German Police Kill 280kg Tiger After Escape Injures 72-Year-Old Keeper

5 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 22

Three shots killed Sandokan about 30 minutes after the 280kg tiger escaped from a Schkeuditz enclosure near Leipzig airport, after it mauled a 72-year-old man inside the pen.
Police said they had no veterinarian or stun gun available, leaving lethal force as the only option once the animal was found near garden allotments crowded with residents.
Prosecutors are not investigating the officers, but have opened a negligent bodily harm case against owner Carmen Zander over possible safety breaches; the injured keeper remains hospitalized and unable to answer questions.
Eight tigers are kept at the facility, where authorities had already been pressing Zander to improve space or reduce numbers, and the district mayor now wants the enclosure removed immediately.
Animal welfare groups including Peta and the German Animal Protection Association said the case exposed weak controls on private wild-animal keeping and called for tighter rules or confiscation of the remaining tigers.

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