HOUSTON — A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood was transported to a wildlife sanctuary on Sunday after police found the animal a day earlier following a nearly weeklong search.
The 9-month-old male named India is now being cared for at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located southeast of Dallas, said Noelle Almrud, the sanctuary’s senior director.
“Black Beauty Ranch will provide safe sanctuary for him and give him a proper diet, enrichment, an expansive naturally wooded habitat where he can safely roam and will provide everything else he needs to be the healthy wild tiger he deserves to be,” she said.
The sanctuary is home to nearly 800 domestic and exotic animals, including two other tigers who were found in recent years — one in Houston in 2019 and another in February in San Antonio.
Houston police announced Saturday that India had been found safe and unharmed. In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Cmdr. Ron Borza was seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal.
The tiger was held at BARC, the city of Houston’s animal shelter, until officials with the sanctuary picked him up Sunday morning.
Authorities had been searching for the tiger since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner.
At a news conference Saturday evening, Borza said that Cuevas’ wife, Giorgiana, turned over the tiger to police on Saturday after a friend of hers reached out to officials at BARC.
“It is Victor’s tiger. That’s what I was told by (Giorgiana Cuevas) … She says they’ve had that animal for nine months,” Borza said. He alleged that the tiger was passed around to different people but that Cuevas’ wife knew where the tiger was at all times last week as authorities searched for it.
Police are still trying to determine where exactly the tiger was held last week and if any charges related to having the tiger will be filed. Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits under a city ordinance unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals.
But Cuevas’ attorney, Michael W. Elliott, on Saturday night continued to insist his client doesn’t own the tiger.
Cuevas was arrested Monday by Houston police and charged with evading arrest for allegedly fleeing his home with the tiger after officers had responded to a call about a dangerous animal.
