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March 30, 2006
A tiger walks in Cullman, Alabama
I keep forgetting about this bit of news:
Residents of the Berlin community were surprised Thursday night when they spotted a tiger roaming the neighborhood.[...]
Blackwood said Lt. Phillip Patterson and Cpl. Keith Marbut responded to the scene.
"They talked to several neighbors who also saw the tiger," Blackwood said.
They searched the area, he said, but never came in contact with the tiger that Blackwood said was described as a full-grown animal coming to about waist-high on an adult male.
Cullman County Animal Control Officer Tim McKoy said he spent the better part of Friday at the scene, looking for signs of the animal and talking to witnesses.
He said the woman who called in initially described the animal as a Bengal tiger, with reddish-orange coloring and black stripes.
If it is a fully adult male, it could weigh anywhere from 300 to 600 pounds, McKoy said.
He said that he could not find any concrete evidence of the tiger at the scene — no tracks, hair or markings on trees. One reason he might not have found markings, he said, is because many domesticated exotic animals like tigers are usually declawed and have their canine teeth removed. That could affect how the animal would search for food, possibly even causing it to starve, McKoy said.
McKoy added that the Bengal tiger is a nocturnal animal, meaning it moves mostly at night.
Posted by Groonk at March 30, 2006 07:52 PM | Ministry of Alabama, Animals
