An unusual discovery was made by animal welfare officers over the weekend, when two meerkats inexplicably popped up in Dundee.
With all meerkats at the nearby Camperdown Wildlife Park accounted for, the Scottish SPCA officer who rescued the animals has been left scratching his head.
"It was certainly a very unusual rescue", Ben Soutar said. "The first meerkat was found on 12 March and the second a day later in the same location."
Mr Soutar, who said he had never been called to rescue a meerkat before, said it was "a bit of a mystery" as to where the two animals came from.
The Scottish SPCA was alerted to the animals after members of public spotted them on 12 and 13 of March on South Road, Dundee.
The meerkats were fairly tame and could likely have been pets, prompting the SSPCA to remind the public that it is not recommended to keep wild or exotic animals as pets.
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Mr Soutar added: “Both animals appeared quite tame, although they weren’t too happy about being picked up!
"Due to how comfortable they are around humans it’s possible they have been kept as pets at some point.
“As with all exotic wild animals, we wouldn’t recommend people keep animals like meerkats as pets as they have specialist needs that would be very hard for the average member of the public to replicate in a home environment.
Both animals are now safe in the care of Camperdown Wildlife Park while the SSPCA tries to determine how they came to be in this situation.
If anyone recognises these meerkats, they can call the SSPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999.
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