Nigerian Pets (I would consider this a must see).

[Renew Deal]

I never label threads must see, but this is sick. This is from a friend of a friend. It's not clear who took them. These are said to be from Nigeria.





Good doggy

[radwriter0555]

1. dang. they make bloodied pitbulls and rotties look cute and cuddly,

don't they?

holy SHIT!

[mouse7]

40. Exotic Pets Investment in Escrow, Please Help!

We have invested in an exotic pets business. Hyenas and baboons are the next huge fashionable pet trend. We have $12 million tied up in exotic pets inventory that is currently beyond our reach. We need someone in America to open a bank account to recieve the $12 million in America. We will split the account with the American friend that helps us. All that is required is for you to send us $5000 dollars to pay the government pet quarantine fees. You will recieve the $12 million from our escrow account 72 hours after we recieve your $5000.

Thank You for your help,

Atu Bestor
111 Main St.
Lagos, Nigeria

[RebelOne]

43. Hey, I have a Rottie and she is cute and cuddly.

[Whitacre D_WI]

2. 1) they are Photoshopped.

2) the truck says "Niger," not "Nigeria." Different country.

[Renew Deal]

3. Nice catch.

I was told Nigeria. What is photoshopped?

[Whitacre D_WI]

5. The chains. The animals. Hell, the people.

It's a bad Photoshop.

[carolinayellowdog]

4. Signs are in English, Niger is francophone

but the Niger river runs through both countries.

[DS1]

10. I see no evidence of this

[Whitacre D_WI]

15. The shadows are going in different directions.

That is to say, the multiple photos these were cropped from had differently positioned light sources. Additionally, the chains are much clearer than the people and the animals. Different resolutions in the photos.

[bubblesby2002]

27. Thanks Whitacre D_WI

I ddn't like those pictures at all. I appreciate you pointing out that they are not real.:hi:

[Renew Deal]

29. I would like to point out that Whitacre is wrong.

And I hope you thank me for that. There is nothing wrong with the shadows. They are all straight down from the sun. Also, look at the first pic. You can see the guy taking the picture in his mirror. What do you think he is taking the picture of, the billboard?

[Whitacre D_WI]

30. I would like to point out that you spelled my name incorrectly.

Normally, I don't give a rat's ass; but if you're going to try to correct me, you should at least take a second to get my name right.

[Renew Deal]

31. Fixed

[Whitacre D_WI]

33. Try again.

BTW -- the Photoshop Genius will look at it this evening to check the resolutions & such. She will report back on her findings.

[Renew Deal]

35. That's cool.

Maybe we can do our own little snopes addition.

[DS1]

50. The Photoshop Genius just did

:hi:

[bubblesby2002]

37. Sure I'll thank you too

I just hate the pictures. If they're real - they're horrible. If they're photoshopped then they're not real and that's way better.

[DS1]

49. Correct, the shadows are fine, the chains will appear to be clear

because they are inherently shiny. The pictures don't have to match resolution, focal depth, time of day, or part of city, they don't even have to be taken in the same country because that was not indicated.

You can't see the chain around the gorilla's neck because the gorilla's neck is furrier than a hyena's.

[Whitacre D_WI]

55. That's not a gorilla.

It is a baboon.

No offense, but I think I'll wait for the opinion of someone I KNOW FOR DEAD CERTAIN can tell me yea or nay.

[DS1]

56. Oooho

None taken :eyes:

Obviously your source has waaaaaay more experience

[Whitacre D_WI]

57. Well, I know for a fact she's been involved in digital photo manipulation

for almost a decade.

You, on the other hand, are an online persona. You could be my mother, for all I know (if so, hi mom :hi:).

If she says it's legit, then I'll be convinced.

[Whitacre D_WI]

58. THE CONCLUSIVE ANSWER TO THE PHOTOSHOP QUESTION:

Inconclusive. Barely.


Look at the crown of the Hyena's head. It is VERY blurred, compared to the rest of the picture. But was that intentional? It's hard to say for sure, but it's ALMOST impossible that this kind of blurring is coincidental:

[Renew Deal]

6. Kick

:kick:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. i take offense to this post

not only is it blantantly photoshopped its also racist...funny people in funny countries with their funny animals....

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. it's photoshopped?

how can you tell...I'm just not seeing it.

Although, from what I've seen of hyena's on the Discovery Channel, I'd say I wouldn't keep one as a pet.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. i think if it were real

my gf who is from nigeria would have at some point mentioned...umm we keep hyenas as pets...

[radwriter0555]

17. This isn't photoshopped.. and why is it so hard to believe that in

a place, far far away, a few nutty fellas would be crazy enough to keep hyenas or baboons as "pets"?

Sigfried and Roy kept white tigers as pets, right?

Some people raise domesticated dogs for fighting to the death.

Russians keep bears for fighting, or as pets or oddities.

People keep snakes as pets.

And there are no english words in any of the signs, it all looks legit to me.

There are several reference for Niger Global on the web, including relief organizations.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. nigeria and niger

are different countries

[Renew Deal]

22. That's not the point.

And how do you know the Niger thing has anything to do with Niger? There is a Bombay Cafe here. Does that mean I am in India?

[libertad]

45. They are not "exotic" in Africa, are they?

I don't see what the big deal is. Hyenas and baboons are native to Africa, aren't they?

[Renew Deal]

21. Take all the offense you want.

It won't make a difference. It's one of the best photoshops I have ever seen if that's the case.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. funnily enough

its americans who think tigers are perfectly acceptable pets

[ZenLefty]

12. Uh, no.

Anyone who knows anything about undomesticateable animals knows they don't make good pets.

Conversely, anyone who thinks a tiger makes a good pet also thinks that hyenas and mandrills make good pets. They probably have a lot in common with animal poachers, smugglers, and illegal traffickers, too.

[oblivious]

13. I think it's probably legit

These guys are money collectors and need to project a tough image.

http://boingboing.net/2004/03/27/hyenas_and_baboons_f.html
http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=5435

[SoCalDem]

14. I don't think they are photoshopped..

I have lived in foreign countries, and it's not unusual to have wild "pets".. If these guys are "gang-types" or drug/gun dealers, these animals would just add to their charisma. They are carnivores, and probably pretty easily fed. The picture seems very plausible to me...

[THUNDER HANDS]

23. the only thing that would strike me as odd

Is that a heyena is a very very strong and powerful animal. Think of a pit bull the size of a German Shepard.

Now times that by 10 and you have a heyena.

[SoCalDem]

38. A hyena that was hand-raised would be a bit more docile

than a wild one.. Look at the circuses..they have lots of powerful and potentially deadly animals, yet, they are "under control"..(most of the time)

[Lorien]

44. Plus, they are highly social animals

with clearly defined social structures. I have a friend who has a pet wolf, and another with pet meerkats. Both animals have similar social groups in the wild, but in captivity they tend to relate to their humans as the pack alpha (both the wolf and the meerkats were strongly bonded to their owners, to the point that neither owner will go on long vacations for fear of the effect on their pets).

Also important to remember that hyenas are not dogs, but are more closely related to mongooses. So it would be a bit more like owning an enormous ferret!

[Lorien]

41. Possibly. The Baboons would be trickier

than the Hyenas as pets, though. An adult baboon can kill a man fairly easily (hyenas, on the other hand, aren't known for that kind of aggression towards humans). The hyenas in these photos are well fed and without the usual scarring found in many adult animals, so if they are photoshopped, zoo animals were probably used. Otherwise, it's quite possible that they are indeed well fed pets.

[blindpig]

51. knew a guy years ago...

who had a male hamadryad baboon. Very impressive, well behaved to the best of my knowledge. Hyenas might be trickier, female dominated hierarchy, I believe.

[Lorien]

60. Yes, they do have a female

dominated hierarchy. When I worked for Disney Animation Jim Fowler brought various African animals to the studio for our study during the making of "the Lion King". Hyena society is much more complex than one might imagine. The artists studied baboons while working on "Tarzan"-scary, scary animals as adults; those canine teeth can be a threat to just about anything!

[RebelOne]

62. Neither do I. Because look at the second photo.

The guys in the car are staring at something, plus the other guy in the street.

[supernova]

16. Exotic pets club monthly meeting?

:shrug:

Urmm. Two hyenas and one baboon in close proximity? I don't think so.
I tend to believe the the bottom one. It's sad but not unusual to see a person have a wild animal as a "pet."

[Renew Deal]

24. Supposedly the hyenas like dead animals.

I don't know if this is true, but they like to eat pre-killed meat (like us).

[THUNDER HANDS]

28. yes, they're mostly scavengers

They usually fight off other animals like solitary lions or cheetahs who have recently killed an animal.

But they are big and mean enough to kill on their own, they're just lazy though.

[Bertha Venation]

18. photoshop or not, maybe you could put "SICK PHOTOS" in your

thread title. Next time. Please. So those of us who weep over shit like this don't look at it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. i will rephrase what i in particular find offensive

every culture has its fair share of weirdos. to pretend that this is a norm in someone elses culture when it isnt, is what i take offense to.

if i posted a thread on a nigerian version of DU and said look at the pets americans keep...and posted tiger/crocs as though it were a norm. would you not be offended?

[ZenLefty]

25. I don't think anyone here thinks that's the case

Assuming it's real, which is debatable, I think we're all smart enough to know that this is not the norm in Nigeria. I never got that impression in the least looking at those photos. :shrug:

[radwriter0555]

46. No more "normal" than a couple of men having white tigers

as pets.

[ZenLefty]

47. Abnormal behavior, indeed.

And dangerous. :o

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. no need to turn into personal attack

i was upset at the pic not at you

[Renew Deal]

36. It's not a personal attack.

You asked how I would feel. I told you.

[chenGOD]

39. I certainly don't think this is the norm...

and from the looks those guys seemed to be getting in the pictures, I don't think many Nigerians do either.

A quick side-bar: people from Nigeria are referred to as Nigerians. How does one refer to people from Niger?

[jmowreader]

63. Believe it or not...

Nigeriens. They speak French.

Found it on the "Lycos Travel" site at http://vacations.lycos.com/packages/show_country.asp?countryid=NE -- where the most important question was not asked: "This is a third-world shithole; why in FUCK would you want to go there?"

[Donkeyboy75]

54. I don't think it was posted as if it were the norm.

I certainly didn't take it this way.

Perhaps you underestimate DUers awareness of the outside world, although I don't blame you for doing this to America as a whole.

[bhunt70]

32. crazy pics - i dont see whats offensive.

[RebelOne]

42. These photos were posted at the 419eater site

a few weeks ago. 419eater is a scam baiter of those Nigerian scam mails.

[ZenLefty]

48. Amazing.

This thread sank like a rock yesterday with 5 posts (sorry, Bleachers, but it did). Today it's a mild flame war. :D

[Kellanved]

52. third picture

The pictures have been posted on many blogs, I'm not too sure about them being authentic.

http://www.bizarsite.nl/Nigeriaanse%20geld%20ophalers.html

[ZenLefty]

53. Reflection off the car's hood

You can see the reflection of the hyena's heads (the chain too) in the reflection off the car's hood. It's distorted by parabolic abberation, but it's there, right up near the tip of the hood.

[Whitacre D_WI]

59. THE CONCLUSIVE ANSWER (for those who missed it above)

Inconclusive. Barely.

It's PROBABLY a Photoshop.

Look at the crown of the Hyena's head. It is VERY blurred, compared to the rest of the picture. But was that intentional? It's hard to say for sure, but it's ALMOST impossible that this kind of blurring is coincidental:

[Canuckistanian]

61. I did some more research

It seems to have originated from a Dutch website. The original title of the pics was "Nigerian Debt Collectors" (in Dutch).

Here's what the originator said:
Nigerian - Money Collectors of just pets?

Comment: recieved these 3 images via email about two weeks ago. they were taken by guys who work for a south african cellphone company and were sent up to nigeria from johannesburg. i've been trying to track the person who took them down via the person who sent me the email. i managed to get to their door and after that - no further. they were taken through the window of a car (as you can see for yourself). whether they are money collectors is open for discussion. i heard other stories, but they may not be the truth so i won't repeat them here. staying in south africa (i do), you get a lot of misconception about what goes on here. no there's no wild animals roaming in the streets, but fuck - nigeria seems to be a different story. these images have triggered a curiosity in me that i want to satisfy. i want to go there and check it out for myself. yeah - and theres nothing exotic about the bottom feeders of nature. hyena's hunt in packs and will rarely attack a live prey. the feed on carcasses lions leave behind. but as egads have correctly said - they have the strongest jaws of all mammals. i WILL NOT fuck with a guy who has a hyena on a leash. or a male baboon for that matter.

Meer info: De Gevlekte Hyena

[RebelOne]

64. Another Nigerian pet photo