By 3 News online staff
There have been a number of sightings of a lion roaming the streets of a US city, but the place where you'd think it would have escaped from – a zoo – says theirs are all accounted for.
Residents in Milwaukee are on edge after three separate sightings over the past few days, including 'roar' footage of it walking through the Brewers Hill neighbourhood, Sky News reports.
Milwaukee police say a woman reported seeing a "lion-ish creature" and they were given footage shot on a cellphone of the animal.
Police chief Edward Flynn said it was "theoretically possible" a wild cat, such as a mountain lion, had travelled south from northern Wisconsin.
One theory that has been ruled out though is that there had been an escape from the Milwaukee County Zoo. The zoo tweeted a photo of its two lions, saying: "We're not sure what's running around the city, but all of our lions are safe and sound!"
The police say they're treating the multiple sightings seriously.
The animal was first spotted on Monday, and one resident saw a strange footprint in her backyard.
On Tuesday night, another resident shot what he thought was the lion, but it turned out to be a pit bull which received a fractured bone in its leg.
The incident led to a warning from the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, which said people shouldn't discharge their firearms in the city.
"Certainly shooting something moving, because often you're following it and you hit something you did not intend to hit," executive director Karen Sparapani says.
Should the lion be found, animal control officers will be on hand with tranquilisers.
3 News
