Michigan neighborhood goes wild over life-like stuffed animal

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (KTRK) -- An animal control worker in Michigan was convinced he was looking at a young tiger lying in a driveway, so he approached with care. He grabbed a pole and a shield, and called police.

Turns out, it was a stuffed animal.

The Grand Rapids Press reports that Kent County Animal Control received a call Thursday about a tiger in the driveway of a vacant Grand Rapids home.

Supervisor Joe Dainelis responded to the call, and when he spotted the animal, he grabbed his safety gear. Neighbors also thought the life-sized, furry toy was real.

"I stop on the street, I look down the driveway and I see its backside... At that point... I could totally see how someone would call this in," Dainelis told ABC News. "I pull my radio out, I called dispatch and I said, 'We're going to need PD out here, there's a tiger in the backyard.' I thought it was real."

But when co-worker Rachel Jensen approached from another direction, she realized there was nothing ferocious about the toy feline.

"'Disregard, PD. It's a stuffed animal,'" Dainelis recounted. "I can't blame the caller because it had me."

The house was vacant, so the officers decided to take the harmless tiger into custody anyway. No one has claimed the stuffed animal yet.

The Associated press and ABC News contributed to this report.