Top 12 drunken animal stories

When it comes to animals behaving badly, we’ve seen it all at db.

From a wry little pony getting merry in a Kent pub to beer stealing pig Francis Bacon, who was banned from the Conquering Hero in West Norwood last year for head butting patrons.

Add beer-soaked badgers, boozed-up birds and hungover hedgehogs to the mix and we have enough naughty animal antics for a round up.

If we’ve missed any battered beasts off our list then let us know.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bladdered birds

In late 2014, boozed-up birds were found to be falling from the sky in Canada after getting drunk on frost-fermented berries. Wildlife officials were called upon in the Yukon to help sobre up flocks of Bohemian waxwings after a number of crash landings.

According to reports by The Toronto Star, a number of residents reported seeing several birds feasting on the berries of Mountain Ash trees before flying off erratically and crashing into windows.

Unable to fly in a straight line, officials detained the inebriated birds in makeshift “drunk tanks”, essentially hamster cages, until the effects wore off.

The species is renowned for their especially large livers, however an increased need to fill up on fruit ahead of the long winter can cause the birds to overindulge.

Derek Matthews, chair of the Vancouver Avian Research Centre, told the National Post: “There are many, many records of waxwings drinking themselves almost to death by eating more fermenting berries than their bodies can handle. They either die from ruptured livers, or by flying quasi-drunkenly into plate-glass windows.”

Punch drunk pig

Francis Bacon is a very naughty pig. Last March he was banned from the Conquering Hero pub in West Norwood for stealing pints and head-butting patrons.

The Vietnamese micro pig’s owners, landlords Vicky and Ian Taylor-Ross, noticed she was finishing off the dregs of customers’ glasses, head-butting punters under the tables and raiding the pub’s bar snack stocks.

On one occasion, Bacon snaffled a bag of dry-roasted nuts and, a little disturbingly, pork scratchings, which she has a particular liking for.

The Vietnamese pot-belly “doesn’t have a clue that pork scratchings are her relatives”, said Mrs Taylor-Ross, who described the pig as “just like a dog, only craftier” and a “loveable menace”.

Customers were known to give the four-year-old pig a sip of their beer, perhaps after she had head butted them under the table.

Mrs Taylor-Ross added: “We have had to put locks on the bar to stop her coming in and stealing crisps and scratchings.

“She has an incredible sense of smell. She eats a special dry feed for micro-pigs and eats all our vegetable peelings – as long as she’s not eating her relatives it’s OK.”

Squiffy squirrel 

Last March shaky footage emerged of a squirrel who had indulged in one too many fermented crab apples.

The film, which shows the rodent attempting to make its way home, went viral after it was posted online.

Throughout the clip the squirrel is seen comically bouncing up and down and struggling to make its way through the snow in a straight line.

Blotto bears

In the summer of 2012, a family of bears broke into a holiday cabin in Norway and drunk over a hundred cans of lager.

The bears got into the cabin through a window and proceeded to drink the family’s beer supply, eat all the food in the kitchen – including chocolate, honey and jam – and then smash up the furniture.

The owner of the cabin, Even Borthen Nilsen, returned home with his family to discover dozens of empty beer cans.

“They have bitten into the cans and drunk the beer,” Nilsen told Finnmarken newspaper.

“They had a hell of a party in there. The entire cabin was destroyed. The beds and all kitchen appliances, stove, oven and cupboards and shelves were all smashed to pieces.

“It’s almost like it was taken out of Goldilocks and The Three Bears.”

Giddy gorilla

Last February, a 550 pound silverback gorilla called Jock tried to pick a fight with an unsuspecting photographer after getting drunk on fermented bamboo stems.

Christophe Courteau, a wildlife photographer, was in Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains capturing images of his group when the gorilla unexpectedly charged at him, as reported by The Telegraph.

The 46-year-old said that after hitting him “like a rugby player”, the gorilla pushed past him and ran through the forest to chase away another male who was trying to attract the attention of a female in his group.

Courteau believes the incident was fuelled by the alpha male’s consumption of fermented bamboo stems, which can cause gorillas to become “extremely drunk and excitable”, according to Cousteau.

Battered bager

Last July a badger had to be taken to an animal shelter after it was found passed out on a beach in Poland, surrounded by seven empty beer bottles.

Wandzia, a female badger, is believed to have stolen the bottles from beach-goers, and “removed the caps with her teeth”, as reported by The Guardian.

She proceeded to down the lot, passing out on the beach in the Baltic seaside town of Rewal before being rescued and taken to a nearby animal shelter.

“Oh, youth. Oh, summer holidays,” animal shelter Dzika Ostoja joked on in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“We found Wandzia drunk, surrounded by seven [empty beer] bottles. There were two more in the bushes, so it’s possible Wandzia began partying there. Haha.”

Hungover hedgehog 

Last June a tiny hedgehog was found passed out in a gutter having downed a bottle of discarded Advocaat.

The hedgehog was found by the Dierentehuis Arnhem en omstreken animal rescue center in Arnhem, Holland.

“If you compare him to a human he is the guy collapsed outside the pub at 6am in the morning,” animal rescuer Osuuin Geushans told Caters News at the time.

“It would be natural for him to curl into a ball but at the moment he is just lying there and if you try to touch him he makes a little noise like ‘eurrgh’ get off me and he is snoring.

“We think maybe it was the egg that attracted him to the bottle and he got really drunk. Or perhaps he got some of the liquid on himself and he was trying to lick it off.”

Merry moose

In Alaska it is illegal to serve alcoholic beverages to a moose.

While cracking open a beer with a moose is not high on most people’s list of priorities, it seems the notion of preventing drunken moose is a wise one.

In November 2014, Swedish authorities watched on as a “severely drunk” moose struggled to free itself after getting stuck in a tree after eating too many fermented apples.

Happily, the 1,500 pound moose was eventually able to slide itself out of the tree to sleep off its inevitable hangover.

Pissed pony

This August, Mocha the Shetland pony broke into the Ascot Arms in Gravesend, having seized the opportunity on a quiet Monday morning to break free from his paddock.

Heading straight for the beer, the playful pony is reported to have helped himself to a few slurps of leftover beer before being lured back outside by landlord Mihaly Herczeg, as reported by The Mirror.

“I used carrot but I think he’d love pork scratchings if we dared give them to him”, he said.

“He is not a big drinker but he does walk around like he’s a bit drunk but he is very friendly and likes meeting new things and people.”

The amusing incident sparked many a horse pun, with one joker suggesting that perhaps Mocha was simply looking for a little “horse-pitality”.

Sozzled spaniels 

Just yesterday we reported that a pair of naughty spaniels were in the doghouse with their owners after getting tipsy on Advocaat at their home in Gateshead.

As reported by the BBC, booze hounds Martha and Oscar needed to be treated by the vet after drinking Advocaat knocked over by black-and-white spaniel Brecon.

Martha was found “staggering and swaying” in the garden by owners Fiona and Anthony Robson, while Oscar looked “drowsy and depressed” after the incident.

The rebellious pair were taken to Prince Bishop Veterinary Hospital in Consett where they were made to be sick and vet Emma Hindson fed them activated charcoal to absorb the remaining alcohol.

“Alcohol affects pets in the same way it does humans, so Oscar and Martha were quite tiddly when they arrived,” Hindson said.

“This was an unfortunate accident and their owner did the right thing by bringing them in immediately for treatment. Everything turned out fine and they could go home,” she added.

Sloshed squirrel

Last July, a cheeky squirrel made the national news after breaking into a private members’ club, drinking from its beer tap and causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

When the secretary of the Honeybourne Railway Club in Worcestershire arrived to open up the venue, he first feared that a person had broken into the premises, such was the damage.

Describing the scene Sam Boulter told the BBC that the floor was covered in beer, money, smashed bottles and glasses.

Fearing the worst, Boulter was perhaps relieved to spot a squirrel “staggering around”, emerging from behind a box of crisps.

“He had obviously run across the bar’s pumps and managed to turn on the Caffrey’s tap”, said Boulter.

“He must have flung himself on the handle and drank some as he was staggering around all over the place and moving a bit slowly. I’ve never seen a drunk squirrel before. He was sozzled and looked a bit worse for wear, shall we say”.

Mr Boulter said the rampaging squirrel, which was eventually caught and released out of a window, had cost the club around £300.

Paralytic pig

Back in September 2013, a feral pig caused havoc at an Australian campsite after drinking up to 18 cans of beer and then going on a drunken rampage.

The pig stole the beer that had been left out by campers at the DeGrey River campsite in Port Hedland, Australia.

After guzzling the three six-packs the pig went on to ransack rubbish bin in search of food before starting a fight with a cow.

One witness told Australia’s ABC News: “It was in the middle of the night and it was these people camping opposite us and they heard this crunching of the can and they got their torch out and shone it on the pig and there he was scrunching away at their cans.

“Then he went and raided their rubbish that they had sort of covered over with a bin as well. And then there was some other people camped right on the river and they saw him running around their vehicle being chased by a cow.

“It was going around and around and then it went into the river and swam across to the middle of the river.”

Fionna Findley, of government agency Main Roads, told ABC that the agency was trying to find the aggressive animal.

She said: “It was last seen near the river itself, under a tree. I think it’s nursing its head today. Our guys aren’t equipped to contain or control these wild animals, especially under the influence.

“The guys who attended the scene said they had a chat to the guys and they were more upset the pig stole their beer.”