Strollerderby
Cops Taser Toy Panther
If you’ve ever been terrified by one of your kids’ all-too-lifelike toys in the middle of the night, don’t despair. At least you didn’t call out a team of cops to Taser your daughter’s stuffed animal.
The black panther lurking near a playground that set a father on edge, prompting him to make an anxious call to 911 turned out to be the work of a prankster. But cops didn’t know until AFTER they’d shot the big fluffy toy with a stun gun (give them all the benefit of the doubt – it was dark, and there were
kids around, which makes parents and police alike more nervous about
dangers).
The response cost the city around $1,000, and they’re searching for the prankster to charge him for making a public nuisance (and hopefully recoup the money). The question I’m begging to ask?
Who buys their kid a life-like panther? We’re not talking your warm and fuzzy critter over here. Meat-eaters, they have been known to attack humans (although they try to avoid us), and with few predators they tend to reign supreme out in the wild. And, hello, they like to rip their prey limb from limb?
And this you want your kid cuddling with at night? Eeek!
Give me a nice stuffed puppy any day.
Image: NBC
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8 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amOh, snap, now I know how I should buy my nephew those T-rex toys! After all, they were violent hunters who, if they were to meet him in the wild, would have snacked happily on him.
What about the pesky animals, like raccoons? I mean, those can kill smaller animals, and you’re more likely to run into those as a child than a panther. My mother always told me not to go near them – they got VERY big near our house, and there were a lot of them – but my favorite stuffed animal growing up was a raccoon.
And ditto to what lindseyg2008 said – I feel sorry for the poor kid who brought her/his stuffed animal to the playground and then either forgot it there or had to watch a bunch of grown ups shoot it with a taser gun. I’m sure that no one even suspected that a police officer would mistake a cloth and stuffing toy, no matter how life-like, for a real-life panther.
lindseyg2008 commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amJust because you don’t like some life like animal toys, does not mean that the rest of the world has to share your opinion. I’m a pagan mother and I happen to like all aspects of nature. And a panther has more to it than being dangerous and mean their very beautiful in nature. I’ll still buy my daughter things like that. Maybe did you think that the police should have investigated a little more closely when seeing that it was moving or making any noises? If a police officer is going to be that stupid maybe they should pay back their own company rather than charging some kid who didn’t probably realize that it would cause so much problems as what had happened. You have a very sour attitude and I’m glad you’re not my mother.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amHello? Teddy bear anyone? Why NOT a panther?
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI agree with bbbgmom, this just strikes me as hilarious today.
Manjari commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amThe panther was my school mascot too, and I had a pretty big stuffed one. I think it was wearing a school t-shirt though, so maybe that’s why it never got tasered.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amWell, the black panther was my school mascot, so I can understand very well why someone would buy a life-like stuffed version. We all coveted them when we were little.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI would have loved one of those when I was little! I loved black panthers, I thought they were just really pretty big cats and the heroine of one of my fav. fantasy books had a panther familiar.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI’m in a rather snarly mood today and I find this hilarious.
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