JOEY THE GULL AGED 16

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29713, 5 January 1962, Page 2

JOEY THE GULL AGED 16

City Woman’s Three Cats All 18

A cat owned by Mr and Mrs A. Griffith, of Karori, Wellington, may be 18 years old, but Mrs A. Ennis, of Chrystall street, Christchurch, has three cats of at least that age. Ginger was given to her as a grown cat 18 years ago. Mary, a black cat, is 18, and Poppy, the small, wild one which bolts from strangers, has been with her for 18 years.

Mrs Ennis thinks it- more remarkable that when she goes outside and calls “Joey,” a large black-back gull comes for its food, Joey has been doing so for 16 years. “I was told he would live until he was 12 but he is well past that. He is so big now he is like a young albatross,” said Mrs Ennis.

A daily ration of 21b of gravy beef, a large piece of lambs fry and * chop is needed each day to feed Joey and the cats, pet jmd strays. Many birds are fad by Mrs Ennis and she buys bread and wheat for them. What she describes as linnets but what an authority on “The Press” staff says are probably greenfinches, appear in winter and stay until the end of September when “they leave me to a bird,” she said. This is the first year no fantails have come to her.