Tiger sighting reported in Pierce County

Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer says there
have been no new reports Friday morning of a tiger on the
loose near Puyallup.

Deputies and animal control officers searched an area
Thursday afternoon after a man tending to his chicken coop
said he saw a tiger. Travis Johnson told The News Tribune
it was a large cat, blond in color with black stripes. He
says it was not a coyote, which he has seen before.

Troyer said a second person also reported the sighting.

He said that four animal control officers were out
Thursday
with deputies searching for the animal near a rural area
of unincorporated Pierce County.

After looking at photos with the couple that spotted the
animal, they determined that it could be a Bengal tiger.

After reports of the alleged tiger surfaced, one person
took to Twitter and became the @Puyallup_Tiger. Others reported seeing
a stuffed tiger on the side of the interstate.

Deputies asserted that the sighting of the tiger was real,
and not to be confused with stuffed animals that had
quickly gone on display.

Troyer even had fun with a tiger of his own, posting a
photo of a large stuffed tiger on the hood of his vehicle.
“I found the tiger waiting on the hood of my car. He
doesn’t like cameras and wanted a ride home,” Troyer said
on Facebook.

Officers believe that it could be someone’s exotic pet.
“Another thing that we’re hearing is that some people take
their animals and dye their hair colors and cut their hair
to look like big game. That’s a new fad,” Troyer said.

According to Troyer, they have seen other exotic pets in
the
county before, including alligators and kangaroos, but
this
would be the first tiger.