P.M. BRIEFING : Snake Gimmick Panics Londoners
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LONDON — A video firm mailed hundreds of Chinese rat snakes with its latest horror film, causing panic when they wriggled out of their boxes and slid across video shop counters.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was flooded with telephone calls. It has placed its inspectors on full alert ready to retrieve the 438 silver-gray non-venomous snakes sent out so far.
The RSPCA called the publicity gimmick cruel and irresponsible. But a spokesman for the video firm CIC Video Distributors said that no cruelty was intended and that the snakes were fed before beginning their postal journey.
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