Los Alamos New Mexico - Federal authorities were quick to point out that a fire at the Los Alamos
Laboratories in May did not cause any hazardous materials to contaminate the environment.
Of course that was before White Springs resident Thomas Mallory found three kittens by the side
of the road last week. Kittens that were glowing in the dark!
The story starts in early May of this year when Park Service workers at the Bandelier National
Monument, just south of Los Alamos set a fire to help clear bush. Low humidity and high winds
quickly caused the fire to jump out of control. When it was all over 100 houses had been burned
and hundreds more damaged. Several buildings including the weapons engineering tritium building
burned, but officials told residents that all hazardous materials (including chemical, nuclear,
and explosive) were contained in steel vaults and were never at risk of being introduced to the
environment.
But Thomas Mallory isn't so sure the government is telling the truth.
"Glowing cats ain't normal," Mallory stated. "Anyone with a lick of sense in his head knows that."
Mallory was driving to a friend's house on West Jemez Road in Los Alamos on August 10th when
he spotted something glowing on the side of the road. "At first I thought it was a pack of those
glow sticks that the kids use on Halloween," stated Mallory. But a closer look revealed that the
glow was coming from three small kittens that begin meowing for attention when they saw Mallory.
"To be honest, I didn't know what to do," Mallory continued. "I immediately thought they might be
radioactive cause of where I was. But I couldn't just leave 'em on the side of the road to get
killed. So I got an old towel out of the trunk of my car, picked them up and put them in the back
seat. I then drove over the White Rock Animal Shelter and dropped them off. At first they thought
I was playing some prank but I explained what happened and they took them in."
Lisa Wheeler, works at the animal shelter and was on duty when Mallory brought the glowing animals
in. "I didn't know what to think," she said. "I've seen some abused animals before but I never saw
any that were glowing green." I called our vet, Dr. Richards to take a look at them and he pronounced
them in perfect health other than being a little underfed and having fleas."
Doctor Kent Richards examined the kittens and is at a loss to explain their glow. "It's not something
they teach at veterinary school," said Richards. "But I gave them a check up and they were fine.
I was a little worried that they may have been radioactive but my wife works at the Labs and she
brought over a dosimeter to check them out and it registered nothing. We gave them a bath and that
softened the glow a little but it was still there. It appeared to me that the light is emanating from
the fur itself and not from something put on them. It (the glow) is fading now but you can still see
it, especially in the dark. It's a mighty odd thing."