Authorities in South Africa are searching for a tiger that escaped from its enclosure on a private farm near Johannesburg over the weekend, injuring a man and killing a dog.
Local media said the man survived the attack but was taken to hospital.
Residents in the Walkerville region south of Johannesburg have been warned to be on high alert and avoid confronting the animal, while a group of about 30 people search the area where its last tracks were identified.
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Officials leading the search suspected the tigress, named Sheba, was hiding in a bushy area seeking shade and hoped she would start moving again once the summer heat subsided or when she needed to drink water.
South African authorities search for a tiger that escaped from its enclosure, in Walkerville, South Africa, on January 16, 2023.
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Members of a special police task force were expected to begin leading the search on Monday, replacing a group of local community police and the SPCA animal protection group.
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Gresham Mandy, who leads the community policing group, said the first priority was to calm the animal with a dart and bring it back to safety. She said the tiger escaped after thieves cut through a fence on the small property where it was kept.
“It appears that the thieves cut through the fence to get on and off the property. The tiger saw that and used the cut fence to escape,” Mandy said.
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The big cat, believed to be eight years old, was kept on the farm as a pet.
