Hong Kong police find teenager’s missing pet snake inside Sha Tin cinema. Photo: Facebook Hong Kong police discovered a 30cm python inside a Sha Tin cinema. The reptile turned out to be the missing pet of a 16-year-old boy.
The force said staff of the cinema in New Town Plaza shopping centre found the snake in a screening hall yesterday and called police at 11.39am. Police have yet to learn how the animal found its way into the cinema.
A spokesman for the force said the snake had been reported missing by a 16-year-old boy on Wednesday night at Tin Sum Police Station.
The boy and his mother have since retrieved the pet snake.
The force said the snake was a Leiopython, which is a genus of snake in the family Pythonidae.
Hong Kong woman with giant mattress on tram goes viral on social media
According to the website of New Town Plaza, the only cinema inside the mall is Movie Town, which describes itself as the largest in the New Territories.
Movie Town is operated by MCL Cinemas, which posted a Facebook notice yesterday announcing its MX4D theatre would be closed until further notice because of a “special incident”.
MCL Cinemas issued an update at 12.57pm, saying operations had returned to normal, adding affected customers could request a refund or a different screening time if they provided a ticket stub or booking number within 14 days.
It also said that according to guidelines, customers were “strictly prohibited” from bringing pets into its MX4D Movie Theatre, to avoid the animals getting lost and affecting operations.