A kitten hailing from Brandon, Manitoba has been awarded a $1 million grand prize by

the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation in a charity lottery event.

With equal parts embarrassment and amazement, MLC spokesperson Marlene McPherson presented Snowflake—an 11-month old Balinese kitten—with a novelty-sized

 cheque made out to the sum of one million dollars late Friday afternoon.

Snowflake's owner, Margery Kemp, was on-hand to accept the prize money on behalf of her feline companion.

Kemp, 52, had purchased two tickets for the Manitoba Heart and Life Charity Lottery three weeks prior to the draw.

 Like most ticket purchasers, Kemp wrote off the tickets as nothing more than charitable donations and playfully registered one of the tickets

under her new kitten's name.

About three weeks later, a ticket registered to ‘Snowflake Kemp' was randomly selected in the grand prize draw.

"Can you believe it? My cat is actually going to be taking care of me," joked Kemp. "Let's just say Snowflake will be getting only the finest cat food from here on in. I owe her big time."

As bizarre as the situation sounds, MLC lawyers insist that the kitten is lawfully entitled to the prize money.

"Manitoba's laws pertaining to lotto winnings are pretty clear," says Andrew Chow, a senior legal consultant for the MLC.

"The ticket registrant, unless deceased, is the one who gets the money."

For its part, the MLC will be conducting an overhaul of the terms and conditions of its lottery services and products. While Snowflake's bizarre win will

 go down in lottery history books, it is certainly a case no lotto corporation would like to repeat.

~ Happy April Fools!