Is a tiger roaming near Knoxville?
Multiple sightings have sent authorities on a wild goose, er, tiger chase in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“In a year that can’t possibly can’t get any stranger,” USA Today said, police and wildlife officials are “looking for a tiger loose in East Knoxville.”
The cat was first spotted by a sheriff’s deputy running across a street into a wooded area near the French Broad River, and was seen again several miles away. There are plenty of places along that river where a tiger could disappear into brush and caves (photo below).
The Knoxville zoo and a nearby tiger sanctuary both reported all their tigers present and accounted for. The elusive tiger may be an illegal pet that got loose.
Update (9/12/20): There’s some question whether the tiger actually exists, but the original sighting was by an off-duty police officer, who described it as a cub, perhaps 4 to 6 month old, and three other 911 callers also reported the tiger, although one of these was third-hand hearsay and another was questionable. State wildlife officers baited a trap with a chicken, but then a message, “Lol y’all actually think I will fall for that,” came in from the tiger’s Twitter account, so the trap was pulled. Read update here.
Update (9/17/20): After a week of fruitless searching, wildlife officials said they believe the animal was “likely” a bobcat, which are common in the area. Read update here.
For a terrific tiger hunt story, read John Vaillant’s The “Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”, 329 pages, available on Amazon.
Return to The-Ave.US Home Page
