Police officers from New Mexico accidentally rescued a caged Bengal Tiger cub while following a lead in a shooting case they were investigating.

It all began when Albuquerque Police Officers received reports of shots being fired in the streets of the city of Albuquerque on the afternoon of 10th January.

While on the way, a witness from a local convenience store reported someone had been shot outside the business.

Upon arrival, officers located an individual with a gunshot wound to the leg.

While on scene, an additional gunshot was heard coming from a nearby mobile home.

Officers quickly began to move towards the gunfire and located Kevin Gerardo Vargas Mercado who was armed with a semiautomatic handgun.

Mercado was reportedly taken into custody without incident.

Officers then began to follow a trail of blood leading to a trailer in the area.

As they approached the trailer, they reportedly found the door was unlocked and the trail led inside.

Officers entered the trailer to aid whoever may have been wounded but did not find anyone.

Astonishingly, while inside the trailer, officers discovered a Bengal Tiger cub locked inside a dog crate.

The Gun Violence Reduction Unit was called out to assist and attained a search warrant for the residence in order to retrieve the tiger.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish was contacted and took custody of the tiger.

The Gun Violence Reduction Unit has taken over the ongoing shooting investigation, and preliminarily it appears the shooting victim was standing near where the incident occurred and was struck by a stray bullet.