TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - German police shot and killed a tiger who previously attacked an elderly handler and escaped a private enclosure near the eastern city of Leipzig, police said on Sunday.
Multiple media reports indicated that the animal belonged to well-known trainer Carmen Zander. The tiger tamer and performer owns a group of big cats held in an industrial estate in the community of Schkeuditz, just west of Leipzig.
Some eight tigers are reportedly living under her care. Officials said none of the other tigers had escaped.
Police kill tiger after attack
The tiger injured a 73-year-old man, who worked at the enclosure. He then fled the complex.
According to the mass-circulation Bild newspaper, the animal only managed to roam free for less than 30 minutes before it was shot by the police in a nearby garden.
The injured man was taken to the hospital to treatment.
The incident sparked a debate about the Schkeuditz tiger camp. One witness who claimed to know the tiger's owner told the DPA news agency the animals were "housed in far too cramped conditions," with very limited space to roam.
Controversial tiger tamer
Zander, who has been dubbed the "Tiger Queen," had trained the animals and performed in shows across Europe, before settling in the town of Dölzig in Schkeuditz with her big cats, Bild reported.
But she has faced legal issues because of her treatment of the animals in her care, the Zeit weekly said, citing media reports.
Among other things, she is alleged to have put on a tiger show without proper approval, leading to an investigation by Leipzig state prosecutors.
Dölzig mayor Thomas Druskat was outraged by the situation, calling for the removal of the animals.
"The enclosure has to go," he is quoted as saying, by newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung. "It’s unthinkable what might have happened if other people had been injured."
Druskat reportedly called for the animals to be transferred to a different type of housing.
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