Police in Tbilisi say a tiger that broke loose after severe flooding at a zoo in the Georgian capital over the weekend has been shot by marksmen after it killed a man and wounded another. The tiger that escaped from a zoo in the Georgian capital during freak floods at the weekend killed a man in the city centre today, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.
News of the death comes hours after the government had declared that all missing lions and tigers had been found dead, based on information from zookeepers.
The victim, the owner of a textile plant, is understood to have been killed when he and three colleagues entered the company’s warehouse where the animal was hiding.
The man who died is believed to be in his 40s. The tiger reportedly attacked him around midday as he and two others entered a flood-damaged building near Tbilisi’s Heroes Square in the centre of the city, a few hundred metres from the zoo.
The number of people killed in the disaster have been said to be around 20, with most of the casualties residents of homes that were flooded by the sudden deluge on Saturday night. At least six people are reported to be still missing.
The white tiger had been hiding in a warehouse and escaped the citywide police search for the escaped animals, many of which were shot dead. The tiger killed the man and injured another in the residential area of Laguna Vere.
The 40-year-old was rushed to hospital with a damaged carotid artery, but doctors could not save him. Director of Tbilisi’s Republican Hospital Avtandil Imedadze said: “He had cardiac arrest, life-threatening wounds. Unfortunately, the patient died of heart failure and recovery was not possible.”
The flood that hit Tbilisi on Sunday, has killed at least 17 people and ravaging the city’s central districts including the zoo, where hundreds of animals were let loose. Over half of the animals, have either drowned in the muddy waters, or been killed or recaptured by the police.
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