Animal Rescuer Rushes to Save ‘Injured Dog’ Only to Discover a Stuffed Toy
Dealing with injured and distressed animals every day is a difficult job for animal rescuers. So it came as a happy relief when a Scottish SPCA Officer responded to a call of a distressed dog on the roadside only to discover it was a large stuffed toy.
Scottish SPCA officer Kerry Friel raced to the scene where a concerned citizen had reported seeing a Border Collie lying on the side of a road west of Glasgow, Scotland.
“The toy was large and quite lifelike so I can understand why the person thought this was an animal in need of our help,’ she said. “This was the day after Halloween so it’s possible the dog was part of a costume.”
But she was greatly relieved to discover the toy. “I did have a bit of a giggle when I realised the dog wasn’t real as I’m used to dealing with injured animals on a daily basis and it can be very upsetting.”
She explained that mistaken identity’s such as these do happen from time to time. “We do occasionally receive call-outs of this nature from people with genuine concerns for animals, only to find a toy or ornament.”
Even though the incident turned out to be a false alarm, Kerry encourages anyone who believes they see an animal in distress to call for help.
A similar case of mistaken dog-identity happened when police officers responded to what they thought was a dog in a hot car. But “Little Willy” turned out to be a toy too. Read more here.