Animal lovers' fury as pop's gruesome twosome Amy and Pete film bizarre video with baby mice

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Troubled singer Amy Winehouse sparked fresh controversy after a home video was posted on YouTube showing her and Pete Doherty playing with a litter of baby mice.

The clip, labelled "Winemouse", lasts more than two minutes and was taken at Doherty's house in Wiltshire last week.

Shot in eerie blue light, it features the stars picking the rodents up from a small box and pretending to make them talk.

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Under fire: Amy Winehouse with the baby mice on the home video posted on YouTube

Health risk: Amy handles the animals with filthy hands

Yesterday animal welfare experts warned that handling the mice at such a young age could lead to them being killed by their own mother, who would be able to detect they had been "contaminated'"by human contact.

And more than 250 messages were posted on YouTube within 24 hours of the video appearing. Furious animal lovers condemned the pair for their treatment of the babies – and the filthy state of their hands and their dirt-clogged fingernails.

At one point in the video, 26-year-old Winehouse, dressed just in a black bra and shorts, uses the mice to make a bizarre appeal to her husband Blake Fielder-Civil – who is in jail on remand – not to divorce her.

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'Harmless fun': Newly released Pete Doherty on the controversial video

Holding one of the creatures to the camera, she squeeks: "Blake, please don't divorce Amy, she loves you. Wait, my big brother wants to say something."

Doherty, 29, then holds up another of the mice and Amy continues: "If you divorce her you will have me to deal with. I'm only a day old but I know what love is."

The condemnation on YouTube was swift. An animal lover logged on as Skyharbour wrote: "It's one thing to be a druggie. It's another thing to be a druggie and care for animals.

"You couldn't possibly care for animals properly whilst being a druggie! For goodness sake, wash those hands before you handle those babies!"

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Bizarre message: Animal lovers have condemned the pair's actions

Daisydoll said: "Someone save those babies! You two are disgusting and filthy."

While Adyrn68 said: "Please take a bath and stop handling those newborn mice like they are toys."

An RSPCA spokeswoman yesterday said the mice should not have been separated from their mother because they were far too young.

She added: "While Amy is understandably excited and is being gentle with the baby mice, they should be left undisturbed. Smell is critical for small rodents and if babies are contaminated with 'strange' human smells through excessive handling, the mother could eat them."

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Animal talk: The star delivers a message to her husband Blake

Bruce Friedrich, of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: "Amy is very gentle but the mice are way too young to be handled."

Other YouTube users attacked the pair for their appearance. One, logged on as Egsaraname, said: "I hate you guys so much. Look at your nasty fingernails. They have millions of dollars yet look trashy as hell."

Another, Siena706, wrote: "Oh Amy. I used to defend you. Not anymore though. I'm done."

Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks last month for breaking the terms of a suspended sentence for possessing crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamin.

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Gruesome twosome: Amy and Pete hit the town together last week

But he was allowed out last week after his sentence was halved and a further 18 days were taken off under a Government scheme to reduce jail overcrowding.

A spokesman for Amy said the film was "harmless fun".

He added: "As you can see the rodents are in no danger at all. Amy and Pete were just playing around."

YouTube is owned by the internet search-engine company Google.

A spokesman said it did not comment on specific videos but stressed that it had a robust system for dealing with complaints.

 

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