A week ago, mosquitoes were so thick in parts of Baker Valley that cattle herds gathered in groups as if under attack from predators, and the swarming insects prevented ranchers from venturing outside to feed and water livestock.

NEW YORK — Ears twitching wildly, Nikki and Lucy hovered near the telephone, aroused by the caller on the other end. He was their "cat whisperer," and the girls had something to tell me: "Their food tastes like sawdust."

The video, taken at a California slaughterhouse, graphically shows a number of prone cattle - some crippled and others ill - being beaten about the head with brooms, poked in the eyes and face with electric prods, dragged by chains and rammed by forklifts

Meridian Animal Health, a new Omaha-based companion animal health company, introduces Ectopamine(TM), a line of natural flea, tick and mosquito control topicals for cats and sprays for dogs and cats available exclusively through veterinarians.

Ears twitching wildly, Nikki and Lucy hovered near the telephone, aroused by the caller on the other end. He was their cat whisperer" and the girls had something to tell me: "Their food tastes like sawdust."