HOUSTON — A man claiming to be the owner of a tiger found wandering in a residential area in Texas this week has come forward.
Cody Tibbits said the big cat’s name is Nahla, and he bought her two weeks ago, though he’s trying to make his ownership legally binding.
“It’s not mine, legally,” Tibbits said. “It’s someone else’s legally. We don’t know who has the paperwork.”
Animal control officers captured the tiger, which was wearing a collar with a leash attached, on Thursday after it was spotted roaming in a neighborhood in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston.
The Conroe Police Department says it received several phone calls from residents who saw the young, female tiger.
Tibbits said that while he was trying to make his ownership legal, he sent Nahla to a friend’s house for safekeeping in Conroe. But with the threat of floods last week, Tibbits said he had to move the tiger and he paid someone to take her back to her original owner.
“To see if he could house for X amount of days until I could get her back,” Tibbits said.
He said he’s not certain how Nahla got loose.
Tibbits said he’s owned exotic animals before, like a bobcat, but nothing like Nahla.
Conroe police Sgt. Dorcy McGinnis said Friday that if the tiger and its owner live in Conroe, the tiger will no longer be able to be housed in the city due to this incident.
Contributing: The Associated Press
