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France Gives Hybrid Animal to Quebec

3:06 PM, Jul 1, 2008 • By JAIME SNEIDER
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In celebration of Quebec's 400th anniversary, France created a special hybrid animal that reflects the dual French and North American heritage of the city:

"The Vachibou is a hybrid animal with a very short lifespan," quipped a spokesman for the French consulate. The peculiar mascot, designed for the quadricentennial and dubbed "Vachibou" -- combining the French word for cow with the name for local wild reindeer -- was unveiled by former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in February. The chimeric hybrid, crafted by a young French graphic designer, was meant to invoke the dairy cattle of Normandy, where Quebec's first settlers originated, and the wild caribou that roam Quebec's tundra.

As descendants of the French, it goes without saying Quebec officials did not accept the gift gracefully. Rather, they "pointed out that the antlers atop the mascot belonged to a moose, not a caribou." The Vachibou has endured so much mockery that officials reveal it has apparently gone into hiding. No doubt it is looking at itself in a mirror, screeching, "I'm hideous! Why couldn't I have been born a liger?"

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