We have lost track of him for a week. A Bengal tiger, named India, was seen on Sunday in the streets of Houston in the United States, wandering in the gardens, a few meters from the houses. Since that day, and despite the intensification of research, the feline is … nowhere to be found.
Investigations in Houston have failed to locate the feline, but police believe it is still in the city, CNN reports. If Victor Hugo Cuevas, 26, said he owns it, he is in fact not, explained his lawyer. Victor Hugo Cuevas would have just taken care of it in recent months. It was he who, Sunday, “saved” the animal by recovering it while a neighbor, a police officer on leave, pointed a gun in his direction, while waiting for the police. Victor Hugo Cuevas will not be able to help the investigators any more: he was imprisoned a few days later for a murder case, unrelated to the escape of this tiger.
Where can he be? Victor Hugo Cuevas told investigators that he returned the tiger to its owner, but gave no information to identify it. “I think the owner is hiding under a rock right now because of the global attention looking for him,” said attorney Michael Elliott, attorney for Victor Hugo Cuevas. The police have stepped up searches, without success for the moment, despite the hundreds of calls received. The animal is believed to have passed through at least eight locations across the city this week alone, police said.
$ 5,000 reward
In the city of Houston, unlike some of the surrounding counties, having these types of wildlife in your home is not allowed. Texas is nevertheless known to concentrate a significant number of tigers in captivity. State law allows you to own it, as long as you register and make sure it is locked up. In 2014, WWF estimated that nearly 5,000 tigers lived in captivity in the United States, more than the world’s wild tiger population.
Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue, star of the “Tiger King” program on Netflix, decided to put her hand in her pocket to help find the feline. The animal rights activist promised his owner on the social network Instagram 5,000 dollars if he released him in a sanctuary… Enough to push his owner out of the woods?
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