A four-year-old girl found herself stuck inside a claw machine when a plan to nab a teddy bear went wrong.
Mum Melanie Pike was at a pub in Airlie Beach, Queensland, when she discovered her daughter Poppy trapped in one of the amusement staples.
“The girls were playing outside and the next minute my twin daughters ran inside and said ‘mum, Poppy’s stuck in the vending machine’”.
Sure enough, the girl was found looking perturbed fully within the claw machine, surrounded by plush toys and wondering how she was going to get out herself, reported Channel 7 News.
Poppy had been sent on a mission by her sisters to nab some teddy bears from the machine. While several were found scattered on the floor around the machine, Poppy couldn’t work out how to get herself out following the fiendish crime spree.
“My partner was shocked but I just started laughing,” said Ms Pike.
“How are we going to get you out?” she told the sad looking Poppy.
A rescue plan was hatched whereby Poppy sat down in the machine and then was gently pulled out by her legs through the opening she had squeezed herself in through.
“Have you learned your lesson? Are you going to steal anymore?” Ms Pike asked her daughter.
‘No,” replied a now much happier looking Poppy.
Some people online had sympathy for the young girl however, considering how difficult the machines are to actually get a prize from.
“Only way you’d ever get one of those claw prizes is to steal it,” said one.
It’s not the first time a child has crawled into a claw machine, desperate for toys.
In 2018, the fire brigade had to rescue a boy in Florida who went on a claw machine mission.
In Titusville, east of Orlando, Mason climbed into a small opening in the back of the machine to fetch a toy he had his eye on. He then couldn’t find his way out.
However, Mason was having such a good time he started crying when rescuers tried to retrieve him.
In 2017, a three-year-old got stuck in a toy machine at a Rouse Hill business in Sydney’s noth west.
Comments on a Facebook post about it hinted that several other children had been stuck in the same machine in the past.
It’s not just little humans; cats have also been known to crawl into claw machines. One cat was pictured very happily in his snug glass and metal box relaxing on a sea of teddy bears wondering what all the fuss was about.