Dalai Lama makes case for animal rights at Irwin's zoo

Beerwah, Australia -- With creatures great and small around him, the Dalai Lama called Wednesday for a halt to lab experiments on animals and made the case for eating only fruits and vegetables -- all at the zoo of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

The spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists delicately handled a Burmese python and petted a koala as he was feted like a rock star at Australia Zoo, speaking int a sold-out crowd of 5,000 at its open-air "Crocoseum."

"Hunting, beef, sheep farms, piggeries, millions, billions, die," the Dalai Lama said. "We can be so cruel to animals."