Police find no evidence of tiger near University of Cincinnati after reported sighting

Police find no evidence of tiger near University of Cincinnati after reported sighting

Cincinnati police were out searching near the University of Cincinnati early Monday after someone reported seeing what looked like a tiger, officials said. The sighting was reported around 3:05 a.m. and no additional big cat sightings have been reported to police since, Lt. Jonathan Cunningham said.

Multiple officers from Cincinnati police and the University of Cincinnati Police Division responded to Burnet Woods off Burnet Woods Drive at Brookline Drive, areas along Martin Luther King Drive and Crosley Tower, according to Enquirer media partner Fox19.

Cunningham said officers checked the area but didn’t find anything. “Both of the Zoo’s tigers, Zero and Jin, are safe and sound and at the Zoo,” Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden spokesperson Michelle Curley said in an email.

It’s illegal for individuals to own a tiger in Ohio since 2012, when Gov. Kasich signed a law regulating the possession of dangerous wild animals. But there are some exceptions for people who owned one prior to 2012.