WHILE other pets occupy themselves with a host of playthings, Frankie the ferret is quite hung-up on the one toy that really sets his bells ringing.

Indeed lodgers at Patricia Othen's Hampshire guest-house have had to get used to ferreting around whenever they want to make a call ever since the playful one-year-old took a shine to their mobile phones.

Patricia, from The Polygon, Southampton, said: "He's ever so mischievous. He's taken to stealing my lodgers' mobile phones and running off with them.

"When they go to make a call they discover their phones have gone. I have had to get him his own which he's happy to carry round but it hasn't stopped him stealing."

Animal experts figure Frankie is just responding to the call of the wild.

RSPCA spokeswoman Lucy Clark said: "Carrying these mobile phones could be seen as a way of mirroring natural behaviour in the wild where ferrets carry rabbits to feed their off-spring. They seem to be acting as surrogate prey.

"Ferrets in general are very playful and inquisitive creatures but this is certainly the first time I've heard of one becoming attached to mobile phones."

It's a trait that could well see Frankie go to Hollywood. With his cheeky antics having already built up quite a fan base around his Southampton home, Frankie is now preparing himself for his next taste of fame.

Patricia hopes video recordings of Frankie's various escapades - including popping balloons, stealing toilet rolls and having a bath - will set him on the path to international stardom. "Everybody in The Polygon knows him and the children come over to play with him," said Patricia.

"I thought I'd send several bits of film off to You've Been Framed. They've since written back saying they have filed and copied it for use at some point in the future.

"I also took the videos to America when I went on a two-month holiday and sent it to the equivalent programme there. You never know - he could end up in Hollywood."

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.