German prosecutors on Monday launched an investigation into suspected negligent bodily harm after a tiger that escaped near Leipzig was shot dead by police a day earlier.
A 52-year-old woman is the focus of the investigation, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office, Vanessa Fink, said, without confirming whether she is the animal’s owner.
Police shot the tiger in the village of Dölzig on Sunday after it escaped from an enclosure owned by a former circus performer.
A 72-year-old man was seriously injured in the incident, suffering bite and scratch wounds, and has so far been unable to give a statement, prosecutors said.
Eight tigers remain at the site, according to local authorities.
The tiger’s owner, trainer Carmen Zander, confirmed to the Bild newspaper that the animal was hers. “Yes, it was my Sandokan,” she was quoted as saying.
She did not respond to inquiries from dpa.
According to information on her website, the 9-year-old tiger weighed around 280 kilograms.
On the website, Zander described Sandokan as a "scaredy-cat." But she warned: “If he can’t assess a situation, he quickly becomes overwhelmed and uncertain. An attack can therefore be triggered more quickly and unexpectedly.”
Prosecutors said the site in Dölzig has been extensively searched, with investigators examining the sequence of events, the role of the injured man and whether safety regulations were breached.
Police said the man had been authorized to be inside the enclosure. They had initially given his age as 73 on Sunday, but prosecutors later said he is 72.
Authorities have yet to decide what will happen to the tiger’s remains.
It also remains unclear what will happen to the eight remaining tigers at the facility.
Local officials said the enclosure did not meet required standards and that the owner had previously been instructed to make improvements.
