Kathleen Cochrane's Cat Attack Makes Waves on YouTube and the Net

What should have been a routine news story about a couple charged with animal abuse turned into a media frenzy for Fox 8 Cleveland's Kathleen Cochrane. We've all seen these bits before. The correspondent appears to look natural in what is usually a completely unnatural setting for them. In this case, it was an animal shelter and the incident that occurred would make Kathleen, known only in Cleveland before Tuesday, a national sensation.

During Fox 8's live newscast, Kathleen could be seen looking into the camera, recounting the story of a couple who had been charged with killing two cats by throwing them from a moving vehicle. The story was a tragic one, but no one could take their eyes off what was in Kathleen's arms. Growling low and attempting to jump down, Kathleen held one of the shelter's cats, no doubt to give the story a little extra emotional jolt.

Most anyone watching could see what Kathleen couldn't. Like watching a train wreck, the cat continued to growl and attempted to paw its way down. Then Kathleen made the move that would take her from Kathleen Cochrane for Fox 8 to Kathleen Cochrane, internet sensation. She shook the cat.

The cat turned around in Kathleen's arms, tearing at her face and causing Kathleen to let the cat fall to the ground. For a second, viewers can see Kathleen in shock, holding her face as she attempts to recover. It even appears as if she's about to let a few tears of shock flow. The camera pulls away and follows the cat, allowing Kathleen a moment off camera to recover. Soon, the camera finds its way back to Kathleen, who finishes the story and attempts to save face.

However, this is the age of instant media. Soon, clips of the "cat attack," as the clip has become known, surfaced on YouTube. Within days, the clips jumped in number and their views reached over 200,000. The clip was cited in national media and before long, even Fox 8 couldn't ignore the frenzy.

Kathleen reappeared on the next day's 6:00 newscast to recount her own tale of the "cat attack." She explained that it was simply the lights and her voice projecting that had upset the cat. According to Kathleen, she hadn't been crying. Only laughing.

In 1989, this would have been enough. The clip might have even wound up on America's Funniest Bloopers, but this is 2007 and the video was already on YouTube. Soon, blogs filled with embedded feeds of the clip and everyone had to weight in on what Kathleen should and shouldn't have done.

"It's painfully obvious with this 'follow-up' (Kathleen's) strictly on damage control, looking millions of viewers in the face and lying." One YouTube user comments. "You take us for a load of idiots or something?" The comments continue from diatribes on the evils of cat declawing to how dogs are better than cats.

Kathleen recently took to her own blog to give further details of the incident, but internet denizens just can't seem to get enough of the story. Whether or not Kathleen can build upon the momentum of the clip or simply lets it slide into the not-so-distant memory of the internet will become clear in the coming weeks.

As for the cat, well, it's definitely seen more attention than before Kathleen Cochrane walked into its life. Perhaps the cat, known as Becky, can find her own way to cash in on the clip's success.