California IN BRIEF : BERKELEY : Radioactive Cat Leaves a Trail

Missing: one radioactive cat. Berkeley police are looking for a feline who apparently ingested a dose of Iodine 131 during a visit to the vet and excreted the substance into a box of Kitty Litter. Although the level of radiation in the feces was low, it was enough to set off an alarm Thursday at the waste disposal site where the city dumps its garbage, said City Manager Michael Brown. The rubbish was denied entry to the Vasco Road site near Livermore and sent back to Berkeley. “This has never happened before,” said John Lydick, compliance manager for Browning Ferris Industries. Lydick said that the radiation detectors are set to detect anything above background levels. Technicians determined that there was no danger, Brown said, but the truck will be kept out of service for eight days--the half-life of Iodine 131. A team from a toxic disposal service will remove the radioactive litter and bury it.