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Michael Jackson in London: Elephants, Warriors, Parrots & Potter!

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Michael Jackson may have vacated his Neverland abode, but ever since announcing his London concert residency, the King of Pop has brought a bit of Peter Pan-style fantasy back to town.

For his shows, MJ is purportedly bringing backup — in the form of snakes, a panther, tropical birds, three monkeys and an elephant.

“He hopes to make it the most spectacular gig ever. For the jungle section, he wants to ride out on an African elephant with panthers led on gold chains,” a source told UK gossip rag The Daily Mirror. “Parrots and other birds will fly behind him. If it goes to plan it will look incredible.” The show is said to have a jungle, circus and weather theme.

Also on the wishlist: 100 Masai warriors!

Not surprisingly, Jackson’s managers are reportedly less-than-enthusiastic about the theme — due to costs, insurance premiums, and animal welfare laws banning the use of some non-domestic creatures in shows. Even so, the pop legend is said to be “desperate to find a way around it.”

We guess his handlers’ “How about a pony?” counter-offer failed to impress.

In other Jacko residency news, the number of performance dates has ballooned to 50, but Coldplay frontman Chris Martin can’t seem to snag a pair of the more than 750,000 tickets sold so far.

And who did get on the list? Harry Potter and Co. [Fill in your own joke here.]