A RARE grass snake which has caused quite a stink at a pet shop was today due to be released back into the wild by the RSPCA.

The snake travelled to Rossendale from the Spalding Moors in North Yorkshire in a bale of straw delivered to Crawshawbooth farmers the Skillings at Scar Foot.

And although it was found a temporary home at Pet's Corner in Bank Street, Rawtenstall, owner Barbara Ingham will be glad to say goodbye because it releases an appalling smell.

She said: "It's like the odour from a pair of men's socks, worn by someone suffering a severe case of foot rot, who hasn't changed them after a 50-mile hike. It is wicked."

While the bales were being unloaded, the grass snake slithered out. Some of the farm workers were going to kill it, but Julie Skillings was sure it was just a grass snake and decided to save it.

Once the straw was unloaded she collected the snake in a sack and contacted Barbara to see if the pet shop could look after it.

Julie said: "My five-year-old daughter Katie came with me to the pet shop and carried the sack. She asked if snakes bite as she wasn't very happy holding the bag!"

Julie had decided not to release the snake on her farm because she has sheep, cattle, cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits and was not sure what would be on the snake's menu.

Barbara said: "The snake was halfway through shedding its skin so we put it in a tank with some water because it had dehydrated while it was inside the straw.

"It shed the rest of its skin while it was in the tank and has been eating the food we put in there.

"It is happy where it is but it is a good job it is inside a sealed tank. We had to do something to contain the odour."

PC Dale Pollard, Rossendale's wildlife officer, was called in to identify the reptile which turned out to be a rare grass snake, non-poisonous but one which emits a foul odour as a form of defence when distressed.

The reptile is about 30cm long, as thick as a thumb and sports an olive coloured back, yellow underbelly, small black stripes from head to tail and two half-moon shape yellow dots, which look like big tear drops edged in black.

It is an endangered species and so the RSPCA agreed to pick the snake up today and release it into its natural habitat.

Barbara said she had customers who brought in unusual pets before that got too large or difficult to cope with but the snake was a bit of a shock and was certainly the most unusual arrival at the shop in the three years she has had the business.