If there’s one thing the show “Tiger King” taught us, it’s that it is possible for anyone who wants to own one to buy a tiger in the United States as long as they have the money and a place to put it. It sounds like a lot of shady stuff goes on when it comes to buying and selling tigers. That means it’s possible that someone in your neighborhood could own a tiger without anyone knowing it, but it’s probably unlikely, right?
Homeowners in a suburb of Houston, Texas, were alarmed on Mother’s Day when looked out their windows and walked down the sidewalk to walk their dogs. There was a tiger roaming around their neighborhood.
We love wild animals, but we also appreciate that tigers can be very dangerous. The idea of seeing a tiger walking down the sidewalk is quite unsettling. Nobody knew how the tiger got there or where it came from.
One neighbor happened to be a deputy for Waller County, and he decided that he needed to protect his neighbors. The brave man pulled out a gun and walked towards the tiger, but he never fired a shot. One neighbor says that the tiger approached the deputy “ferociously,” but the tiger did not attack.
Another neighbor begged the deputy not to shoot the tiger. Watch the video below to find out how this story ends.
It sounds like one of the neighbors (the one who took the tiger inside and later drove away with him in his truck) owns the tiger as a sort of pet. It is illegal for anyone to own a tiger or any other wild animal in Houston; however, in nearby unicorporated areas of Harris County in Texas, it is not illegal as long as the owner follows a few rules. The owner needs to register the animal with animal control, keep the animal properly caged, and keep the animal a minimum of 1000 feet away from residential homes, schools and child care facilities.
It’s possible that the man who drove away with the tiger usually keeps the tiger in an area where owning a wild animal is allowed. It is also possible that he has secretly been keeping a tiger in a residential home. Perhaps he was just visiting the home with the tiger for some reason. Regardless, this story does not seem to be over. If we lived in that neighborhood, we would want to make sure the tiger didn’t show up outside again.
How would you react if you saw a neighbor lounging in the front yard of a home in your neighborhood? Do you think the tiger should be taken away from the man who identified himself as the owner?