When a farmer called police to report a tiger in his cow shed threatening to devour his pregnant bovines, police and first responders faced off against the fierce animal for 45-minutes before realizing it was actually a stuffed animal.
Scottish farmer, Bruce Grubb, was throwing a housewarming party Saturday night when he noticed an unwelcomed guest camped out in his cow shed, nested comfortably amongst his pregnant cows. Panicked that his cows would soon become food for the hungry cat, he called police for help.
Peterhead Inspector George Cordiner said, “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 in the Hatton area.”
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.
When North East Police arrived, Grubb said one officer was too frightened of the vicious kitty to even exit his squad car.
Photographs of the tiger were sent to the control room where a North East Police sergeant confirmed it was definitely real. Numerous responders were dispatched including three ARV’s and a dog handler, being sent to the farm to capture the hungry beast. Police contacted a local wildlife park to inquire about any animals missing from the tiger enclosure.
According to radio updates, it was unclear if the tiger has eaten any cattle but it appeared well fed and it’s ears were seen to twitch but other than that it was comfortably settled in the shed.
It wasn’t until after a 45-minute standoff between armed officers that police determined the vicious, bloodthirsty animal was, in fact, a life-sized stuffed toy.
Once nerves were settled and laughter ensued, police even asked the embarrassed farmer if they could keep the stuffed tiger as a mascot.
