I don't know if the rest of you got a glimse of what's been going on down here the past couple of days, but it appears that one of Tarzan's tigers got loose and is roaming the streets/woods down here. Yep, the original Tarzan is alive and well and living in Loxahatchee, Fla. According to the news, he's raised the tiger from a kitten as a house pet and it's about 6 years old now and is approx 450 lbs. Nice Kitty........

Kinda cool, huh..

Palm Beach county will do just about anything to stay in the lime light.

 

Well, its a dead 450lb cat now, to bad, its a pretty animal, but situation dictates.

 

I heard it on the news on the way home that BoBo's was killed. Very sad indeed. It's too bad one of the Wildlife officers didn't find him first. He'd probably be living a happy life up at Busch Gardens now with fellow cats.

 

He wasn't the original Tarzan, was he? I thought that Johnny was.

 

You're right. After hearing more on the local news, he was Tarzan in the early-mid 60's.

 

Nice making your acquaintance, Carlene. Thanks for the comment. I'm from the West Coast in Palmetto. I've got a '96 F-150 with clock spring problems, but we'll get by.
Tom

 

Its a shame a cop has to shoot a declawed, domesticated tiger instead of backing off and letting FWC or the cat's owner handle it. Mace or a Taser would have been a better alternative than a .45 ACP slug.

 

I tell you what, if a 450lb kitty is coming at you, I betcha that .45 will be the first option.

 

I'm not saying it wasn't justified under the circumstances, but the cop shouldn't have put himself in a position to have to do that.

 

i agree w/pikachu. i wouldn't put any animal's life above a human's life, but the officers should have been a little bit more briefed on the subject and maybe should've been given plastic bullets. maybe he should've shot his firearm at the ground or in the air first. but then again, i can't say because i wasn't the person out there...i heard the officer shot the cat 5 times....

 

Ya'll are lacking a bit of concept here, I tell you what, we'll give you some plastic guns and you get to go looking for that cat. Sorry, but there is no way I will go looking for a cat that's instincts are to kill when it feels threatened, especially in a strange enviroment, without real bullets. First, how do you know what the officers were briefed? Second, we are talking about naturally wild animal wieghing 450lbs, even though it may be casual at home, in a strange enviroment, instinct rules, for all animals. Third, what position did the officer put himself in? Did he stumble on the cat or what, we weren't there? Fourth, firing at the ground would have only spewed up some dirt, and plastic bullets would have just made the cat mad. Like trying to use a taser on him, his fur is too thick, those plastic bullets or the taser wouldn't have done any good. The welfare of the people have priority, if it had killed a kid or even a pet, people would have been outraged as to why more force had not been used.
Hey, I don't want to see the cat killed either, but none of us were there and we can only go on the official report.

 

high horse, i think you miss understood what i wrote. again, i would never put an animals life above any human. i was just saying they should've been a little bit more briefed on the subject. this cat was, for the most part, domesticated. all mammals are taught their behavior unlike reptilians or other "non-mammal" creatures. this is fact. this is why domesticated mammals will not survive in the wild. they do not release animals back in their natural environment if they were raised by human. on the subject of "plastic" bullets. they didn't need them. actually all they needed were a couple of fire crackers. throughout history, humans have chased off wild animals with just loud noises. any loud noise would scare any animal. how many times has your pet or your neighbors pet freaked out during the 4th of july, or during a lightning storm? we breed hunting dogs, but i'm sure if you threw a fire cracker 10 feet away from him, he'll still be startled.

 

I have to agree with you!

 

Ok you guys seem pretty intelligent but ill try to point out some things here:

A). it does not matter how "domesticated" a big cat is they are now and will allways remain wild by instinct. cat or lizzard they all have instinct because they dont have a thought process to tell them otherwise.

B).it was said "throughout history, humans have chased off wild animals with just loud noises" well was he "wild" or "domesticated" pick a side of the fence.

C). the police are not trained to deal with exotic animals such as tigers, to them it was an immediate threat to the public and them so they did what they are trained to do.

Now i believe in animal rights and all and it sucks to have destroyed such a magnificent creature and i know people wanted him alive but the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few. To the police that cat was a liability, if it hurt someone they would be the ones on the firing line in the paper with people screaming about how they should have done something so that little Johnny would still be alive. Its hard to offer an educated opinion on a situation you had no hand in. So what i do is just look at both sides and compare the data....this post was not a personal stab at anyone please dont take it as such i seriously didnt mean it as such im just observing data and making an opinion

 

Just to clear things up, I never said it wasn't justified, given the circumstances. The point I was trying to make is that FWC should have been the primary agency dealing with this. They are trained and equipped to handle these types of incidents. I realize I said the cop shouldn't have put himself in that position; what I should have said is that the police department shouldn't have put its officer in that position.... And don't worry James, I didn't take it personally. Just trying to clarify my position on this.