Farmington 'whale tale' clogs dispatch phone lines
FARMINGTON - Davis County Sheriff's Office dispatchers had a whale of a problem fielding calls about UFOs and the remains of a humpback whale allegedly dump in a field in Farmington, KSTU reports.
It all turned out to be an elaborate hoax, but the prank tied up dispatcher's phone lines for much of the afternoon Sunday.The tale originated from a satirical "news" site, World News Daily Report, where a story reported a mysterious whale found in a Utah field over the weekend.
"I bet we fielded probably like 40 calls or more," said dispatcher Korilyn Jensen.
All they could say to the callers is that's all well and good, but Farmington is landlocked and the story they read was just a fish tale.
"I cannot believe people are actually calling us about this," Jensen said.
"The frustrating thing for them [the dispatchers] and for us is how many times the 911 got tied up just simply for someone wanting to confirm or deny that there was a whale in west Farmington," said Chief Deputy Kevin Fielding.
Dispatchers say curiosity isn't a good reason to call the police.
And though they laughed it off, the Chief Deputy says don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
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