In Which We Are Proven Right Once And For All

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have been warning people about the Animal Uprising™ for a long time now. Yet despite all our hard work, some people think we make things up. Or that we're doing this to be humorous – to make people laugh. But our thoughtful and moderately-worded warnings are actually quite serious and always at least as truthful as a Reuters/Adnan Hajj photograph. So it pains us when people think we make up things like snakes having a weird fascination with shoes. (We still haven't found the informant who gave us that information, incidentally. We thought we had reached her by phone a few times, but the line kept going dead.)

So it does our hearts good when the so-called major media finally wakes up to the reality we have been reporting all along. We hate to say we told you so, but the AFP is reporting on snakes and shoes! So there!

But to guard a 62,000 pound (120,000 dollar) pair of ruby- sapphire- and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals at their London launch, retailer Harrods went to extreme lengths: bringing in a live Egyptian cobra to patrol the shoe counter.

Whether hiring a poisonous snake is, strictly speaking, the most effective means of guarding precious footwear might be a moot point with security experts.

But it makes for a pretty effective photo opportunity.

So now the lucky lady who gets the lovely "ruby- sapphire- and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals" will actually be getting used goods. The snake tried them on.