14 DAY TRIAL // While regular folks who want to get prizes out of a Bear Claw machine have to first insert money in the arcade game and then use a mechanical claw to pick a toy before dropping it down, an adventurous three-year-old kid managed to crawl his way up through the chute where prizes are dropped and get inside the glass-enclosed machine.
Kael Ireland sneaked out of his apartment in Nebraska and climbed into the Bear Claw toy vending machine placed inside a bowling alley.
His disappearance sparked a police search operation, but fortunately, the boy turned up safe and sound, although the place where he was eventually found is rather unusual. The toddler was playing with stuffed toys inside the claw machine.
According to the Mirror, Kael ran away from his Lincoln home on Monday afternoon while his 24-year-old mother was in the bathroom. He reportedly crossed the road and headed to the Bear Claw in Madsen’s Bowling and Billiards.
When his mother, Ashley Ireland, noticed the boy was missing, she immediately called the police.
Luckily, the boy was spotted inside the machine happily playing with the host of toys by customers, who alerted the bowling alley's employees. Everybody was baffled as to how Kael got through the small opening through which toys are supposed to go out.
“He was just having a heyday. He didn’t notice anyone around him,” bartender Rachell Hildreth said.
“The only thing we can think of is he probably climbed in where the prizes come out, but it still seems a little impossible,” she added.
Although the kid was obviously having the time of his life, employees unlocked and opened the front of the game after having called the vending machine’s operators for instructions on how to open it.
However, after being reunited with his mother, Kael was allowed to keep his favorite stuffed toy from the machine – a purple teddy bear. His mom Ashley says the boy somehow managed to unlock the apartment door and run off.
“He’s very energetic and social -- no fear at all. He loves bears, but dinosaurs are his favourite now… and puppies,” she wrote on Facebook.
According to Journal Star, Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood explained that mother Ashley Ireland wasn't cited for neglect or child abuse because she notified police as soon as she realized Kael was missing. She acted quickly and appropriately, the officer said.