The Dallas Zoo was closed on Friday so that its teams, with the help of police and their drones, can try to find a flabby tiger that escaped from its enclosure.
“If you come across a cat that’s larger than a house cat but smaller than a lynx, we’d very much like you to tell us,” said Harrison Edel, an official at this Texas zoo. “We take no tip.”
He stressed that the 4-year-old fugitive, weighing between 9 and 11 kilograms, “presents no danger to humans.”
“If she’s scared, she’ll probably climb a tree, get away from us, chase some squirrels and birds, and hope she doesn’t get noticed.”
Zoo workers found Nova had a head start when they searched the enclosure she shares with her sister Luna and noticed a breach in the fence.
“It probably climbed straight up into the trees and didn’t come back down, so we spent a lot of time screwing in our binoculars,” Harrison Idel said. “We don’t think it will go very far.”
According to the official, the Dallas police are helping to find and use infrared drones to scan the treetops.
In the event of an unexpected encounter, it’s important not to try to catch him, he warns.
“She still has a full set of claws and fangs. Not being a domestic cat, she remains a wild animal.”
Clouded tigers live wild in the Himalayas, parts of Southeast Asia, and China.
