Tiger Walking Along Houston Street Confronted By Off-Duty Cop

Houston TX

10 May, 2021

1:55 PM

Description

HOUSTON — Other than Berani, the Malayan tiger at the Houston Zoo, tigers aren't allowed in the city. But neighbors in one west Houston neighborhood are abuzz about one they saw briefly walk along their street Sunday night. Police are abuzz as well, with reports indicating the tiger's owner is a man who is out on bond in connection with a 2017 murder charge. Residents on Ivy Wall Drive, near South Texas 6 and Memorial Drive, shared photos and videos with KHOU of the large orange and black striped feline walking in a front yard. The video footage shows the tiger walking slowly before stretching and lying down. Another video, according to KHOU, shows a man later identified as an off-duty sheriff's deputy holding a gun aimed at the tiger while yelling at someone who was seen bringing the animal inside the home. "It's (the tiger) someone's pet," said one of the people taking the video that the news station shared, although where exactly the tiger came from had not been confirmed as of Monday afternoon. Part of the tense confrontation involving the tiger and the man with the gun was also shared by neighborhood residents on Twitter. The man with the gun is yelling for the tiger to be taken inside, as the animal slowly walks toward him in the street. Ivy Wall Drive residents watching from windows thought the tiger would be shot, fearing for the safety of the man trying to keep the animal at bay. Someone eventually brings the tiger inside the home. The tiger was taken away from the area in a vehicle, witnesses told KHOU, before any on-duty police officers arrived. The feline's location remained unknown Monday afternoon. The tiger is apparently the pet of a man who is on bond in connection with a 2017 murder charge, KPRC reported Monday, citing officials from the Houston Police Department. The man is 28 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches tall and about 130 pounds, police said, according to the report. He fled with the tiger in a white Jeep Cherokee, authorities said. "Obviously, if you see a Cherokee with a big tiger in it, it would be good to call us," said Ron Borza, a Houston police commander, according to KPRC. Brittany Peet, a spokeswoman for the PETA Foundation animal rights group, blamed lax federal and state laws on the still unfound tiger in Houston. "Until law enforcement cracks down on people who breed big cats, keep them in shoddy backyard cages, and sell photo ops with them, a loose tiger could be around any corner—and injuries and deaths could easily follow," Peet said in a statement to Patch. "PETA urges Texas authorities to crack down on the state's underground big-cat trade, track down this tiger, and get this animal into an accredited sanctuary," she added. Tigers are banned from being pets in the city of Houston but are allowed in unincorporated Harris County, the report states. But even in the county, tiger owners need to keep their pets at least 1,000 feet from another home, among other restrictions. Borza said the immediate concern is for the tiger. "What I don't want him to do is harm the tiger," he said, according to KPRC. "We have plenty of places where we could take that tiger and keep it safe and give it a home for the rest of its life."