The raccoon was captured by animal control, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson told Patch.com, adding he had "no idea" how the rodent was mistaken for a fierce feline.
"It was a raccoon... That's all we're saying about it," the spokesperson said.
The NYPD got a call about the rogue "tiger" spotted in the neighbourhood of Washington Heights, reports NBC New York. A local television news crew that was at the spot for nearly 15 minutes reported "no sighting of a tiger nor any police."
Patch.com suggests that an alert sent out by the Citizen app may have contributed to the initial confusion. The app claims to help residents of New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area stay safe "by providing instant notifications of nearby emergencies and reported incidents."
The app's Twitter handle sent out this tweet out on Thursday morning:
We're trying to confirm this report of a tiger loose in Upper Manhattan: https://t.co/CC91y9O4iP #CitizenAppNYC pic.twitter.com/1XR6ruODXq
— Citizen (@citizenapp) April 12, 2018
Weary journalists tweeted about having to confirm the reported tiger sighting with police officials:
Me: you got anything on a tiger in Washington Heights?
— Alex Silverman (@AlexSilverman) April 12, 2018
NYPD spokesman: not a tiger. it's a raccoon.
Me: for real?
NYPD spokesman: dead serious. welcome to Thursday morning.
Not my typical Thursday morning. When trying to confirm a report that there was a tiger on the loose in Upper Manhattan, an inundated @NYPDnews spokesman answers phone with this line: "It's not a tiger, it's a raccoon."
— Christine Hauser (@christineNYT) April 12, 2018
After reports of a tiger on the loose in Washington Heights, NYPD tells me animal control has contained a .... raccoon. How the mix up happened? NYPD spox: No idea.
— Brendan Krisel (@Brendan_Krisel) April 12, 2018
The bizarre mixup had Twitter laughing out loud.
"How does someone not know the difference between a raccoon and a tiger," wondered one person. "800 pound tiger or 15 pound raccoon... I can see how people would easily confuse the two," tweeted another sarcastically.
A concerned citizen mistook a raccoon in Washington Heights for a tiger. God I love @citizenapp alerts pic.twitter.com/w4HPtiXuXi
— Laura Stampler (@laurastampler) April 12, 2018
Sure. Because a 500-lb tiger and a 10-lb raccoon are the same exact thing. Totally https://t.co/Z3Com05cMb
— Eastside story (@Br00klynz0wnEsq) April 12, 2018
It's a mistake we've all made. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to take out the trash and thought I saw a raccoon digging through the garbage and it turned out to be a tiger. https://t.co/zOAmiv5W5Y
— Scott...or is it? (@ScottyDubsNYC) April 12, 2018
To be fair, the wild raccoons of New York City are just as fierce as any tiger. https://t.co/13XsKSllek
— Travis Fedschun (@travfed) April 12, 2018
In February, police officers in Scotland ended a 45-minute standoff with a tiger once they realised it was... a stuffed toy.
