Police in Brazil who responded to reports of an escaped polar bear seen running between cars on a busy road made a surprising discovery when they found out it was a large sheep.
The incident began when a concerned caller, who was not named, called the Military Police responsible for dealing with incidents as opposed to civil police to deal with the prevention of crime via the emergency number.
He said that he was at Curitibanos which is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Santa Catarina and asked if there was a circus in the area, because he had just seen a polar bear.
The man described seeing the animal jumping between vehicles on the north access road, and a team was dispatched to investigate.
But when they arrived, the officers realized that the “polar bear” was, in fact, a harmless sheep.
The misidentification quickly caught the attention of social media users, who shared humorous comments and jokes about the incident.
The story even became the subject of a podcast on the “Caixa Preta” profile on TikTok, accumulating nearly one million views.
A spokesman for the police said the man would not be charged or face any consequences for the wrong information since he genuinely believed that the shape was a polar bear.
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are carnivorous mammals known for their adaptation to arctic and subarctic environments. They are considered the largest terrestrial predators currently in existence.
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