A MAN WHO thought he spotted a lion that people have reported seeing wandering on Milwaukee’s north side, has shot and injured a large pit bull.
WITI-TV reports that the dog, which was shot on Tuesday night, is being cared for at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission.
The organisation’s director Karen Sparapani says people might be “amped up or afraid” by the reports of lion sightings over recent days.
The pit bull suffered a fractured leg, but should be okay, she said. It isn’t clear if the gunman will face charges.
Milwaukee police say they have investigated dozens of calls about apparent lion sightings, since video of what Police Chief Edward Flynn said looked like a “lion-ish creature” emerged on Monday.
According to The Daily Beast, retired dental technician Bill Nolen and his wife, Annie, saw the animal prowling near their home on Monday morning, and immediately thought it was a mountain lion.
Their daughter, Cynthia, shot the footage on her phone.
The story’s getting quite a bit of traction in the city, and has been picked up elsewhere in the US, according to the website:
After a second, separate sighting Tuesday, the grainy mystery of the Nolens’ video meant that by Wednesday, “the Milwaukee lion” had become a pop-cultural phenomenon, covered on the national news, and with the Internet buzzing in part-fear and part-hilarity.
An expert from Wisconsin’s Racine Zoo told local TV the footage looked like a big cat, possibly a mountain lion.
Flynn – the police chief – said it was “theoretically possible” a wild cat may have made its way south from the north of the state.
Officers checked the neighbourhood following Monday’s first report, but didn’t find anything.
Dozens of lion reports have been received since.
Officers investigated each one, and on each occasion found no lion.
Includes reporting from AP.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say