Police in Scotland were a little red-faced after it emerged that officers had a stand-off with a giant stuffed tiger for nearly 45 minutes.
“Nervous radio updates start coming in stating that it was unclear if the Tiger has eaten any cattle but it appeared well fed and its ears were seen to twitch but other than that it was very settled.”
The North East Police Division confirmed the incident took place on its Facebook page noting that the incident was over within 45 minutes after officers cleared the scene.
“The incident was stood down within 45 minutes once officers attended and established there was no threat to the public,” Peterhead Inspector George Cordiner is quoted as saying. ”We appreciate that it was a false call made with genuine good intent.”
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Bruce Grubb placed the call to police after spotting the tiger while checking the shed near his cottage on the farm.
“I got the fright of my life,” he told the Scottish Sun.
He had people over for a housewarming party but had remained sober as he had over 200 pregnant cows in his barn.
“I was on duty because the cows could drop at any time so I wasn’t drinking. I flashed my torch in the shed and saw it sitting there, he explained.
“I was stone cold sober, drink had nothing to do with me thinking it was real.”
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While Grubb’s call turned out to be a false alarm, Cordiner noted that police still needed to take it seriously
“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, Cordiner explained.
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