Beyonce refuses to work with alligator

Beyoncé Knowles has kicked up a fuss about posing with an alligator on a photo shoot for her new album artwork.

The 'Deja Vu' star was supposed to stand in a swamp holding one of the predators for the cover of B'Day, but refused to accept that the reptile was safe to work with.

In an interview with Arena magazine she revealed: "There was a shot where I held an alligator. It had its mouth taped - that was my bright idea. The first alligator they went and got was 13 feet long. They were like, 'He's fine. He just ate.' But then I saw his trainer who had stitches and a bloody head. I said 'No thank you, we'll just have to do it in production.'"

The singer did manage to gather up enough courage to handle a smaller animal, but it turns out that being bitten was not the only thing to be concerned about.

"I did hold a baby one," she continued. "He was really cute, but since his mouth was taped he didn't have any way to defend himself. He was upset so he peed on me. That was an experience."