What's Cuter Than A Mascot Holding A Box Of Kittens?

Those feisty folks at PETA are at it again. This week's target of their ire? The Denver Nuggets. Apparently the Nuggets involved a few live animals during a game and the animal rights organization is none too pleased, calling for action on their website.

During a recent Denver Nuggets basketball game, Rocky, the team's costumed mascot, paraded around the game floor with two live tiger cubs, whom he held up in the air as the fans roared and screamed. Fans were also able to have their photos taken with the cubs. Rocky next came onto the court with a cardboard box full of kittens, announced that they were free to anyone who wanted one, and proceeded to pass them out to the crowd.

Sounds like the best arena giveaway ever to me. So what's the problem?

Handing kittens out like candy to any spectator who wants one is a virtual death sentence for the animals. All too often, people who acquire cats on a whim discover that caring for them is more work than they expected, and the animals end up dumped on the streets, abandoned in extremely crowded animal shelters, or obtained by unscrupulous individuals who sell them to laboratories or use them in dogfights or rituals.

Damn you, Michael Vick! Ruined it for everybody. Although a ring full of kittens might just make for the cutest illegal dogfight ever.