In what has been a curious incident, six tigers were shot dead in the Cato Ridge area after someone removed the padlocks.

Circus entrepreneur and owner of the Natal Zoological Gardens and Lion Park, Brian Boswell, first admitted that only one tiger had escaped and was shot on a neighbouring farm. Animal rights activists went wild. Why was the tiger shot dead when he could have been darted with tranquilizers instead?

But the storm grew when Brian admitted that it was actually six tigers that had escaped and shot in two separate incidents because of the danger they posed to staff and visitors. Suspecting foul play, Brian believes that two kinds of people would have removed the locks from the tigers’ cages: people wanting to steal the cats, or activists.

Brian saw his decision as “a responsible action” as the tigers are dangerous animals.

I am not a canned hunter, nor am I in the business of tiger bones.

On Monday, 7 December, five tigers were shot while milling about the staff quarters. At first light the following day, the sixth cat was tracked and killed on a neighbouring farm.

It would not have been safe to dart them and we don’t have the drugs. We are not allowed to keep them here. There was nothing else we could do. It would have been a worse loss if somebody had been injured or killed. It was the responsible thing to do.

They were shot by a professional and a vet was present.

The tigers were on their way to a zoo which was yet to be opened:

They were two-and-a-half to three years’ old and being held pending documentation to be exported by a dealer. You have to prepare them for export. They need to be dewormed and deparasited.

Brian added that hyenas, parrots and lions had been stolen and poached.

Even ivory off a live elephant. They sawed it off and it wasn’t even a big piece.

Both the SPCA and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife are investigating. Arno de Klerk, national inspector for the NSPCA Wildlife Unit, had recently visited the facility:

We do not have much information about it, but we are investigating.

[source: iol]