After a weeklong search, Houston’s missing tiger, India, is now on his way to his new home at an animal sanctuary in Murchison, about three hours north of Houston.
Noelle Almrud, senior director for the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, and her staff arrived at BARC, a Houston animal shelter, Sunday morning to drive the tiger to the sanctuary, which is part of the Humane Society of the United States.
“We are happy to take India back home to Black Beauty, where he would be taken to a half acre naturally wooded habitat with a pool, trees, and a proper nutritious diet,” Almrud said. “Our goal is to provide the best quality of life for the rest of his life.”
The sanctuary houses over 800 animals of more than 40 different species, most of which come from cruelty and neglect situations or law enforcement seizures. It’s also home to Loki and Elsa, two Tigers that were rescued after being kept as pets in Texas.
Almrud said situations like these are why legislation like the Big Cat Safety Act, which limits private ownership and public contact with animals like tigers, is needed. It’s already illegal in Houston, to own large predators, like Tigers, but there are many parts of the state where it isn’t, Almrud said.
For those of you not on Twitter, this is how it all started:
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Apparently there’s a tiger loose on my parents’ West Houston street?— robwormald (@robwormald) 9:21 PM – 09 May 2021
That would keep me inside the house, for sure. The story got weirder from there, involving a dude out on bail for a murder charge. This Chron story from Thursday is a good overview of where everything was just before India was found. Texas Monthly goes into the history of exotic animals in our state, and one thing I learned is that there may be more tigers in Texas than in the wild. I don’t even know what to make of that. Anyway, this particular tiger is now off the streets and someplace safe, and for that we should all be happy.