Mean Mama Pooh-Poohs Pooches

A 19-year-old girl from the city of Aachen was gearing up to spend Christmas with her family, which included two guinea pigs, a dog and seven puppies, when her mother blighted her plans by performing an act so mean in spirit that it could have been the work of Ebenezer Scrooge himself.

Knowing full well the extent of her daughter's affection for her menagerie, which she kept ensconced in her bedroom, the bespoke mother waited for her animal-loving child to leave the house for the day. Once the coast was clear, she stole up the stairs and abducted the squealing guinea pigs, mummy dog and her entire pack of whimpering baby hounds.

She then bundled them into her car and took them on a one-way trip to the local animal refuge center where she handed them over for good. In a bid to make sure her awful deed could not be reversed, she signed a document to say she would, under no circumstances take back her daughter's entourage of four-legged friends.

Upon her return to an eerily silent bedroom, the daughter was horrified to discover all nine of her wards gone. When she turned to her mother and found guilt rather than sympathy or confusion about the mysterious disappearance, the teenager wanted retribution. She stomped off to the local police station where she pressed charges against her misanthropic mother.

Police are investigating the case, and say they hope that mother and daughter can reach some kind of out of court settlement.