Video footage of an armed individual confronting a tiger roaming the streets of a West Houston neighborhood is being widely circulated on social media.
Cellphone-captured videos show the wild animal lurking around the Fleetwood neighborhood until an armed man decided to confront it with a firearm on Sunday night.
Police Received Reports of an 'Aggressive Tiger' on the Loose
According to Houston police, they received reports of a loose Bengal tiger spotted in the 1100 block of Ivy Wall Drive. The caller told police that the tiger "had a collar around its neck" and was "looking aggressive."
In one video, obtained by local news outlet, KHOU11, the wild cat can be seen prowling around the front yard of a house. "It's someone's pet," one of the family members who filmed the clip from their vehicle can be heard saying.
Sheriff's Deputy Draws Gun at Tiger Before Owner Flees with it
Twitter user Rob Wormald shared a video sent to him by his parents who live on the same street. In the clip, the tiger can be seen approaching a man with what appears to be a handgun drawn at the animal. "No sir, no sir," the man can be heard saying as the wild cat walks towards him before going out of the camera's view.
"Get the f*ck back inside," the man, later identified as a sheriff's deputy who lives on the street says to the exotic pet's owner. "F*ck you and your tiger."
"I'll get him," the tiger's owner responds.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the owner then fled with the animal in a white Jeep Cherokee.
Here is another angle:
The city of Houston has an ordinance banning members of the public from owning wild animal considered dangerous to humans. Houston police Commander Ron Borza said owning a tiger violates the city code and is a misdemeanor.
"My main concern right now is focusing on finding him and finding the tiger," Borza said during a news conference on Monday. "Because what I don't want him to do is harm the 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."
Houston's Tiger Problem
This is not the first time a tiger has been spotted in a Houston neighborhood. In 2019, a woman found a caged tiger in a vacant Houston home and in 2016 a young female tiger wearing a leash was found wandering in a neighborhood in Conroe. It jumped up and licked the face of a resident who approached it, according to the Associated Press.
