Chalkware Shmoo

Cartoonist Al Capp created an armless pear-shaped character called the Shmoo in his daily "Li'l Abner" comic strip. The unusual creature loved humans. A Shmoo laid eggs and bottles of Grade A milk in an instant, and would gladly die and change itself into a sizzling steak if its owner merely looked at it hungrily. Its skin was fine leather, its eyes made perfect buttons and even its whiskers made excellent toothpicks. Shmoos are the world's most amiable creatures, supplying all man's needs. Shmoos multiplied much faster than rabbits, they reproduced so prodigiously they threatened to wreck the economy. Eventually because of this, Shmoos are officially declared a menace, and systematically hunted down and slaughtered—because they were deemed "bad for business".