I laughed at the law

[pbray]

I was either just pranked by a master or I laughed aloud at a law enforcement official.

Right before 10PM the phone rang. The caller identified himself as a member of the Broome County Sheriff's office and then went on to tell me that there was a mountain lion in the area.

I laughed. But he kept on, explaining that there had been "a breach" at the Ross Park Zoo and a mountain lion was on the loose. So they were asking residents to stay inside with their doors locked. I think he expected a reaction from me other than "Okay", because he repeated the explanation.

Honestly, I'd spent the first minute of the call trying to figure out which one of my friends or family was pranking me. But he sounded so serious that I merely thanked him and hung up. I could tell by his voice that I hadn't given him the reaction he expected.

After I hung up, I couldn't stop giggling. I mean, come on. The Ross Park Zoo is across the river and several miles away. Broome County is a big place, do they really have the manpower to call every single household individually? And that bit about locking my door-- since when have mountain lions known how to turn doorknobs?

And yet, there's the lingering sense that I might be wrong. There have been escapes from the zoo before, so it's not entirely out of the question. At least I was polite and thanked him.

Now, if only the newspaper website would come up, so I could check to see if the story is on there.

ETA: Nothing on the web, so I'm leaning toward prank. This is one of those times I wish I paid the extra for caller id.

Comments

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>since when have mountain lions known how to turn doorknobs?

Images of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park come to mind....

[pbray.livejournal.com]

And never attempt to hide in a walk-in freezer ....

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Re: distance from the RPZ: My father once told me that a tagged mountainlioness was tracked crossing downtown LA nine times in a single summer. Oddly, no one saw her. But other sightings had been called in (off her preferred path) and the police had laughed them off.

But no, I doubt the Sheriff's Office would be calling you unless said cat had been sighted in your area.

(And I had the same JP image...)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

If it had been a recorded message a la the reverse 911 messages I might have bought it. But personal phone calls to people who live across the river and miles away from the zoo? Probably not.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, indeed! He hung up, looked at his list, and said, "Yes! I'm done with the Bs!" Dialing... "Ms. Cadell? There's a mountain lion..."

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

I am leaning towards a prank as well - when the wolves escaped, it hit the news pretty quickly.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It has to have been a prank. But that begs the question why me? Was my number picked at random? It definitely wasn't a kid's voice on the line. Or did they call me thinking it was someone else, someone who lived near the zoo and would thus be concerned?

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Wow -- I thought, what with call display and *69 and everything, that prank calling was a lost art ...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Me too!

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Seems not... there are ways to shield your number. Because there's now a service that runs intercept, and if someone calls with a shielded number, it diverts to an 800-number that either finds their number and displays it to your caller id, or tells them that your line has been disconnected. :-) No surprise, people are signing up for it in droves.