'Happy and content': Tiger found in abandoned house given new home
A tiger found living in a cage in an abandoned home has a new lease on life after being moved to a wildlife sanctuary.
Tyson the tiger, named after Mike Tyson’s tiger from the movie The Hangover, was found in a cage in a Houston home last Monday.
The tiger was found after a woman, who hasn’t been named, entered the home looking to smoke marijuana.
Animal control seized Tyson. It’s not known who owns the home or the tiger.
Houston Police spokeswoman Kese Smith told ABC News the tiger was living in his own faeces in deplorable conditions.
On Wednesday, the tiger was moved to Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch.
The ranch’s director Noelle Almrud told ABC News the tiger appeared to be overweight and he’s estimated to be 158kg.
Ms Almrud added the tiger now seems “happy and content” in his new surroundings.
“It was just amazing to see him walk out on grass and to see him explore and have that freedom of movement,” she told ABC News.
The refuge is said the 1,400 acres and is home to more than 800 rescued animals.
‘It’s pretty big’
Transcripts of the phone call made to emergency services about the tiger have been released to the Houston Chronicle.
“I’m not lying,” the woman told the operator, according to the paper.
“I don’t know how he got in there (the cage). It’s not a baby tiger. It’s pretty big.”
More of the call was obtained by ABC 13.
The operator asked the woman, “How do you even get a pet tiger?”
The woman then went on to explain how she met someone through a friend who claimed to own the “pet tiger” and needed to feed it.
She also asked to remain anonymous and told the operator the home “looks like a crack house”.
It’s still not known who owns the home or the tiger but it’s illegal to own a tiger in Houston.
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