Hungry Mosquitoes Ignore the Script, Chomp on Audience

Starved mosquitoes ignored the script of a publicity stunt today and descended on an audience of businessmen and journalists, leaving them bitten, swollen and itching.

The makers of a new mosquito repellent had smeared the product over a model and put her in a cage with more than 3,000 Indian mosquitoes that had been starved for three days to sharpen their appetite.

But the mosquitoes got out of the cage and went straight for the audience sitting in a London restaurant.

It was “pretty inept,” said entomologist Peter Cranston, who was at the event to give a short lecture on mosquitoes. He said the insects were “known to be pretty virulent as biters, and given the chance they will go for it.”

The model didn’t suffer any bites.