Police are trying to trace the owner of a life-sized
tiger toy which sparked a major police alert in Hampshire over
fears a real animal was on the loose.
Officers were deployed and a helicopter was scrambled with
specialist thermal imaging cameras over the field, near Hedge End,
on Saturday afternoon.
The scare stopped play at the Rose Bowl cricket ground for 20
minutes.
Hampshire police said the toy was being treated as lost property
but they were investigating whether it was a hoax.
They said they did not know how it got there but was similar to
one which would be won at a fair.
Tranquiliser darts
The alarm was raised by a member of the public who spotted what
they thought was an escaped white tiger hiding in a field, through
a camera's zoom lens.
Officers said they had responded as if it was a real incident,
close to junction seven of the M27.
Animal specialists at nearby Marwell Zoo were enlisted by police
to offer advice and were prepared to send a team with tranquiliser
darts to overcome the tiger.
John Pullen, curator of mammals, said: "We offered advice to the
police and we immediately gathered a team of staff who have been
trained to deal with situations such as this.
"We were moments away from making the journey when we received a
call from police to say it was a stuffed toy."
Golfers at County Golf Club were also escorted from the course
and Saturday's cricket game between Hamsphire Academy and South
Wilts was suspended for about half an hour.
Tony Middleton, Hampshire Cricket Academy director, added:
"Rumours came round that there was a tiger on the golf course and
we just carried on playing until a policeman came over and told us
to clear the area.
"I assumed there was [a tiger] with everything that was going
on, but we felt quite safe here."
Officers discovered it to be a stuffed toy after it rolled over
in the down draft from the police helicopter.
"It is being treated as lost property but we don't know how it
came to be in the field and whether it may have been a hoax.
"Police are keen to reiterate that they have a duty to protect
the public and therefore take calls of this nature as serious as
any other calls reporting potential dangers to members of the
public," a spokeswoman said.
-- BBC News
