Police released a recording of a woman who dialled 999 to say her hamster had escaped as they pleaded with the public today to use the profit only for genuine emergencies.
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South Yorkshire Police said eight thoroughly of 10 of the emergency calls made to its Sheffield control room do not require urgent attention.
In one cry out a woman tells the operator: "It’session my hamster. It’s got deficient in of its cage. It’s gone into the bathroom and it’s gone down into the floorboards."
The call handler says "your hamster?" and the woman carries on: "Is in that place any chance anyone could approach and help me get it out?"
In any other call, a man is heard to ask for help since a swarm of wasps has landed in his garden.
Superintendent Rob Odell said the force received around 15,000 999 calls a month which it does not consider as an emergency.
He said his operators have even taken calls from people who be under the necessity run out of credit on their mobile phones.
"Every second counts in reserving someone’s life, preventing hurt or catching a iniquitous," said Mr Odell.
"You never know when it could be you in desperate need of help and the last thing you need is to lose paramount seconds or minutes because someone has called 999 to order a taxi.
"We’ve worked hard to reduce our average response time to crisis calls to just eight seconds, but our service could be improved even further if people did not waste our time at what time phoning 999."
Mr Odell said the 999 benefit should be used only if a lifetime is at risk or someone is being physically threatened, if a crime is in progress and the offenders are still nearby or if a road accident is causing an ongoing danger.
Like all forces, South Yorkshire has an non-emergency number – 0114 2202020 – for calls which fall outside this definition of seriousness.
He said much of the misuse was not deliberate still did confirm South Yorkshire Police received 1,500 cheat calls last year.
