WAKEFIELD, Ohio — That was no dog chasing cars in southern Ohio earlier this week. It was a cat - a big cat.

Pike County sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call of a lion "attacking" vehicles on U.S. 23 Monday and found a man trying to capture a 550-pound feline near Wakefield.

Terry Brumfield told officers that his lion named Lambert had broken out of its pen in nearby Piketon, about 90 miles east of Cincinnati. The owner was able to get the animal back into the cage without anyone getting hurt.

Brumfield and his wife have two lions. Vicki Brumfield said raising them has helped her husband through a bout of depression. She said they are tame, like great big house cats.

Ohio doesn't require permits for exotic animals, but that would change under an Ohio House bill now in committee.