Police in Indiana spent four hours searching for a reported 300-pound lioness and her cub, only to find pigs instead.
The search began on August 27 after a resident in Madison County reported seeing what appeared to be two large exotic cats roaming near their property.
Authorities took the sighting seriously enough to warn locals to stay alert and bring their pets indoors, before multiple agencies joined a search involving officers on the ground and thermal-imaging drones.
Four-hour lion hunt finds pigs instead
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department said it received the report at around 10am near the Hancock County line.
According to the caller, what appeared to be a 300-pound lioness wearing a blue harness was traveling southwest alongside a smaller cub estimated to weigh between 100 and 150 pounds.
Deputies from Madison and Hancock counties joined Indiana State Police for an extensive four-hour search, tracking physical evidence and deploying thermal-imaging drones in an attempt to locate the animals.
Instead, Madison County Sheriff John Beeman later confirmed to IndyStar that Indiana State Police found pigs while searching the area.
“At this point we only have the original caller having reported the lions,” Beeman said.
The discovery also brought an abrupt end to plans by an exotic feline rescue center to help capture the supposed big cats.
Rebecca Rizzo, Head Keeper at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, told WTWO/WAWV that her team had been contacted by the sheriff’s office after thermal-imaging drones detected large animals.
Rizzo said her crew mobilized within 15 minutes, only to receive another call before they headed out.
“I had called back and was told they had located the animals and it was pigs,” she said. “They had confirmed that there were pigs in the area.”
Whether those pigs were actually what the original caller saw remains unclear. Police have not confirmed that the reported lioness and cub were a case of mistaken identity, only that pigs were discovered during the search and no officers found evidence of exotic cats.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department eventually called off the active search, saying the original sighting remained unconfirmed.
