Reports of a lion roaming a US city have put police and others on the lookout.

Milwaukee police say a woman reported seeing a lion on Monday afternoon in her north side neighbourhood.

Police Chief Edward Flynn says his officers were given mobile phone video of an animal that appeared to be a "lion-ish creature".

Officers checked the area, but did not find anything.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was notified and dispatched an employee to check it out. Mr Flynn says it was "theoretically possible" a wild cat had made its way south from northern Wisconsin.

Since the first call, police have received about two dozen lion reports. Officers investigated each call and found no lion.

The initial report of a lion sighting lit up social media with its own hashtag #mkelion.