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Tiger Runs Free On Doha Expressway

KITTY!
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Why did the tiger cross the highway?

To go viral, that's why.

A tiger cub ran loose on the Doha Expressway in Qatar on Tuesday, surprising locals as much as it did the international community on social media.

The video above shows the large cat bounding between vehicles as it approaches the camera operator, who films the tiger from the safety of the front seat.

It isn't certain where the cat came from, but The Guardian quoted local media saying it was somebody's pet.

Taking wild animals as pets is illegal in Qatar, though some have been known to keep tigers and cheetahs as status symbols, Al Jazeera reported.

Qatar's Interior Ministry assured people in Arabic that it was following up on reports of the loose feline.

This is hardly the first time animals have run around in traffic.

Last year, a cat managed to stop cars on the Queen Elizabeth Way in Mississauga, Ont., CTV News reported.

Meanwhile, a herd of elk stopped traffic in Estes Park, Colo. in October 2015.

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Steve Winter -- Tigers
(01 of15)
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Tigers live in perhaps the highest density in Kaziranga National Park of any place in India. In other national parks in India, tigers are in great peril, heavily-hunted by poachers, but here the park is protected by armed guards—and poachers tend to target the Indian one-horned rhinos instead. Here, a young male is photographed by a “camera trap” as it emerges from the elephant grass. (credit:Steve Winter)
(02 of15)
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A tiger walks through burnt elephant grass - this is camouflage - why tigers have stripes. Kaziranga National Park in Assam India. (credit:Steve Winter)
(03 of15)
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Though huge swaths of wilderness remain, Sumatra has lost 48 percent of its forests since 1985, leaving a fragmentedpatchwork. Without safe forest corridors connecting breeding populations, young tigers setting out to establish their own territory face an uncertain future.This beautiful rainforest of Sumatra Indonesia is being patrolled by a forest guard on elephant back. This guard is a former tiger poacher and is very happy to be getting a steady paycheck. Who better to catch poachers than former poachers? (credit:Steve Winter)
(04 of15)
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Across Sumatra, tiger habitat is being razed for industrial-scaleplantations and for small plots doled out to new settlers as part of anationwide government relocation scheme. (credit:Steve Winter)
(05 of15)
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A poacher's snare cost this tiger both its right front leg -- and its freedom. Its limb was amputated after the tiger had been trapped for three days in a snare in Aceh Province, Sumatra. Unable to hunt, the tiger now lives in a zoo in Bogor on the island of Java. Many of the snares set in Sumatra are placed by families that are part of a government program that offers Javans five hectare plots to relocate and grow palm oil. (credit:Steve Winter)
(06 of15)
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Dara Arista holds a portrait of Sheila, a beloved 18-year-old Sumatran tiger, in front of her cage at Taman Rimbo Zoo in Jambi.Two nights before, a poacher broke in and killed her in her cage. He was captured on a bus and confessed to killing her for $100. (credit:Steve Winter)
(07 of15)
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Tiger killings by heavily armed poachers have grown so widespread that some countries, including Thailand,have resorted to commando style protection. (credit:Steve Winter)
(08 of15)
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A tiger crouches in the brush near a village outside India’s Bandhavgarh National Park. (credit:Steve Winter)
(09 of15)
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A male tiger crosses a Bay of Bengal channel in the Indian Sundarbans. (credit:Steve Winter)
(10 of15)
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(credit:Steve Winter)
(11 of15)
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A tiger charges an intruder. Bandhavgarh National Park, India. (credit:Steve Winter)
(12 of15)
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Although usually found in tropical area, tigers have a low tolerance for high temperatures and direct sun and seek refuge from midday heat. Here, 14-month old sibling cubs cool off in the Patpara Nala watering hole in Bandhavgarh National Park, India. 210 (credit:Steve Winter)
(13 of15)
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A tigress and her nearly grown cubs leave Bandhavgarh NationalPark through a ruined fence. The wide-roaming cats frequently move in and out of the park—and human settlements. (credit:Steve Winter)
(14 of15)
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These men were apprehended in January 2011 while trying to sell a tiger skin near Chandrapur, India. Police received the tip from the Wildlife Protection Society of India, with intelligence from their informant network. They were members of an extended family from a nearby village. (credit:Steve Winter)
(15 of15)
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Park guards cremated a tigress over a funeral pyre - she was killed by another tiger fighting over territory, this is the only way to keep her out of the illegal traditional medicine trade. Wildlife crime is a $19 billion-a-year business, run by international crime syndicates. (credit:Steve Winter)

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