Cuddly pets? No, meerkats are savage little home wreckers: Thanks to THAT ad, meerkats have become trendy pets. But as these owners reveal, they're not as cute as they look...
By JILL FOSTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 21:04 GMT, 22 August 2014 | UPDATED: 21:04 GMT, 22 August 2014
Bedtime in Kimmy Rudland’s house is a hectic affair. When the 27-year-old from Ipswich slides under her duvet, she allows her pet meerkats Lawrence and Lola to join her for a cuddle and catch up on a bit of TV before they turn in.
Reclining against her linen sheets, or standing transfixed in front of a cartoon, their native African desert seems a very long way away.
For Kimmy, who lives with parents Debbie and Mark, it’s always a special time.
Kimmy Rudland, pictured, with her pet meerkats Lola and Lawrence love watching THAT ad on television
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Kimmy Rudland, pictured, with her pet meerkats Lola and Lawrence love watching THAT ad on television
‘Lola enjoys cuddling up with me but Lawrence is usually dashing all over the place playing with tassels on clothes or curtains and digging holes in the cushions and carpets. He tips the bin over as meerkats are very food-orientated and he runs out of the door when you open it. He’s very mischievous.
‘Their favourite programmes are anything to do with animals. They love watching Crufts and cartoons. But Lawrence hates anything with a jingle and will run off if he hears one. He saw the comparethemarket.com advert for the first time recently and was terrified. But they both seem fascinated by the little baby meerkat Oleg.’
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The irony is not lost on Kimmy. The insurance advert featuring Aleksandr Orlov, the Russian meerkat puppet, is responsible for one of the most successful — some might argue annoying — marketing campaigns of all time.
Since hitting TV screens in January 2009, Aleksandr and his six relatives have featured in 25 commercials. The latest one stars the impossibly cute baby meerkat Oleg on safari in Africa.
No one could have guessed that a cravat-wearing furry mammal would strike such a chord with the public, but Aleksandr’s popularity has seen the company’s fortunes soar.
Since the meerkats’ arrival, the website has grown by over 700 per cent and owner Douw Steyn has more than doubled his wealth to over £420 million. The advert’s irritating catchphrase ‘Simples’ was even included in the Collins English Dictionary in 2010.
An offshoot website — comparethemeerkat.com — was created featuring blogs, diaries and photos of the meerkat family. Aleksandr has over 67,000 followers on Twitter and over 800,000 people have ‘liked’ his page on Facebook. Meanwhile, more than four million meerkat toys have been collected by consumers who use the website. In short, it’s a marketing phenomenon.
Ailisha Wade, with her pet Meerkat 'Mucky' at their home in Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester
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Ailisha Wade, with her pet Meerkat 'Mucky' at their home in Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester
Yet a disturbing trend has emerged as a result. Captivated by the cute puppets, more and more people are buying real meerkats — known for their endearing habit of standing bolt upright on ‘lookout’ — as domestic pets.
The RSPCA saw a 191 per cent increase in calls about meerkats to their cruelty line in the year following the first advert. Last year it received 27 calls about the animals — up from only five in the year before the ads, with reports of the animals, who live in family groups in the wild, going out of their minds with loneliness.
And they can be smelly, vicious and destructive, too. No wonder new owners soon find the reality of the animal is nothing like the cute TV version they envisaged.
‘It’s a worrying rise,’ says the RSPCA’s Chief Inspector Lee Hopgood. ‘We saw the same thing happen with dalmatians after the release of the film 101 Dalmatians. People see meerkats on screen and think they’re affable little creatures and want one as a pet.
‘But meerkats are group animals. They need to be kept in a family unit in a large enclosure. You can’t keep one in the house like a dog or a cat.’
Alexsandr Orlov has become such a cultural phenomena that in 2010 his catchphrase 'Simples' has made it into the Collins English Dictionary
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Alexsandr Orlov has become such a cultural phenomena that in 2010 his catchphrase 'Simples' has made it into the Collins English Dictionary
Kimmy admits the advert was one of the reasons why she bought Lola and Lawrence — but only because she was alarmed by the ignorance of fellow owners. The zoology graduate insists she is raising the pair responsibly and wants to educate others about these exotic wild animals.
‘As a result of that ad, the first things people ask me are: “Do they speak Russian?” or “Are they going to sell me insurance?”’ she says.
‘Although I love my meerkats and they are my pets, you need to know what you’re doing if you’re keeping them. I’ve been working with animals for many years and run a petting zoo.
‘They’re not something you should buy on impulse, especially not without having visited other people who keep pets in a home environment. Only then will you see how destructive they can be.’
‘Meerkats have the worst bite of any animal I know. I was bitten last year by Lola’s sister Lily. It was an accident, but it almost went down to the bone.
‘The bruise took about three months to heal and the scar is only just fading now. If that was a child it would have caused severe damage and meerkats are known for biting people’s noses, which can cause facial scarring.’
Kimmy bought Lawrence and Lola two years ago after meeting a friend who kept them as pets. They cost over £500 each, although some pet shops charge over £1,000. She now uses them in animal education programmes in schools and workshops for the public. /snip
He just saved the corn snake! 
