Looking in the eye of a tiger
Pretoria East residents had the shock of their lives when they saw a three-year-old male tiger roaming the streets.
|||Pretoria - Pretoria East residents had the shock of their lives when they saw a tiger roaming the streets.
The three-year-old male tiger, belonging to The Farm Inn – a hotel and wildlife sanctuary situated in Silver Lakes – made a brief dash for freedom from its enclosure on Friday before being recaptured by the sanctuary’s staff.
The Farm Inn owner, Pedro Michaletos, said it was still unclear how the tiger, which was born at the sanctuary, managed to escape.
“We are going to do a full inquiry into how the tiger was able to escape and we will erect more electric fencing around its enclosure,” Michaletos said.
He said it was the first time such an escape had happened at the sanctuary.
The Farm Inn is home to a variety of animals, including tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars and pumas. The tiger cage has high fencing with electric wire around it.
Michaletos said no one was harmed while the tiger was loose.
It was eventually tranquillised and transported back to the sanctuary in a truck from less than a kilometre away.
“We are not going to put the tiger down. We will make sure there is more electric fencing to secure its enclosure,” Michaletos said.
The sanctuary is not far from the Hazeldean shopping centre and the Curro Hazeldean Independent School.
Facebook comments posted below a picture of the tiger being captured showed mixed reactions.
Some lamented the tiger ought not to be kept in an enclosure but should be free in its natural habitat.
Others, however, said they were happy the tiger was unharmed, while some begged for it’s life to be spared.
nomaswazi.nkosi@inl.co.za
Pretoria News