LOS ANGELES - A tiger mysteriously on the loose in the hills of Southern California was shot and killed by government trackers early Wednesday after being spotted slinking along the back yards of suburban homes.
The 425-pound cat had eluded hunters for days after its presence was given away by the size of the huge paw prints it left in the ground as it roamed the hills of Simi Valley near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. They finally caught up with the orange tiger as it darted through green brush in Moorpark, northwest of Los Angeles.
The tiger was shot several hundred yards from soccer and baseball fields at the edge of a housing development, said Lorna Bernard, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Game.
"It's unfortunate that we had to kill it," Bernard said.
"It's even more unfortunate that the person who owned it didn't come forward and alert us immediately. We might have been able to capture it."
Trackers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services and state Fish and Game had to shoot to kill because a tranquilizer would have taken five to 10 minutes to bring down the animal, Bernard said. They were concerned the animal might attack them or bolt onto a nearby highway.
Authorities received a call just after 6 a.m. from a resident who reported the tiger walking past his back fence. He said his children took pictures from inside their home.
Ken Tucker told KCBS-TV the tiger walked to a nearby house and "was just staring down" the neighbor's dogs.
The trackers had been looking for the animal for eight days, using infrared equipment at night. They had set traps with goat meat and chicken.
The hunt began after the discovery of paw prints on a ranch near the Reagan library that were far too large for native bobcats or mountain lions.
Bernard said the owner could have told authorities about the tiger's temperament and eating habits, which might have helped them catch the animal sooner.
As the cat roamed the hills, it became hungrier and disoriented, making it more dangerous to the nearby community of horse ranches and sprawling homes.
Authorities said they were investigating how the cat got loose in the hills.
"Obviously we'll be looking at all the facilities in the area that housed big cats," Bernard said.
Two weeks ago, authorities removed nearly two-dozen large cats, including lions and tigers, from property rented by Abby and Emma Hedengran not far from the library, Bernard said. All the animals inspectors found on the property were accounted for, she said.
A telephone message left Wednesday for the Hedengrans was not immediately returned.
Bernard said the couple had a permit to keep the animals in Temecula in Riverside County but had moved them to Moorpark in Ventura County, where they did not have a license to keep the animals.
The only facility in that area with a license to house exotic cats is Moorpark College's teaching zoo.
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