Animal rights group PETA on Sunday called for stricter rules on keeping dangerous wild animals after a tiger escaped from a private facility near the eastern German city of Leipzig, seriously injuring a 73-year-old man before police shot the animal dead.
"The federal government must finally act," Peter Höfgen, PETA's specialist adviser on wild animals, told dpa. The incident showed that keeping dangerous wild animals in private ownership or mobile operations was not sufficiently safe, Höfgen said, adding that private ownership of tigers and lions remained legal in several German states.
A tiger escaped on Sunday from a private compound in Schkeuditz, on the outskirts of Leipzig. Police later shot the animal dead near a garden allotment area. Authorities said there was no longer any danger to the public and that no other animals had escaped.
According to PETA, a tiger trainer keeps big cats at the site in the Dölzig district of Schkeuditz, where eight tigers are believed to remain. The trainer did not initially respond to a request for comment from dpa.
Höfgen said the animals should already have been confiscated. He said PETA had repeatedly alerted the Nordsachsen veterinary office since 2019 about what the group described as inadequate conditions at the facility, including enclosures that were too small and insecure as well as alleged animal welfare violations.
PETA also said a sanctuary had long offered to take in the animals.
