White Tiger escaped!

Maybe I'm being naive but, given the relatively few "White Tigers" in the UK (off the top of my head the nearest to the report being Paradise Wildlife Park), is it too much to expect a little incredulity and common sense questioning on the behalf of the police? i.e. didn't they think to ask the nearest zoos whether they'd lost any Tigers or ask the question why the zoos hadn't reported a Tiger missing before spending ££££'s on scrambling a helicopter? I'm also surprised that "Marwell's animal experts" didn't point out the far-fetchedness of it all.

How would they have reacted if someone had said they'd seen an Elephant (or a Velociraptor) on the loose? Basically, at what point does some reasonable doubt creep in?

Am I being too unreasonable/cynical?
 
I see where you coming from Shorts but it is possible it could have been from a private collection and therefore I feel they acted appropriately. Looking at the photos it does actually look pretty realistic in my opinion.
 
All of this evacuation and mobilization of forces could have been easily avoided.

Investing in a pair of binoculars would be a great cost savings in the long run for this police force. One good look and it would be obvious that the animal wasn't moving, wasn't breathing.

There... I solved the economic crisis
 
Mr T said:
I see where you coming from Shorts but it is possible it could have been from a private collection and therefore I feel they acted appropriately. Looking at the photos it does actually look pretty realistic in my opinion.
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Well in that case all they need to was contact the local council for a list of all the Private Collections,that keep Tigers and the area and then contact them to see if one had got out!!Thus saving us Tax payers all the cost that was encountered this time,when it could have just cost us a couple of phone calls.I'm with Shorts on this a total over reaction that just wasn't called for,if someone used that thing called common sense,that this country seems to be losing more everyday!!!
 
If no zoo/park or private collection didn't report the lose of a White tiger then why did they have to use all the resources they did without confirming it first.
As Zooplantman says a pair of Binoculars or even a better set of glasses and it would have saved a few thousand pounds of tax payers money
 
I tend to see this differently. If the police get a report of a big cat on the loose, they have to get a look at it before they can ascertain whether it’s real or not. Although it’s highly unlikely the sighting is genuine, there’s always a chance and if it was real, the animal might have moved off by the time the police arrived (especially if they arrived with sirens blasting). You can imagine how much flak the police would get and the problems it would cause if they lost the animal.
I don’t what the whole thing cost but they have to pay the wages of the pilot and crew whether they are flying the helicopter or drinking tea while waiting for a call. It would have only cost the fuel which is probably a drop in the ocean compared to how much the police must spend in a year.
 
Ned said:
I tend to see this differently. If the police get a report of a big cat on the loose, they have to get a look at it before they can ascertain whether it’s real or not. Although it’s highly unlikely the sighting is genuine, there’s always a chance and if it was real, the animal might have moved off by the time the police arrived (especially if they arrived with sirens blasting). You can imagine how much flak the police would get and the problems it would cause if they lost the animal.
I don’t what the whole thing cost but they have to pay the wages of the pilot and crew whether they are flying the helicopter or drinking tea while waiting for a call. It would have only cost the fuel which is probably a drop in the ocean compared to how much the police must spend in a year.
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I would have agreeded with you if this was one of the supposed BIG CAT hot spots of the UK but it wasn't Dartmoor or Exmoor.As for flak the Police would have got if it was a real Big cat on the lose and they lost,I think they will get alot more over the fact they couldn't tell it was a cuddley TOY!
 
Hampshire... nearest white tiger would be at the Isle of Wight zoo then?
Ben, have you started putting cats on the hovercraft, or maybe the fastcat??
Sorry, couldn't resist that one :P
 
Personally I think the response was totally reasonable. Do you really expect the police on duty to go find the file with the listing of all dangerous animals kept in the area (if they have such a file?) and check it? Meanwhile leaving the cat to disapear and possibly kill someone. You certainly can't expect police to personally know what tigers are kept locally, unless they have a personal interest in tigers. Even if they know there's no tigers of that description kept legally nearby they have to assume it could have come from an ilegal keeper. It could have got loose from such a person, or even been released, possibly by someone out of the area. Also again, this is policemen, not experts. They probably know there's rumours of big cats living wild in the UK. They probably don't know the areas or species. Many police probably couldn't identify the species.

Hearing a report of a possible big cat any zoo team is going to be going out and not wait for confirmation: they know what delay could mean, and they know the police can't be relied on to know what they are doing in this specialist situation.

And the general feeling would no doubt be that this is not a wasted trip: everyone involved just got a training exercise for the real thing (not that that would justify this if it was a deliberate prank).
 
RowanGreen said:
Personally I think the response was totally reasonable. Do you really expect the police on duty to go find the file with the listing of all dangerous animals kept in the area (if they have such a file?) and check it? Meanwhile leaving the cat to disapear and possibly kill someone. You certainly can't expect police to personally know what tigers are kept locally, unless they have a personal interest in tigers. Even if they know there's no tigers of that description kept legally nearby they have to assume it could have come from an ilegal keeper. It could have got loose from such a person, or even been released, possibly by someone out of the area. Also again, this is policemen, not experts. They probably know there's rumours of big cats living wild in the UK. They probably don't know the areas or species. Many police probably couldn't identify the species.

Hearing a report of a possible big cat any zoo team is going to be going out and not wait for confirmation: they know what delay could mean, and they know the police can't be relied on to know what they are doing in this specialist situation.

And the general feeling would no doubt be that this is not a wasted trip: everyone involved just got a training exercise for the real thing (not that that would justify this if it was a deliberate prank).
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I agree, that cat could have been owned illegally without a license. If a child had of been killed in the time when the police were checking lists of cat keepers and phoning round to see if anyone lost one, there would have been serious questions to answer!
 
RowanGreen said:
Personally I think the response was totally reasonable. Do you really expect the police on duty to go find the file with the listing of all dangerous animals kept in the area (if they have such a file?) and check it? Meanwhile leaving the cat to disapear and possibly kill someone. You certainly can't expect police to personally know what tigers are kept locally, unless they have a personal interest in tigers.
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Whilst you make some reasonable points I still feel part of the police's role is to have a comprehensive knowledge of the area they cover and hence known that the alert was very highly likely to be bogus.

RowanGreen said:
Even if they know there's no tigers of that description kept legally nearby they have to assume it could have come from an ilegal keeper. It could have got loose from such a person, or even been released, possibly by someone out of the area.
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I don't think this really supports your argument. As far as I know (details please if I'm wrong, I'd be genuinely intrigued to know) there's never been such an incident since (at least) the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act and there's no evidence to support the theory of illegally held Tigers (or any other big cats) for a similar period.
 
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