Bruce, who moved into his cottage on the farm near Aberdeenshire three weeks ago, had invited pals round for a housewarming when the drama unfolded on a Saturday night. He had left his guests and girlfriend Amy while he popped to the shed to check on his 200 pregnant cows. He said: "I was on duty because the cows could drop at any time so I wasn't drinking. I flashed my torch in the shed and saw it sitting there. I was stone cold sober, drink had nothing to do with me thinking it was real."

Bruce rang police about a wild animal lurking in his cowshed, fearing his pregnant cows were about to be devoured.

Six cop cars — including an armed response team — arrived and police checked with local wildlife parks in case any animals had escaped. One officer refused to get out of the squad car because he didn't want to go "anywhere near it", Bruce said.

But the 24-year-old farmer's suspicions grew when he realised the tiger hadn't actually moved at all during the stalemate so he bravely approached it in his truck.

The farmer was left feeling "very embarrassed" when he got close to the cat and realised it was actually just a cuddly toy. Bruce said: "I had absolutely no doubt it was real — I got a hell of a scare. I was worried it was going to eat all my cows before police managed to shoot it."

The armed teams were stood down and Bruce eventually got back to his party — without the cuddly tiger, which cops wanted to keep as a "mascot". And they poked fun at the "roaring night" they had on Twitter. Inspector George Cordiner said: "Unusual as it may have seemed, any call reporting a potential danger to the public has to be taken seriously. "Efforts were made to verify the sighting as soon as possible, including making contact with the nearest wildlife park to make sure they did not have an escapee. "The incident was stood down once officers attended and established there was no threat to the public. We appreciate it was a false call made with good intent."

How the stuffed toy wound up in the farmer's cowshed remains a mystery.