Reports of a mountain lion or someone’s escaped pet lion roaming a Milwaukee neighborhood has police and others on the lookout.

Milwaukee police say a woman reported seeing a “lion” one Monday afternoon in her north side neighborhood. Police Chief Edward Flynn says his officers were given cellphone video of an animal that appeared to be a “lion-like creature.”

Officers checked the neighborhood, but didn’t find anything. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was notified and dispatched an employee to check it out. Flynn says it was “theoretically possible” a wild cat had made its way south from northern Wisconsin.

Since the first call, police have received about two dozen lion reports. Officers investigated each call and so far have found no lion.

The initial report of a lion sighting lit up social media with its own hashtag #mkelion.

In related news, A man who thought he spotted a lion wandering on Milwaukee’s north side has shot and injured a large pit bull.

Police say the dog, which was shot by a trigger-happy citizen one night, is being cared for at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission.

The organization’s director, Karen Sparapani, commented that people might be “amped up or afraid” by the reports of lion sightings. The pit bull suffered a gunshot wound to the right front leg and is recovering. The shooter has not been named.

Source: WITI-TV, www.fox6now.com