Police were called to reports of a tiger roaming the streets of Oldham earlier this week - but it all turned out to be a big misunderstanding.
Officers received a report on Monday night (March 21) from a member of the public who spotted a tiger in a garden. Police quickly attended the scene as a concern for welfare.
It didn't take long for them to discover that the tiger was actually a toy animal. Officers have since lovingly nicknamed him Tony the tiger.
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It's not known how the toy tiger came to be sitting outside at night, but officers have since made light of the situation.
A post on the GMP Oldham Facebook page wrote: “Yesterday evening Oldham Police earned their stripes when they were contacted by a concerned member of the public of a Tiger loose in nearby gardens that appeared to be pawing in the grass.
"Officers arrived quickly and after evaluating the situation agreed it was in fact not a real animal but a toy - Tony The Tiger! Tony the Tiger was asked for a comment about Oldham police he said "They're grrrrrrrreat!" Tony is now safely booked into property at Oldham Police station.”
In response, people also took the opportunity to have a laugh about the incident. One person wrote in response: "I bet everyone thought GMP couldn't deal with this, but you showed them that you Shere Khan."
Another quipped: "Was it a cereal offender?". Someone else added: "GMP, they're g g g great."
The toy tiger is not the only unusual thing that police have had to deal with in the last few weeks. Earlier this month, officers stopped a dangerous driver following a 35-mile car chase. The driver was found to be in possession of a 'Legoland licence', which declared they were an 'official member of the Legoland Driving School'.
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