A prowling tiger is on the loose in Tennessee, prompting alerts, sheriff’s office says

A search is underway for a loose tiger prowling around Tennessee, officials say.

People are asked to be on the lookout after a big cat was spotted east of downtown Knoxville on Wednesday night, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Officials say the tiger was seen in the Forks of the River Industrial Park, which is home to several businesses, according to the Development Corporation of Knox County.

The sheriff’s office says it has teamed up with animal officials to help find the roaming tiger. Anyone who finds it is asked to call authorities.

Deputies didn’t reaveal how the big cat got loose, and three tigers at Zoo Knoxville were “accounted for,” wildlife officials said Thursday morning.

Nearby Tiger Haven also had tabs on all its big cats, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The wildlife facility will house the animal if it’s caught in a trap that has been put out, according to the newspaper.

News of the search drew comments on social media, including from people who suggested the tiger might have been kept as a pet.

“(It’s) most likely someone’s pet that escaped or that they turned out,” one Facebook user wrote on the sheriff’s office page.

Some comments referenced animal keepers featured in the recent Netflix series “Tiger King.”

“Someone call Carole Baskin,” someone wrote.

For others, the reported tiger sighting marked another milestone in a year of out-of-the-ordinary occurrences. Earlier this week, a plane that had run out of fuel was filmed taking off from a Knoxville area highway, McClatchy News reported.

“First a plane and now a tiger?!” one person wrote. “New Year’s Eve this year. We better all shout Jumanji to get us out of this game.”