Residents of Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, are on high alert after a full-grown tigress escaped from her clutches on Saturday night.
community police forum Walkerville Gresham Mandy told Newsroom African animals have killed dogs, and attacked people walking about a kilometer away from the farm.
“He bent down to tie his shoe, and it attacked him from behind, he screamed, and then people ran out of one of the houses with torches and managed to chase the tiger,” said Mandy.
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The tiger escaped from its small hold
It is understood that the big cat is the female half of a pair of tigers that are privately owned from a small farm at Walkers Fruit Farms.
Walkers Fruit Farms is described as ‘a very different area to all other parts of Walkerville’.
At Walkers Fruit Farms most properties range in size from 2 to 4 acres with tree lined roads where the tops of the trees touch, forming miles of curves along the road.
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There is also a lot of small-scale intensive farming as the majority of plots have fertile deep soil.
Mandy said the owner of the small house reported that her fence had been cut, allowing the tiger to escape.
Mandy described the area where the tiger was driven as a ‘koppie range’ with thick bushes.
It is suspected that the animal will decide to come home when it is thirsty, and residents are warned not to approach it.
Also read: Lion escapes from Pilanesberg National Park in North West
Tiger capture?
When hunting an escaped big cat, the first prize is to safely capture the animal and transport it to a sanctuary that better suits the tiger’s needs.
But the police have also given local authorities the green light to shoot to kill if the situation calls for drastic measures.
Watch the interview with Walkerville CPF
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