Just when you might have thought the lion sightings last week in Milwaukee were a bit of the rumor mill gone off the rails, the Milwaukee Police Department late Saturday said there had been a confirmed sighting of a "lion-like animal" near N. 30th St. and W. Fairmount Ave.
At 7:15 p.m. police and staff of the Department of Natural Resources responded to the area.
Police said they had not located the animal but had "contained" the area and were in the neighborhood throughout the night.
After the overnight stakeout, officers began sweeping a ravine along 31st Street at 7 a.m. Sunday. Police said they believe the lion is still in the contained area.
Officers with canines, veterinarians and staff from the DNR are on the scene to contain and hopefully find the lion.
Monica Hayes has been at the scene all night, hoping to get a glimpse of the animal.
"I'm gonna stay until they catch it," said Hayes, who came from her home near 94th and Silver Spring Drive.
"I have to see it to believe it," she said.
Herbert Ball said he did see the lion last night while looking outside from his home at 31st Street and W. Cameron Ave.
Ball said he saw the animal walking down the hill into the ravine and called the police just after 7 p.m.
"It was big," Ball said. "I just saw heavy brown fur and a long tail."
He said his neighbor saw the lion sitting beneath a bridge on W. Cameron Ave.
Deputy Inspector Steve Basting said Saturday night that the confirmed sighting was by a Milwaukee police officer about 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Creek area. He said the officer saw a "lion-like" creature that disappeared into a wooded area.
Basting said police had cordoned off several blocks along the creek to keep people away. Then they waited for daylight and the DNR.
"We are not prepared to be beating the bush for a lion in the dark," he said Saturday night.
Shortly after 10 p.m., an officer with a rifle was standing on a bridge over Lincoln Creek near N. Teutonia Ave.
Ronnika Bynum, who lives in the area, said she talked to a man near N. 32nd St. He told her he saw two lions. "He said it looked like a mother and baby," Bynum said.
She said she's not worried. "I'm excited.," Bynum said. "I love lions. You don't get to see stuff like this in Milwaukee."
Reports of a big cat on the loose first surfaced Monday, and police have heard from dozens of residents since then.
Early in the week, police noted that there was no evidence a big cat was roaming the city. The DNR made clear that it would be unlikely for a big cat, like a cougar, to come into an urban area. Also, DNR officials noted, there had been no droppings or tracks that would have pointed to a cougar or other big cat.
The story has attracted national media attention and lighted up the world of social media.
Cougars that have turned up in Wisconsin have usually been traced genetically to the Black Hills of South Dakota, where young males have broken away from established populations and began to disperse.
As they travel, especially in urbanized areas, they tend to move along river corridors.
"It's unlikely that we would see cougars move this far into the city," said Dianne Robinson, a wildlife biologist with the DNR before the latest sighting.
DNR officials have said that cougars are sometimes confused with other animals, including house cats, fishers, bobcats, dogs, red fox, coyote and wolves.
The Milwaukee County Zoo has reported that all of its big cats are accounted for.
On Tuesday, a resident of W. Burleigh St. shot and wounded a bulldog the man had mistaken for a lion. The dog will need six to eight weeks to fully recover.
