Yorkshire man calls 999 claiming sheep are going to eat his children

The man, who made the 999 call to Humberside Police claimed the animals were out for revenge and were "butting" at his door.

On the recording, released to the Yorkshire Post, the man can be heard saying to the operator: "The sheep are going to come in to my house and eat my kids.

"They are butting my door, they want in."

When asked by the operator why the sheep would eat his children, the man responds by saying: "I was making cottage pie earlier and that uses lamb. The sheep must have smelt it, that is all I am assuming.

"Obviously I have eaten their kids so they are going to eat mine."

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The Yorkshire force has also released details of other bizarre and inappropriate calls they have received including a call about to pay a council tax, one from a woman concerned about her washing machine spinning and another wanting officers to investigate the owners of cat.

Force Control Room Superintendent Tracy Bradley said: "Inappropriate calls to our 999 and 101 lines can have a major impact, causing delays in getting through for people that genuinely need our assistance and the 999 service.

“At best, that means people calling 101 have to wait longer before we can deal with their call. At worst, it could be the difference between life and death.

“I want to be clear, if you call 999 inappropriately we will hang up as soon as we have established that you’re not calling about a genuine emergency. I make no apology for that.

“We will not risk delaying someone whose life is in danger getting through to us because someone has called 999 to report their washing machine is faulty.

“Not all the inappropriate calls we receive are done maliciously – some come from vulnerable people and where that’s the case our teams do everything they can to ensure that the caller is safe and has the right advice and support.

“However, many are from people that don’t understand that 999 is for emergencies only and that there are other ways to find out advice and information or get in touch with us."