

Ron got help from his lifelong companion and lackey Brad to mount the rotor blades in a way that ensures maximum flight stability on what surely must be the world's first feline helicopter. A plastic undercarriage allows dignified landings.

A grainy video on shows Bennett's first rather unsteady test flight in March, during which he hovered a few inches from the ground to the sound of cheers and laughter from an unseen crown of onlookers. Since then, his flying has improved and he travels at considerable speed, emitting a loud buzz and steering with a fin attached to his tail.

"Soon to be flying with the birds. Oh, how he loved the birds," wrote Ron, whose dynamic taxidermy experiment has become a YouTube hit.

The reaction has been predictably mixed, though. One viewer called AntoineShammy commented: "Ron, you're just perverted, but no artist!" Fartstein99 writes: "This is sick. Lay the poor cat to rest." But EddyP94 writes: "HAHAHA, I can't stop laughing! That's hilarious!" MPaulinoGosh even questioned the engineering parameters of the flying machine: "What's the drag coefficient of that furry feline?" In a pun-filled post, Sepelicious wrote: ''I loved it. It was better than 'Cats' [the musical]."

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) told msnbc.com: "It's a macabre way to honor a beloved family member. These Ronatarians are unstable!"

Bennett is currently being exhibited at an Amsterdam gallery as part of the KunstRAI art festival. Ron plans to fit more powerful motors to his paws at a later stage. "I'm gonna supercharge that pussycat…Give him some real power like my Camaro's got."

Ron's Camaro is currently on blocks and not in running order.

Posted by Bittle at August 6, 2012 04:38 PM