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"Expert says Ringl By A??ociated Pres? NKW YORK ? A humane society official says questions were left unanswered by a federal veterinarian's determination that the "living unicorns" on display at a circus arc really evM"" But the circus says it's glad it got a "clcan bill of health" from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "As far as we're concerned, it's a unicorn," said circus spokeswoman Debbie Linde. "A unicorn is an animal with ^ one horn." Gcrflld Toms, the USDA's chief veterinarian in Albany, conducted an inspection Tuesday evening of the animals at Madison Square Garden and pronounced them to be goats. j f i \ | II gg B \ o m v^~"'?1 iMl ?i* 5 ST 8 aTffiHl yRtCTf r<-T^W 3 I HHHHH ling unicorns are c "PERSONALLY, 1 don't mind calling them a unicorn," i oms saiu. it you want to surrender to wnimsy, men mcy re unicorns." In advertisements by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the "unicorn" appears as a beautiful soft-eyed creature with silky white hair and a large horn growing out of the middle of its forehead. Its expression is shy and gentle, like the legendary creature who could be caught only by putting a virgin in its path. Animal lovers called the unicorn and its three understudies a hoax and said it appeared the horns had been implanted. But Toms disagreed, saying it was probable no cruelty or pain was inflicted on them and they were currently being ircaieu wen. 111c veterinarian saiu me unicorns appcarcu u> Watch for Bloom County in The Gamecock. !! ?!*?* ? [\ra HflBwmP B^^IE^^ueSI^HBL : STbL . ^S?p-'a I ' I Awn** - ilMr V^fiKi AN me-horned nnats have undergone a graft in which their own natural horns were moved and made to grow into one. HOWEVER, TOMS said he had asked the circus for records on how they acquired the unicorns, reportedly last year in Houston. He said it was believed the operations were done in California when the goats were very small, so they were mature and had grown their single horns when Ringling Brothers picked up the beasts. "The good news is, the veterinarians seem to believe the goats arc not immediately suffering," said John Kullberg, director of the American Society lor the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who had denounced the unicorn promotion and asked for the federal inspection. O ca Wmm lUfflriB ; 1 ????g I.. I I i 111 i >lit i ' 11 ' . ? I' i ' i. > m, i> . >: