Police Standoff With Tiger Ends After They Realize It Was A Toy

Police authorities reported to a farm in Aberdeen, Scotland, Saturday after reports came in that a tiger was on the loose but later found out that the tiger was a stuffed toy.

According to a report by Independent, Bruce Grubb, the owner of Petershed farm noticed the tiger in the cowshed after which he contacted the Scotland Police authorities. The officials collaborated with local wildlife parks and then sent numerous units including an armed response unit to the location, the report said.

But later it was discovered that the animal was a big stuffed toy. The Scotland Police described the incident as a “false call made with genuine good intent.”

A post on the Facebook page of North East Police Division stated that the police officers “had a roaring shift on Saturday night.”

In the post, 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,” he said.

“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,” added Cordiner.

According to him, the main goal of the police authorities was to “protect the public” and also ensure the safety of the police officers themselves while dealing with “uncertain situations.” He said that until the police are completely aware of the situation, all options have to be considered.

Another Facebook page which went by the name “UK Cop Humour” made a post along with the pictures of the stuffed toy.

The post claimed that the pictures were sent to an expert who confirmed that the tiger was a real one.

According to a report by The Scottish Sun, Grubb moved to a cottage which is near the farm three weeks back. He was having a housewarming party for which he invited his friends on the day when the incident took place. Grubb had left his friends and girlfriend Amy Brooks and went to check on his 200 pregnant cows in the shed when he spotted the tiger.

After seeing it, Grubb ran to the cottage and informed the police authorities. He also stated that the first officer who responded to the situation was also sure about the fact that the tiger was real.

Grubb said, “I feel a bit silly for calling the police but I thought it was a real emergency. We’re laughing about it now but it was very scary at the time.”

In the Facebook post, Cordiner stated, “The incident was stood down within 45 minutes once officers attended and established there was no threat to the public.”

“We appreciate that it was a false call made with genuine good intent,” Cordiner added.