Authorities are on the hunt for a lion that is possibly roaming on the streets of Milwaukee, Fox 6 Now reported
Bill Nolen and his wife, Annie, who are both residents in Brewers Hill, took a cell phone video of the big cat walking around the neighborhood. But despite the video, no big cat was spotted in the area.
"I was afraid to move," Annie Nolen said, WISN-TV reported. "I was sitting there, and I couldn't move. I thought, 'What am I looking at?'"
When the police received a call about the sighting, they checked the area for several hours but didn't find the animal.
Two game wardens from the Department of Natural Resources checked the video and confirmed that it is indeed a mountain lion.
"He was in the bushes and made a dart for it going west," said Nolen, who saw the reported mountain lion. "We're close to the river so we do see deer, fox, all that type of stuff a lot of times, but not a lion though. This is just unusual."
According to wildlife experts, it is rare to see a mountain lion in the city, but it is possible.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee County Zoo said in a Twitter post that all of the wildcats in the zoo are accounted for.
We're not sure what's running around the city, but all of our lions are safe and sound! #mkelion pic.twitter.com/zbyoD0QsBI
— Milwaukee County Zoo (@MilwaukeeCoZoo) July 21, 2015
The Milwaukee Lion has been a trending topic online with the hashtag #MKELion. Aside from photo-shopped pictures, a Twitter account for the lion also came up. But according to authorities, it shouldn't be considered a joke.
"We are treating it seriously. We have got a number of people out there looking," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said, adding that the lion is still at large, ABC News reported. "Certainly, something could have come here from upstate following the deer population."
