{"id":599121,"date":"2026-08-28T23:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T23:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/599121\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T23:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T23:42:20","slug":"pair-of-lions-on-the-loose-in-indiana-prompting-state-police-search-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/599121\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of lions on the loose in Indiana prompting state police search operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who let the cats out?<\/p>\n

A 300-pound lioness and her cub are thought to be on the loose in central Indiana, prompting authorities to launch a massive search effort for the apex predators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The prowling pair are believed to be on the lam somewhere in northern Hancock or southern Madison counties in the Hoosier State, WXIN reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LionessA lioness and a smaller cub were reportedly spotted roaming freely in Madison County, Indiana on Thursday. Nick Dale \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Around 10 a.m. Thursday, the Madison County Sheriff\u2019s Department said it received a report of two large exotic cats on the loose on South Country Road 50 West in Jackson Township.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A nearby resident reportedly spotted a 300-pound lioness wearing a blue harness and a smaller cub roaming freely from his back window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s department said it also had received an earlier report from a drone operator confirming a sighting of the big cats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe pair of lions is thought to be roaming in either Hancock or Madison counties in the Hoosier State. Hancock County Trails<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s deputies and state police used ground units and thermal drones while searching for the reported mom-and-cub duo, the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, after a four-hour extensive search, the sheriff\u2019s department said it could not verify that the loose lions even exist, as no law enforcement officers spotted the pair.<\/p>\n

No lions were reported missing from animal sanctuaries as of Thursday, according to the local outlet.<\/p>\n

The Madison County Sheriff\u2019s Department said it is unaware of any permits within the county that allow the ownership of a lion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who let the cats out? A 300-pound lioness and her cub are thought to be on the loose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[46011,2594,85,2315,46,44772,141,270937,226,386],"class_list":["post-599121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-rescue","tag-animals","tag-il","tag-indiana","tag-israel","tag-lions","tag-science","tag-state-police","tag-us-news","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}