Jackson police say a viral video sparked a false alarm and Six Flags has accounted for every animal, though the township has seen exotic-animal scares before.
JACKSON, NJ — A tiger is not roaming Jackson Township, despite a viral video that prompted residents to contact police about a possible escaped animal, authorities said.
Jackson Township police said Six Flags Great Adventure also checked its Wild Safari population and confirmed that all animals were accounted for at the sprawling Ocean County attraction.
“After a recent video going viral on social media regarding what is being reported as a possible loose tiger, it has been confirmed there is NOT a tiger on the loose within the township,” police said.
Authorities asked residents not to call 911 about the disproven report, warning that unnecessary calls tie up emergency lines and telecommunicators. Anyone facing an actual emergency should continue to call 911.
Why Jackson Residents Might Believe It
In any other town in America, this scenario would be far fetched, but in Jackson Township, it’s a reality that people who live here have come to expect occasionally. The town is home to Six Flags Great Adventure’s Wild Safari and animals have escaped the facility, although to this day, the park claims those animals were somebody else’s.
While this particular sighting proved unfounded, the idea of an exotic animal turning up in Jackson is not entirely detached from the township’s history.
In 1999, officials pursued an actual tiger after motorists reported seeing the animal near Interstate 195. Wildlife officers eventually shot and killed the tiger after attempts to tranquilize it failed. Rumors quickly spread that a tiger had escaped from the nearby Wild Safari, but it was a different time in Jackson. There were tigers aplenty.
The tiger lady. Not Six Flags.
Suspicion centered on a private Jackson compound operated by Joan Byron-Marasek, who became widely known as the “Tiger Lady.” However, investigators never conclusively established where the loose tiger originated.
At the time, Jackson was home to tigers at both Six Flags Wild Safari and Byron-Marasek’s Tigers Only Preservation Society. A detailed New Yorker account of the Jackson tiger case documented the investigation, the dispute over the animal’s origin and the eventual removal of the privately held tigers from the compound.
Then There Was the Baboon
Jackson also experienced a genuine primate alert in 2011, when residents reported a baboon moving through neighborhoods near Six Flags.
Police stood on overpasses with binoculars, scanning the treelines for days before it was caught.
The animal spent roughly three days on the loose, appearing near homes, roads and a golf course before authorities tranquilized it on a Howell Township farm. Six Flags officials believed the baboon came from the park, although they initially found no evidence showing how it had escaped.
The wayward baboon was returned to Six Flags for an examination and identification check after its capture.
That episode, combined with the 1999 tiger scare and Jackson’s decades-long connection to the Wild Safari, helps explain why the latest video gained traction so quickly.
Great Adventure Says Every Animal Is Accounted For
Six Flags Great Adventure operates one of New Jersey’s best-known animal attractions, housing numerous exotic species alongside its amusement and water parks. Shore News Network has previously covered the park’s animal program, including a story about a tiger and lion cub raised together by Wild Safari staff.
For now, police say residents can put away the tiger traps. The viral claim is false, no tiger has escaped from Great Adventure and there is no confirmed big cat wandering through Jackson.
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Jackson police say no tiger is loose despite a viral video, and Six Flags confirms all animals are accounted for at its Wild Safari facility.