Long arm of the paw: Ginger the cat sparks emergency... by dialling 999

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Feline scared? Howard Moss and his cat Ginger who dialled 999 as he slept on the retired lecturer's telephone


Maybe it was a case of concern for a silent 999 caller or perhaps it was just a quiet night for police.

Whatever the reason, officers sent to investigate an emergency telephone call were left astounded when they found sleeping cat Ginger at the other end of the line.

Retired lecturer Howard Moss was woken by police officers in the early hours of the morning demanding to know why he had contacted them.

In bleary-eyed embarrassment he assured the officers that he was alone in his house in Brynmill, Swansea, South Wales, and had certainly not made the call.

'The police insisted that it was not a spook call because it had originated from inside the house,' the 64-year-old said today.

Then one of them noticed Ginger the cat sitting on the phone and he twigged right away. He said "The cat's done it", it was the only possibility.'


Naughty Ginger: The 12-year-old and his beloved telephone


He said his 12-year-old pet had recently taken to sprawling over a small downstairs telephone table in the evenings.

'Ginger had somehow managed to ease off the receiver and by a bit of a miracle one of his paws had pushed the 9 button on the large keypad three times.

'Obviously, he couldn't leave a message but when the police got no answer they treated the call seriously.'

He added: 'When the police realised what had happened they were quite amused. I asked them if they had ever had a call-out like that before and they shook their heads.

'The thing with Ginger is that he moves around from place to place when he sleeps and he had only started sleeping there a few days ago.

'You would think that he would be uncomfortable on the telephone and the chances of him doing something like this is really remote.

'But since it happened, the more I think about it, the funnier it seems.'

South Wales Police confirmed that officers had responded to an emergency call in the early hours of Tuesday morning.


source: dailymail