Lifelike Toy Tiger Stops Traffic Near Houston

Lifelike Toy Tiger Stops Traffic Near Houston (ABC News)

It wasn't a lion and  it wasn't a bear. It was a tiger, but it was just a toy.

Firefighters in Houston found that out the hard way Wednesday when they rushed to an abandoned hotel after reports there was a tiger on the roof.

The Houston Fire Department began receiving calls during the day from shocked drivers reporting sightings of a tiger perched on the roof of an old hotel in Humble, a Houston suburb, local affiliate KTRK-TV reports.

Firefighters rushed to the scene and hoisted their ladders to reach the tiger, only to discover it was a stuffed toy.

The tiger posed no harm, but firefighters removed it from the roof nonetheless, deciding it would continue to pose a hazard to drivers, both those who paused to look at the tiger, and those who called the fire department while driving to report the strange sighting.

No word yet on how, exactly, the toy tiger ended up perched atop the hotel roof.