South Africa, Sept. 28 -- In Philip K. Dick's science fiction classic, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the book that was to become better known as the inspiration for the movie Blade Runner), the characters, left on a dystopian post-apocalyptic Earth are obsessed with possessing animals. A living animal of any sort (the bigger the creature, the better) is a highly sort-after status symbol.

Those, like the protagonist, who cannot afford to own and keep a live animal (which in the book can cost many months' worth of income) resort to purchasing fake "electric" (android) animals in order to keep up with the Joneses.

Who would buy an electric sheep?

The premise seems ridiculous. Who would buy an electric sheep? Why would anyone kill ...