Drunken animals: they like alcohol too

Drunken animals: they like alcohol too

In some case drunken animals have eaten fruit or bamboo that has fermented but often they thieve alcohol and drink it and become really dangerous

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Brunello, Casato Prime Donne

The Drinks Business tells us about 12 episodes of drunken animals, some are funny and some area really horrific for those involved.

There are some Canadian birds that get tipsy eating frozen and fermented berries. The authorities who act in the safeguard of animals have been forced to capture them and lock them up to get over the hangover and stopping them from flying dangerously

Francis Bacon is a Vietnamese pig who finds his way into the Conquering Hero pub in West Norwood to thieve pints of beer and other delicacies. Its owners Vicky and Ian Taylor-Ross noticed that he is sociable like a dog but he does have an extraordinary nose. What a shame to not use it for truffles! In Australia wild pigs thieve beer cans on a camping site. They break them with their teeth and drink the contents. The tourists’ comments are hilarious, with pigs running after cows, swimming in the river and then fortunately, falling soundly asleep. More than scared the campers seem to be angry because of the theft of the beer.

Then there is a squirrel that eats fermented apples and jumps o the snow without going straight. The video has gone viral and has been seen more than 5 million times. Some drunken animals are not funny though, they are dangerous. In Norway in 2012 a family going back to their chalet found that some bears had made their way in, and had drunk about 100 cans of beer from the pantry then they had eaten all the food, and under

the influence of alcohol had destroyed furniture and electrical appliances and everything else. Fortunately the family was out! But this is not the only dangerous episode: last year in February in the Virunga mountains in Ruanda a 250 kg gorilla attacked a photographer while another gorilla tried to catch a woman’s attention. These gorillas had got drunk on bamboo stems and seemed to be very irritable.

In Alaska it is forbidden to give elks alcohol. This is because drunken elks do incredible things. In November 2014 a 700 kg elk tried to climb up a tree after having eaten fermented apples. Then there was Mocha the Ascot pony who runs away to go to the pub and the squirrel that entered the Honeybourne Railway Club and after getting drunk created damages for a total of 300 pounds between broken bottles and glasses. Apart from damages, these small animals when drunk create fewer risks: like a female badger that drank beer robbed off the swimmers at the Baltic beach Rewal in Poland. She was found unconscious next to 7 bottles she had opened with her teeth!

Hedgehogs also get drunk. In this case a Dutch hedgehog licks Advocaat the creamy liqueur made with eggs, sugar and brandy, form a bottle that had been thrown away. Probably attracted by the sweet taste, e was found semiconscious sleeping without curling   into a ball as they usually do. Advocaat is also liked a lot be dogs that lick it up happily until they fall unconscious. This was the case of two spaniels who were admitted at the Prince Bishop Veterinary Hospital in UK to be treated with activated charcoal to absorb the remaining alcohol.