Dire days call for severe solutions, a Beverly Hills put supply seller pretends to believe.
Mike Palmer, owner of eight Premier Pet Supply shops, poses in what looks like an early Halloween costume.
The imaginative retailer, shown at his 28-year-old Beverly Hills flagship store on Southfield Road, wears a "recovery cone" -- typically used to keep dogs from scratching or biting areas treated by a veterinarian.
Palmer's stunt is promotional gold -- shared over 1,800 times in three days and covered by the Free Press.
"Sometimes, in many very serious moments, I think we have to find something to laugh about or something to show that we can still have a sense of humor through it all without overdoing it as far as worry," the Novi resident tells the paper.
Speaking of overdoing it: In an due-dilligence effort at comprehensive journalism, the Detroit reporter seeks a Lansing agency's official view of Palmer's satirical safeguard.
Lynn Sutfin, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email that she can't speak to the effectiveness or practicality of using a cone for illness prevention.
Ohh-kay then, guess we won't try this after all.
