Cash-strapped UK government spends $16,000 on a dead snake

And people complain about the u.s....

In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from political blog Guido Fawkes, the Foreign Office said the 20 foot anaconda - called Albert - had been in poor condition and required "essential maintenance".

"Albert the anaconda was allegedly presented by a Bishop, in what is now Guyana, to the Colonial Secretary in the 19th century", the Foreign Office said.

The huge reptile hangs in a Foreign Office library and is regarded as a departmental asset in a country whose former empire once ruled over vast swathes of the planet.