New Tiger Goes On The Prowl In Johannesburg

New tiger goes on the prowl in Johannesburg

Johannesburg, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Jan, 2023 ) :A tiger escaped from a private property in Johannesburg on Monday, just weeks after another had gone on the loose near the city, reigniting calls for stricter regulations on keeping wild animals.

A private security firm in the northeastern outskirts at Edenvale, said the runaway animal was recaptured hours after it was spotted roaming the area.

"It has been taken to a safe sanctuary," Gary Wilson of security firm S.W.A.T. said, adding the tiger was "in good condition".

It was not clear who the big cat belonged to and exactly where it had escaped from.

Animal welfare authorities said they could not yet confirm that the tiger had been captured.

Security camera footage circulating on social media showed the tiger -- believed to be a nine-month-old female -- roaming around a parked car in what appeared to be the backyard of a house in the early hours of the morning.

Earlier this month, another tiger had escaped from an exotic farm near Johannesburg.

The female Bengal tiger roamed the countryside for four days, attacking a man and killing several animals before it was euthanised.

Tigers are not native to South Africa but there are no laws banning the owning of them as pets.

Rearing the big cats has become a flourishing industry in the country, where they are kept as pets or bred for commercial export, causing concern to animal rights groups.

"We believe this is part of the wider issue of South Africa's captive commercial big cat industry," animal rights charity Four Paws wrote in a statement.

"These two cases highlight how easily accessible endangered, non-native big cat species are to the South African public." Smaragda Louw, of non-profit organisation Ban Animal Trading, called for stricter laws on wildlife ownership.

Tiger farming was spawned by the country's breeding of lions for commercial hunting.

A report by animal rights charity Four Paws said 452 live tigers and tiger parts were exported from South Africa from 2011 to 2020.

It said the top buyers of live tigers, which are an endangered species, included China, Thailand and Vietnam, where there is "high demand for tiger parts used in traditional medicine and luxury items".

Globally, there are three times more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild.