A mischievous Wisconsin resident sparked pandemonium in his quiet Muskego neighborhood and triggered a police response last month when he donned a full-body panda suit while dog-sitting for a friend.
The bizarre incident took place on February 22, when the Muskego Police Department said a call came it just before 11.40am reporting ‘a panda bear’ at the front door of a nearby home, which the complainant was said to have found ‘suspicious, as panda bears are not native to Wisconsin.’
According to a police blotter entry from that day, officers responded to the S7700 block of Prospect Drive and made contact ‘with the 48 year old panda bear (a Muskego resident in costume).’
Wisconsin panda: A married dad-of-three from Wisconsin caused pandemonium last month by dressing up as a panda to play a prank on his neighbor
Who let the dogs out? The 48-year-old prankster was asked by a neighbor to let her dogs out of her house while she was at work, which he decided to do while wearing the panda getup for a laugh
‘It’s a big teddy bear’: The sight of a person in a panda costume led another neighbor to call 911 and tell the dispatcher that there was a ‘big teddy bear’ on the loose
The disguised culprit told the responding officers that he put on the black-and-white Halloween costume to prank the owners of the home who had video surveillance on their front door.
‘I like your style, sir!’ the author of the police blotter wryly remarked.
Officers contacted the homeowners ‘who verified the panda was allowed at the residence.’ No charges have been filed.
The wisecracking police department last week released the 911 call reporting the suspicious panda bear walking outside a neighboring home in the snow, according to CBS58.
The emergency dispatcher asks the caller: ‘Do you have a description of the person?’
The caller replies with a laugh: ‘It’s a big teddy bear.’
Cracking up: Molly Salnetine (left), the neighbor who had asked her friend to let her dogs out, breaks down laughing while posing with the panda prankster
Salentine and her husband were good sports about the whole incident and posed for another picture with their mischievous neighbor
‘It’s a big what, I’m sorry?’ the 911 dispatcher asks.
‘Teddy bear…..Honest to God,’ the caller confirms.
‘Somebody dressed as a teddy bear?’ the 911 center operator inquires.
‘Yep,’ says the caller.
Molly Salentine, the homeowner who was the intended target of the prank, told CBS58 in an interview that on February 22, she was working late and asked her neighbor to let her dogs out of her house.
What she did not know at the time was that her neighbor has a panda suit and a wacky sense of humor.
The man behind the mask did not wish to be identified and sat down for an interview wearing the now-famous monochrome getup.
DailyMail.com can now reveal that he is a Columbia Business School-educated tech consultant with a wife and three children.
Not his first rodeo: In 2012, the Wisconsin dad posted a video on YouTube in which he is seen dancing in the panda suit outside his children’s school.
On another occasion, he disguised himself in the same costume and went to pick up his daughter, who loves pandas, at the bus stop (pictured above in the 2012 video)
‘I knew my neighbors had cameras, and I thought I was going to make the ordinary extraordinary and dress up in the panda suit,’ said the jokester.
It was not the first time that the married dad-of-three has donned the panda outfit for a laugh.
In 2012, he posted a video on YouTube in which he is seen dancing in the panda suit outside his children’s school.
The man told the station that on another occasion, he disguised himself in the same costume and went to pick up his daughter, who loves pandas, at the bus stop.
No laughing matter: The man behind the mask is a Columbia Business School-educated tech consultant with a wife and three children
Salentine, the man’s neighor, later posted a photo on her Facebook page in which she is depicted happily posing up with the fake panda.
In the comments section, her zany pal shared a selfie that shows him standing in front of two police officers who responded to the ‘teddy bear’ 911 call. The cops faces in the image are obscured with cartoon panda heads.
The panda-loving dad also joined shared another imagine depicting a serious-looking cartoon panda with the hashtag #pandasmatter on his own Facebook page.
DailyMail.com on Monday reached out to the proud owner of the panda suit for comment.