Society’s Strange Pets.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXV, Issue 3, 22 July 1905, Page 60

Society’s Strange Pets.

A predilection for strange pets seems to be on the increase among the feminine members of society, though, of course, it is a phase through which many a generation has passed from time almost immemorial. Few would care to emulate the example of the lady who goes about with a living animal curled round her neck as a fur boa, nor would many follow Madame Sarah Bernhardt by cultivating the companionship of a tame leopard, likely to prove at any moment an uncertain quantity. At the theatre the other night a chameleon was seen to run up and down the curtains of a box, while the juxtaposition _of a snake coiled round the arm of another occupant of the theatre would not be likely to add to any ordinary person’s enjoyment. Marmosets, hares, monkeys, and beetles are the favourites of well-known people and the trial of their friends, who find a difficulty in showing enthusiasm for such strange animals as domestic pets.