Pink used to take a pet rat to school

Pop star Pink used to take a pet rat to school and hide it in her shirt pocket.

The 28-year-old songstress said the rodent would stay out of sight and only pop his head up when he wanted food. "I had a button-down shirt with the one little pocket and I used to take him to school and he'd sit in there and he'd come out for nibbles every once in a while," she told US chat show host Conan O'Brien.

"He was very sneaky, he never got caught. He would come up for little kisses and then go back in."

Pink, real name Alecia Moore, said while her father was not afraid of anything, her mother took longer to get used to her pet.

"It took my Mom a minute," she laughed. "He [the rat] would sleep in the bed with me, but in the middle of the night he would get up and get into the vents that go along the floor.

"He would disappear for three days, so I'd have to lure him out with food - and more kisses.

"Then my Mom would freak out, because he'd end up in her room, but she didn't cry."

Pink has made no secret of her love for animals, and the singer is a prominent campaigner for animal rights organization PETA.

The Stupid Girls star once wrote a letter to Prince William, criticizing him for fox hunting, and told a British newspaper she was disgusted with Beyonce Knowles for wearing fur.

Pink is currently campaigning to get horse-drawn carriages banned from the streets of New York, because she believes them to be cruel.

By Joanne Clements, Jan 17 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy