RUBBER SNAKE PANIC AT YACHT CLUB

Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Southend-on-Sea, Essex was evacuated by two community support officers after they spotted a cobra curled around the handlebars of a bike. Having raised the alarm and called the Dangerous and Wild Animal Rescue Facility in nearby Great Wakering for assistance, the PCSOs discovered that the snake was in fact a rubber toy.
By that time specialist, Iain Newby was virtually at the scene of the panic. He told journalists, 'I grabbed all the kit I would need to protect myself from a venomous snake, including a snake hook and my snake stick, which I need to grab snakes to stop them biting... I spotted the officers beside the yacht club boat yard when they said it was a rubber model. I must admit I laughed and asked if I could keep the snake.'
It may well have been somewhat amusing false alarm but Mr Newby had nothing but praise for the way the red faced officers dealt with the situation. 'More and more people are keeping things like this as pets and it's not impossible for them to get loose... So they did exactly the right thing while they were not sure what they are dealing with, as even rubber snakes are getting more and more accurate.'
PCSO Tristan Adams added, 'It was only a very realistic replica snake, but I'd rather we'd over-reacted to a false alarm than ignored a real emergency.'
Thank god the Rescue Facility didn’t send Samuel L Jackson.

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