Texas tigers

[OlongJohnson]

Just another day on the streets in H-town.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ti...ws/ar-BB1gzWre

A 54-second video posted on social media showed the Bengal tiger roaming freely in front of houses in the Energy Corridor, 18 miles west of downtown Houston.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ti...od/ar-BB1gzIRK

The tiger was seen wearing a collar and prowling around outside of a home when an off-duty sheriff's deputy encountered the wildcat, seemingly in response to sightings from neighbors.

The encounter was caught on video by a neighbor, according to local NBC affiliate KPRC. In the video, the sheriff's deputy can be seen pointing a gun at the tiger as the animal slowly walks toward him. Then, an unidentified man is seen luring the tiger back onto his property and into the house. Witnesses said the man was pleading with the deputy not to shoot, according to KPRC.

“He came up to the tiger himself and leaned down and kissed the tiger, and then took him by his collar,” an on-looking neighbor told KPRC.

https://www.dw.com/en/tigers-prowl-t...rds/a-44347435

It's estimated there could be from 2,000 to 5,000 tigers living in this southern state of the United States — meaning Texas could have more tigers than the roughly 3,800 tigers living in the wild globally.
...
At the same time, no one really knows just how many tigers there are in Texas or across the country. Some estimates put the United States tiger population around 7,000, but others say numbers are inflated by animal-welfare activists to raise money.

I'd be interested to see how the "estimates" are done. With a high/low of 2.5, it seems a lot like, "We don't have a clue, so we pulled a number out of our cornhole."

[HCM]

H-town's just trying to keep up with San Antonio..

https://news4sanantonio.com/news/loc...st-san-antonio

Reports of a tiger on the loose in Southwest San Antonio
by Andrea CardenSaturday, February 6th 2021

SAN ANTONIO - Officers from South Patrol were quite surprised Friday to get a call from Animal Care Services asking for help with a tiger on the loose.

Someone called 3-1-1 and said she saw a tiger walking around in her backyard on Elk Runner near Pearsall Park on the Southwest side of San Antonio.

Officers went to the location and the tiger was already gone. With the help of Animal Care Services, they were able to figure out where the tiger was located. They contacted that homeowner, who told them he had borrowed the tiger from a friend so he could show his family.

The tiger jumped his back yard fence and went into the neighbor's yard. He told officers that he was able to catch the tiger and take it back to his friend, who has several tigers.

https://www.kens5.com/article/news/c...6-ed2903134681

Tiger, bobcat seized from southeast side home

One person was taken into custody by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Investigators believe the case is related to other tigers recently rescued in Bexar County.

Updated: 10:35 PM CDT March 16, 2021

SAN ANTONIO — Two wild animals were removed from a home on the southeast side Tuesday afternoon. According to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, a tiger and a bobcat were being kept inside a home where they took a 25-year-old man into custody.

BCSO arrested Jeremy Martinez at a house in the 3100 block of Shane Road on the far southeast side outside of Loop 410. That's where they discovered a 5-year-old bobcat and a 13-week old tiger cub.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said he thinks the discovery is related to other recent seizures of tigers in the past few months from homes in Bexar County and fears there will be more.


"I think that there's a lot more out there," Salazar said. "You can imagine the tragedy that could occur if there were babies in the house with a bobcat."

Salazar went on to accuse the popular show, The Tiger King, of being partly to blame for an increase in people interested in owning exotic pets.

"I think the Tiger King TV show led to the popularity," Salazar said. "Well it's going to be a 500-pound tiger overnight."

The big cats were taken to the San Antonio Zoo. President Tim Morrow said neither animal was properly cared for by its owner.

"We can already tell the tiger is malnourished. The fur coat doesn't look good. The body shape doesn't look good for a tiger his age," Morrow said. "And the bobcat, who's five years old, really looks like a geriatric cat. The way he's acting, we think he may have some vision problems."

Morrow said this is the third call they've helped police with the last five weeks. He's disappointed to see this mistreatment.

"A lot of people that get these cats, they have them for a status symbol," Morrow said. "They don't know how to care for them. They don't think long term that this is going to be a 500 or 600-pound animal."

Morrow said the zoo takes the animals in and uses its resources to nurse them back to health. Then, they find them a permanent home.

"We'll work with sanctuaries and rescue facilities locally, across Texas and across the country to find them a home to live their forever life," Morrow said. "People can know now that these animals are in a good, safe place and that they're going to get healthy and stronger."

Morrow said the big cats could be with them for days or weeks. He said the tiger they took in a few weeks ago from a previous BCSO seizure has already been relocated to a sanctuary.

[OlongJohnson]

So, @GJM @Paul D, what's the best carry gun when there are likely to be tigers roaming your suburb? 1301 with Brennekes?

[Hambo]

So, @GJM @Paul D, what's the best carry gun when there are likely to be tigers roaming your suburb? 1301 with Brennekes?

.577 No. 2 would be the traditional choice in a revolver.

[fixer]

I mean...if a pistol is all you have, ok...but if I have a Tiger on my lawn its probably gonna have to be a slug fest, pun intended.

[Zincwarrior]

What, you snowflakes can't handle a little housecat wandering around?

Just check under your truck before you start it up, so you don't scare it and it runs into the street, ya wussies.

Texas, even our cats our bigger here.

[HCM]

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2021...murder-charge/

Man arrested in connection with wandering tiger in Houston neighborhood was free on bond from murder charge
The tiger’s whereabouts are unknown

HOUSTON – A Texas man free on bond from a murder charge was returned to custody Monday after neighbors found a pet tiger wandering around a Houston neighborhood.
Houston police tweeted Monday night that Victor Hugo Cuevas, 26, was back in custody charged with felony evading arrest.
Police had said they believed the tiger had belonged to Cuevas, but his attorney questioned the accuracy of that belief.
Video of the Sunday night encounter shows the tiger coming face-to-face with an armed off-duty Waller County sheriff's deputy, police said. During the encounter, the deputy can be heard yelling at Cuevas to get the animal back inside.

No shots were fired.

When officers arrived, Cuevas put the animal in a white Jeep Cherokee and drove off, Houston police Cmdr. Ron Borza said during a news conference Monday. Cuevas got away after a brief pursuit, he said.

Police said Monday that the tiger’s whereabouts are not known. Borza had said earlier Monday that the main concern was finding Cuevas and finding the tiger "because what I don’t want him to do is harm that tiger. We have plenty of places we can take that tiger and keep it safe and give it a home for the rest of its life."
Cuevas' attorney, Michael W. Elliott, said he didn't think Cuevas was the owner of the tiger or that he was taking care of the animal. The attorney also said it was unclear to him if it was Cuevas seen on videos of the incident.
“People are making a lot of assumptions in this particular case. Maybe he might be the hero out there who caught the tiger that was in the neighborhood," Elliott said.
Cuevas was charged with murder in a 2017 fatal shooting of a man outside a restaurant in neighboring Fort Bend County and was out on bond. Elliott said Cuevas has maintained the shooting was self-defense and is innocent of the murder charge.

Cuevas also apparently had two monkeys in the home, Borza said.
Having a monkey is not illegal in Houston if the animal is under 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms). Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals. Texas has no statewide law forbidding private ownership of tigers and other exotic animals.
In 2019, some people who went into an abandoned Houston home to smoke marijuana found a caged tiger. The tiger's owner was later ordered to pay for the animal's care at an East Texas wildlife refuge.

Borza said residents should not have such animals because they can be unpredictable.
“If that tiger was to get out and start doing some damage yesterday, I’m sure one of these citizens would have shot the tiger. We have plenty of neighbors out here with guns, and we don’t want to see that. It’s not the animal’s fault. It’s the breeder’s fault. It’s unacceptable," he said.

[jh9]

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2021...murder-charge/

Man arrested in connection with wandering tiger in Houston neighborhood was free on bond from murder charge
The tiger’s whereabouts are unknown

Be on the lookout. Large cat with stripes. Answers to the name of "tabby".

Meanwhile, an hour north of San Antonio all we've got is a homeless dude with a live chicken he wears as a hat.

Sometimes I wonder who's weirder than who.

[vaglocker]

Pistol or no, homeboy was dead man walking at that distance if that cat had decided he was hungry.

[Hambo]

I mean...if a pistol is all you have, ok...but if I have a Tiger on my lawn its probably gonna have to be a slug fest, pun intended.

If a slug gun is all you have, ok...but for a tiger on the lawn it should be a .470 NE Rigby double. If you're one of @LittleLebowski's poors, I suppose you could make due with a bolt action in .375 or .458.