A wild cat was reported to be on the loose in Kent, leading armed police to begin a frantic search across the countryside of the southern county.
The tiger was really just a model made out of chicken wire and resin and constructed by local sculptor Juliet Simpson, reports The Guardian.
The 85-year-old sculptor made the life-sized tiger model 20 years ago and it now lies in the countryside near her home in the village of Underriver, near Sevenoaks.
So you can imagine her surprise when a neighbour called her to say the police were on the hunt for a wild cat near where she lives after someone had claimed to have spotted one.
The next thing she knew, armed police and a helicopter from the National Police Air Service were circling overhead looking for the reported wild animal.
Kent police confirmed that a member of the public reported seeing a “large wild cat” on Saturday, May 2 at 10.23am and they were subsequently called to Mote Road in Ightham, which is close to Underriver, to investigate.
Simpson said her son Duncan rang her to tell her there were armed police on the hill leading to her house and she looked out to see ten of them.
“So then I walked up the road and saw the police Land Rover. I went up and said: ‘Do you want to be introduced to this tiger?’” she told The Guardian.
Her life-sized tiger model lies very calmly in the grass among some trees.
Simpson said she’d never really had a trouble with people mistaking her model for a real tiger before, adding that the only impact it has had is to scare passing dogs.
The officers stayed for a short time, Simpson explaining: “They liked the model and said they thought it was very lifelike. They said they had to respond to people’s concerns.”
Simpson’s granddaughter, Martha, shared a photo of police surrounding the tiger on Twitter.
She wrote: “My Granny is a sculptress. Today 10 armed police and a helicopter were called to her house after walkers reported a tiger in the woods. This is the tiger.”
Simpson explained that back when she made the sculpture 20 years ago she had been planning to sell it.
But then she put the model in the woods, where she felt it “soon became a landmark” so she decided to leave it there.
