Reports of choking on mosquito, loose 'cougar’ among most hilarious 911 calls of 2022

Police in Canada's Saskatchewan province reminded citizens to not hold up the 911 emergency line for non-emergency reasons by releasing a list of the “top 10 calls that missed the mark” in 2022.

"Every moment that we are spending speaking with someone who is complaining about their shopping experience or wanting to prank call 911 is time that call-takers and officers could have been helping someone in a life-threatening situation,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement.

Among the most unusual calls to 911 dispatchers was a person who said they had choked after swallowing a mosquito, lost their dentures, and were unable to eat dinner.

While the distressed individual probably needed some sort of assistance finding their artificial teeth, a prank caller’s blatant misuse of 911 thrust them directly into the hall of fame after they reported a cougar on the loose.

Operators determined it wasn’t a mountain lion sighting but a reference to colloquial term for older women seeking sexual relationships with younger men after the caller said the cougar’s name was “Cindy”.

Saskatchewan RCMP said other non-emergencies included someone asking the officers if they could pick up some milk after they supposedly ran out of it, another concerned resident who needed help with deleting voicemail off their phone and a 911 call to inform about a clogged bathtub drain, which topped the 2022 list.

"We release the list to raise awareness about the misuse of 911, which can possibly delay someone experiencing a life-threatening emergency from getting help,” the Mounties said.