Houston’s Roaming Bengal Tiger Ends Up In Murchison Animal Sanctuary
Last week residents in a Houston neighborhood spotted a tiger roaming free. Something you just don't see in Texas, but these residents did.
The nine month old Bengal tiger had been roaming Houston since May 9th, but has since been captured by animal control officials and turned over to an animal sanctuary here in East Texas. India the Bengal tiger has been transferred to the care of the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison. He'll have his own half acre wooded lot to live in for now as he undergoes a thirty day quarantine period.
The ordeal to locate the tiger began on Sunday, May 9th when residents began posting pictures of it on the neighborhood social media platform, Nextdoor. Authorities were notified through the app and at one point a deputy has is weapon pulled on the tiger, but was confronted by the animals owner and intervened and took control of the animal. His owner then apparently fled the scene from officers in his vehicle as they were arriving at his residence. When police captured the suspect, 26 year old Victor Cuevas, he no longer has possession of the tiger.
The tiger had been on the run ever since. India was eventually located this past Saturday night by Cueva's wife, who brought the tiger to BARC Houston, the city's animal shelter. Sunday morning, possession of the tiger was transferred to the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison. The sanctuary's senior director, Noelle Almrud, says the 175 pound tiger is still in a playful stage, but he could prove to be deadly once he matures into adulthood. She tells CNN,
It's not always easy to introduce tigers together especially as they're older. But we'll just play it by ear and see if he's interested in meeting any of our other tigers.
While the cub is used to interacting with humans, the two other tigers the group has rescued from homes in Texas -- Elsa and Loki -- quickly acclimated to becoming "wild" tigers and receive no direct interaction with humans.