The tale of the sheepish police

 
Let me start off by saying I appreciate - TRULY appreciate - the men and women who serve in law enforcement. They work hard with woefully inadequate pay doing a job that most people wouldn't take, and then they have to put up with abuse by angry people who think they're above the law. They help to make our neighborhoods and streets safer, and according to an article about on-duty deaths of police officers this year, (published on February 22, 2011), there was a 40% increase - 29 in all - by that date.

They are deserving of our respect and our gratitude.

But I'm betting there are a few officers wearing sheepish grins in Kansas City these days. According to this article, Kansas City's police department responded cautiously after receiving a report that an alligator had been spotted by a pond. They fired at the beast from a safe distance. The first shot - a head shot, apparently - bounced off, and the alligator didn't bat an eye. They fired again, and then realized that they had been attempting to slay a lawn ornament. It had been placed there to deter neighborhood kids.

The tiger of Hedge End, England

The article didn't report on the condition of the alligator at the conclusion of the incident. It did refer the reader to this BBC article which tells of some officers in England who received a call of a white tiger on the loose near Hedge End, Hampshire. A cricket match was interrupted, and golfers were escorted away as officers cleared the area and a helicopter was dispatched to the scene. The true nature of the beast was discovered when the helicopter downdraft blew the tiger over.

It was a toy.