Tuesday 27 October 2009

Snakes and Ladders

The 22-year-old Norwegian recently stopped by Customs officials after arriving back in Norway by ferry from Denmark obviously did not suffer from Arachnophobia, Ophidiophobia or even Herpetophobia.
The officials hopefully did not either.

To begin with, they were in for a smallish surprise after discovering a tarantula in his bag. However, it quickly became evident that he was smuggling animals due the fact that his whole body seemed to be in constant motion. They decided to give the young man a full body search, and their suspicions were confirmed when they found 14 stockings taped around his torso – each one containing a royal python. Not only that - when he dropped his pants they found 10 cans strapped to his legs, each of these containing an albino leopard gecko.

The man is in custody and the reptiles have been handed over to a security firm until the Norwegian authorities have decided what to do with them.

This is, of course, a very serious matter – the smuggling of animals is wrong on every level. However, snakes in stockings wriggling about, causing a hole, then a run (the bane of every woman who dons a pair of hose) does perhaps lead into at least one irresistible pun. Hence the title of this blog.

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