World of the Bizarre

'Tiger on the loose' turns out to be a toy

By T.K. Randall
February 6, 2018

Image: Siberian Tiger in the Berlin Tierpark
Credit: A.Savin, Wikipedia / Free Art License A farmer in Aberdeenshire got the fright of his life when he spotted the large orange cat in one of his farm buildings on Saturday night and rushed to phone the emergency services for help.

When police officers - including an armed unit - arrived on the scene however, it turned out that the ferocious beast, far from being an escaped zoo animal, was actually nothing more than a cuddly toy.

"We received a call from an extremely concerned member of the public late on Saturday evening with regards to a wild animal being loose in the grounds of a farm," said Inspector George Cordiner."Unusual as the call may have seemed, any call reporting a potential danger to the public has to be taken seriously and efforts were made to verify the sighting as soon as possible, including starting to make contact with the nearest wildlife park to make sure they did not have an escapee."

"As is standard practice when we are made aware of a potential threat to the public the use of firearms officers was considered as a contingency. In this case, they attended the area in support of the local community officers but they were not deployed nor required."

"We appreciate that it was a false call made with genuine good intent."

Source: BBC News

Tags: Tiger, Toy