VIDEO: Zhu Zhu Pet madness

If there was any debate about what this season's hottest toy might be, a group of Black Friday shoppers in Clearwater seems to have settled it. They descended on Zhu Zhu Pets like a pack of starving wolves, tearing through the entire display in seconds.

Employees at the Toys R Us in Clearwater could only watch as the madness unfolded (watch to the left). There were an estimated 1,000 people in line before the store opened, and at one point, store managers asked police to keep an eye on the line, which wrapped around the building.

FOX 13 cameras were rolling as those shoppers immediately raced to the Zhu Zhu Pet display and grabbed as many of the toys as they could carry.

It was hard to pick out one voice above the din, but cries of "Where are you?" and "Pass it! Pass it!" were audible as the boxes disappeared.

"I don't know what we got, but we got it, girl," one woman proclaimed.

After lots of yelling and squealing -- and even a little stiff-arming -- the stack of hundreds of toys was completely gone, all in the space of about 30 seconds.

"I was down on the floor!" one woman remarked after the melee.

"It's madness here at Toys R Us," said one man, who said his wife dragged him out. "I'd say it's worth it. We developed a strategy last night so we came in with a plan. I stand in line while she shops for the stuff."

That strategy may have paid off -- at least for that couple. After their initial rush, shoppers faced a 60-minute wait at the checkout line, giving them plenty of time to familiarize themselves with their purchase.

For the uninitiated, Zhu Zhu Pets are small robotic hamsters that come in five different "characters" and come with a variety of accessories.

Zhu Zhu Pets usually sell for around $7, but individual pets were selling on eBay for $30 or more, and the full set of seven was drawing bids of hundreds of dollars.