
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990                   TAG: 9003161944
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BRASILIA, BRAZIL                                 LENGTH: Short

QUAYLE REJECTS, GENTLY, GIFT OF THREATENED CUBS

Vice President Dan Quayle found himself in a bit of a diplomatic pickle when the president of Paraguay gave him a pair of cuddly jaguar cubs - members of an endangered species.

It was decided diplomatic protocol required him to accept the cubs, which he was given while visiting Asuncion on Monday. "We learned about them three days before the trip started. We tried to discourage it. We were told the president had his heart set on it," an aide who requested anonymity told reporters. So Quayle planned to give the cubs to a zoo. But the National Zoo in Washington wouldn't take the jaguars because of their endangered status, and an environmental group protested their being taken from the wild.

So Thursday, Quayle sent Assistant Secretary of State Bernard Aronson to tell Paraguayan President Andres Rodriguez that Quayle "would prefer that the jaguars be released into the wilds of Paraguay to benefit future generations of Paraguayans," the aide said.

There was no indication how Rodriguez reacted. - Associated Press

by CNB