"Dalí acquired his ocelot in the 1960s (allegedly from the ), and for a time it was seen to accompany him, on a leash and stone studded collar, almost everywhere he went. One of the most popular accounts of Dalí and is that of the painter bringing the wild cat into a Manhattan restaurant and tethering it to his table, causing great alarm to a fellow diner. To appease the woman’s fear, Dalí told her that Babou was nothing more than a normal cat which he had “painted over in an op art design.” Babou was privvy to the high life both at home and abroad – author Suzanne White describes seeing the cat stalking about “on a silken setee located in front of a carved marble fireplace” in Dalí’s living room, while famous images exist of the artist and his pet on a voyage aboard the luxury ocean liner the ."