Lucas
17-12-2009, 02:04 PM
The British arm of the RSPCA has revealed the most bizarre calls it has received on its emergency phone line — including one report about a seagull that looked sad because it was sitting in the rain.
The Daily Mail reports another caller asked for help getting a spider out of her sink while a man wanted the organisation to remove ladybirds climbing up his wall.
A "slow-moving tortoise" spotted beside a highway by a driver was actually a deflated football and a bat hanging from an elderly woman's ceiling was in fact a patch of damp.
The society has even been asked to act upon a farm that smells and a cat that did not purr.
The wacky mix-ups follow local reports earlier this week of an RSPCA inspector investigating a cattle dog that reportedly had no food, no shelter and had been tied to the same spot for months.
The Queensland-based animal welfare officer found the deprived pooch was actually a concrete statue.
Another "hysterical" caller was so upset after seeing what appeared to be an injured blue tongue lizard at the end of their driveway that they didn't dare go near it.
On closer inspection, the RSPCA found the lizard was in fact a rolled up newspaper.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said another caller was distressed about a "tumour" hanging off the back of a sheep.
When an inspector attended, he found the "tumour" was, in fact, a tail.
But the sting in the tail for the RSPCA is how much time is wasted on pointless calls: Queensland workers alone respond to 20,000 alerts per month while the British arm of the society takes an average of two emergency calls per minute.
Concerned members of the public are advised to investigate potential issues themselves and clarifying possible misconceptions before phoning the RSPCA.
The Daily Mail reports another caller asked for help getting a spider out of her sink while a man wanted the organisation to remove ladybirds climbing up his wall.
A "slow-moving tortoise" spotted beside a highway by a driver was actually a deflated football and a bat hanging from an elderly woman's ceiling was in fact a patch of damp.
The society has even been asked to act upon a farm that smells and a cat that did not purr.
The wacky mix-ups follow local reports earlier this week of an RSPCA inspector investigating a cattle dog that reportedly had no food, no shelter and had been tied to the same spot for months.
The Queensland-based animal welfare officer found the deprived pooch was actually a concrete statue.
Another "hysterical" caller was so upset after seeing what appeared to be an injured blue tongue lizard at the end of their driveway that they didn't dare go near it.
On closer inspection, the RSPCA found the lizard was in fact a rolled up newspaper.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said another caller was distressed about a "tumour" hanging off the back of a sheep.
When an inspector attended, he found the "tumour" was, in fact, a tail.
But the sting in the tail for the RSPCA is how much time is wasted on pointless calls: Queensland workers alone respond to 20,000 alerts per month while the British arm of the society takes an average of two emergency calls per minute.
Concerned members of the public are advised to investigate potential issues themselves and clarifying possible misconceptions before phoning the RSPCA.