People driving through Joelton this week probably expected the usual Middle Tennessee sights: trees, traffic, maybe a deer at the edge of the road if they were unlucky. What they likely did not expect was an African oryx, a long-horned antelope native to Africa, darting out near morning traffic and leaving at least one driver wondering what in the world he had just seen.
In her report for WSMV 4 Nashville, Diana Rocco captured exactly that reaction after the animal was spotted off Old Marrowbone Road near Beaman Park. The sighting was strange enough on its own, but the bigger surprise may have come afterward, when Rocco explained that an oryx is not some illegal exotic mystery in Tennessee. It is, in fact, perfectly legal to own there.
That detail gives the whole story a very Tennessee flavor. In many places, seeing an African antelope on the side of the road would sound like the beginning of a major wildlife emergency. In Tennessee, the answer appears to be a little more complicated, because the animal may not have been wild in the normal sense at all. It may simply have belonged to somebody.
A Driver Thought He Saw “A Really Big Goat”
Rocco’s report centered first on Lance Carter, the man who nearly hit the animal while driving to work in the early morning hours. He told WSMV that he had to slam on the brakes after spotting something unusual sticking out of the woods along the right side of the road.
At first glance, Carter said, he thought it looked like a very large goat. But even in the moment, he knew that was probably not right. The animal’s size, shape, and especially its horns made it clear this was not anything most people in Middle Tennessee are used to seeing on a normal drive…