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Chaos descended on the valleys today when a harmless scarecrow sparked a major rescue bid above the small Rhondda village of Blaenllechau.

The Police, Ambulance, Fire Services were all called, and later on so were the RSPCA, when local resident Mary Fringe, called 999 when she believed that old Vernon Jones from Long Row had been stuck on the mountain side for over twenty-four hours.

But what everyone thought was Vernon was in fact a scarecrow, that had been put there simply to guard over some flowers that were recently planted on the mountain side.

A crowd of locals gathered on the square in Blaenllechau and spent hours calling to the scarecrow, who was wearing Vernon’s jacket. “We were really worried about Vern.”, said Mary, “We were calling him for hours but he just didn’t turn around to wave or anything.”

After several hours, they decided to call 999.

Sergeant Bob Roberts of South Wales Police told us, “We did think about prosecuting Mary for wasting police time, but we believe she acted in good faith, plus I got to go in the helicopter on a glorious day, the views were spectacular.”

Vernon Jones told us, “It’s absolutely ridiculous really, as if I’d be wearing that coat in this weather, it’s bloody summer. They should have come and knocked my door, I was in all the time watching the Olympics.”

A spokesman for the RSPCA told My Rhondda News that they don’t condone the use of scarecrows as it can cause unnecessary stress to birds.

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