Snake 'befriends' snack hamster\ gorilla coat seized.2 news items from uk

[IamOne]

Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster

A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal.
The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.
"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated Press News agency.
The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice, the Associated Press news agency reports.
As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal.
"I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto told the Associated Press news agency. The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.

Police take Brother 'gorilla' fur


Singer Pete Burns has said he supports wearing animal furs

Police have seized a "gorilla coat" belonging to Celebrity Big Brother contestant Pete Burns.
Officers from the Hertfordshire Constabulary took the coat from the Big Brother house on Thursday after a number of complaints from viewers.
A spokeswoman for the force said: "The coat will now be tested."
Last week a government minister warned Burns could face jail for wearing a gorilla fur. Owning a gorilla skin without a permit is illegal in the UK.
'Number of complaints'
Burns said the coat was made from gorilla fur when he entered the Big Brother house at the start of the series in early January.
The police spokeswoman added: "Following a number of complaints from members of the public regarding a coat taken into the Big Brother house by Pete Burns, the coat in question has been handed across to police officers from Herts Constabulary."
A spokesman for the Channel 4 programme confirmed the fur had been taken.
"We have passed the coat to police for investigation. Pete is aware of the situation." he said.
Animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) welcomed the police action. "We have been encouraging our supporters to vote Pete Burns out of the house at every opportunity," a spokeswoman said. "Whether it's a gorilla coat, a mink coat or a fox coat, all animals suffer equally at the hands of the fur trade."

[renegade600]

just don't feed the snake for a while and the hamster will be gone.

[Jintan]

In Japan? They're both living on borrowed time.

[IamOne]

dont know whats happened to the "gorilla" coat.

[Nick Grana]

Gave it back to the gorilla population to take turns wearing.
Man, these animal activist cry over the smallest thing. Well, in this case, probably pretty large. I want snake skin boots after the snake eats the hamster.

[psi_overtake]

Originally Posted by renegade600

just don't feed the snake for a while and the hamster will be gone.

Funny... cruel...... then right back to funny again. xD

[AnnMarie]

Heart of a Lioness and an update to the story.

[IamOne]

Celebrity Big Brother gossip What was Pete's coat made of?
So, it turns out that Pete Burns's coat wasn't, in fact, made from gorillas. Instead, it has been created from beautiful black and white colobus monkeys, which live in Africa.

Officers swooped on the Big Brother house yesterday to remove the coat for testing, following a series of complaints from viewers. If the coat had been made of gorilla fur, Pete could have been in breach of endangered animals laws. But the matter has now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether the coat contravenes importation rules.

Experts from the Natural History Museum in London analysed the coat and said it was in a "relatively poor condition". It had also been relined at some point. But the colobus monkey is still an endangered animal - and dealing in their fur carries a penalty of up to five years. Ian Redmond, chief of the UN's Great Apes Survival Project, said: "Regardless of legal issues, there's a moral issue too because Pete and Channel 4 could be said to have promoted the killing of wild animals for fashion." Maybe the police should have swapped the coat for a real gorilla - then we could all have seen how Pete would like that.

[IamOne]

when will people realise that fur looks best on the creatures they came from.

[psi_overtake]

Monkeys wearing another monkey's fur... how weird would that look? lols~

But I do get what ya mean, IamOne. =)

[Nick Grana]

when will people realise that fur looks best on the creatures they came from.

Not if the creature is dead. Once killed, he/she doesn't really give a craaaaaap. I go for a polar bear hide but it's way too cold where they live to attempt it.
I wear hides from cows and it looked better on them. I wear hides from sheep but they don't really mind as it grows back.(well the shearing process does)

[IamOne]

Originally Posted by Nick Grana

Not if the creature is dead. Once killed, he/she doesn't really give a craaaaaap. I go for a polar bear hide but it's way too cold where they live to attempt it.
I wear hides from cows and it looked better on them. I wear hides from sheep but they don't really mind as it grows back.(well the shearing process does)

Thet dont just kill cows for their hides( do they), sheep are different though it grows back.