It was like “Home Alone,” but instead of an 8-year-old boy setting traps to keep burglars away, a 2-year-old tiger stopped a marijuana smoker from lighting up in its house.

That started a chain of events on Monday that ended with the tiger, left alone in a small cage in an abandoned house in Houston, being taken away for proper care at an animal sanctuary.

“This is not the first tiger that we have been called out to investigate,” said Lara Cottingham, the chief of staff of the city’s administration and regulatory affairs department. “In the City of Houston you cannot keep exotic animals, including a tiger.”

The big cat was found by someone who had tried to sneak into the house to smoke marijuana and reported the discovery to Houston’s Animal Shelter and Adoption Facility, known as BARC, the authorities said.