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Nature and Environment

Tigers recaptured after escape in Dutch village

May 14, 2016

Two Bengal tigers escaped from a big cat shelter in a small town in the Netherlands, forcing residents to stay indoors until their recapture. The shelter tries to send animals to a bigger sanctuary in South Africa.

https://p.dw.com/p/1InnA
Bengal tiger
Image: Jahangir Alam Onuchcha /imago images

Police and veterinarians managed to subdue the two Bengal tigers - named Radjah and Dehli - after several hours on the loose on Saturday in the village of Oldeberkoop in the north of the Netherlands.

"Careful work by a dog catcher and a vet appears to have tranquilised both tigers. Now checking if they're sleeping deeply," local police officer Jan Graafstra said in a tweet.

Although an earlier effort to tranquilize one of the big cats failed, police said residents were never in danger.

The animals fled the Felida center, a shelter that takes in big cats from circuses and zoos.

Dutch news agency ANP reported the tigers had escaped through a gate that had been accidently left open.

The center tends to the animals before moving some of them to a larger shelter in South Africa.

Radjah and Dehli had been acquired from a zoo in Germany that could no longer care for them.

cw/sms (AFP, Reuters)