Faced with a highly unusual rescue, stumped veterinarians in Blairgowrie had to put out a call for specialist help.
The owners of a pet snake were handling the reptile when, with one swift movement, it had squeezed its body into a piece of jewellery.
Sadly for the Strike, the snake then found himself stuck fast, marooned in a necklace hung with four rings worn by Grahame Mustard.
Mr Mustard managed to carefully extricate his son Jayvin’s pet from three of the rings, but a fourth proved too much.
He took the snake to veterinary surgeons in Blairgowrie, where staff realised they needed assistance to extricate their patient without causing it any harm.
Thinking quickly, they transported their patient to a local jewellers to seek the help of staff there.
Minutes later, the pet had become surely the most bizarre customer ever to pass through the doors of Victor and Sons.
After the initial surprise of the task at hand, vets and jewellers, led by business owner George Kusza, joined for a painstaking procedure that saw the ring carefully cut from around Strike’s body.
The jeweller subsequently posted images of the operation, commenting that it “took a while” but that there had been a “successful result”.
Mr Mustard, from Rattray, said: “I think the jewellers were well used to removing items like rings from people who who have found them stuck.
“Thankfully they were able to remove it from Strike – or Wee Eckie as I call him.
“He’s getting some antibiotics but other than that he’s in good fettle.”
Customers and locals praised the jewellers’ for their bravery and their calmness in the face of an unusual request.
One said: “That’s exceptional customer service, all done in the usual calm manner”.
Another friend of the business said simply: “Well done George of the Jungle”.
It’s not the first time the jeweller has been linked to the unusual.
Back in 2013, cufflinks fashioned from the claws of lion that went on the rampage in the town went on display at the business.
The animal escaped from Chipperfield’s Circus when it visited Blairgowrie in July, 1905.
It was eventually killed and the claws were presented to people who had helped corner the animal.
During the chaos, the beast ran amok in the Wellmeadow, children were knocked over in a stampede and two people were shot with stray bullets.
