your tax dollars at work

11/29/05 16:02 EST
------------------
U.S. Troops Rescue Ethiopian Cheetah Cubs

By ANTHONY MITCHELL
.c The Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - U.S. troops flew two endangered cheetah
cubs to the Ethiopian capital Tuesday after instigating their rescue
from a remote village where a restaurant owner had held them captive
and abused them.

The male and female cubs - whom the soldiers named Scout and Patch -
were released on the grounds of the Ethiopian president's official
residence after their 680-mile journey from the eastern hamlet of Gode.

``This is the first kind of rescue of animals, let alone cheetahs, that
we have done,'' said Sgt. Leah Cobble, 26, of Washington, as she
cuddled the two purring cubs on the runway of Bole International
Airport.