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Tiger Shot, Killed Near Reagan Library

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 18:00 CST

MOORPARK, Calif. - Authorities shot and killed a tiger Wednesday that had been roaming for days in the hills near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The cat was shot several hundred yards from school soccer and baseball fields at the edge of a housing development, said Lorna Bernard, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Game. Authorities still don't know who the owner is.

"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."

The hunters had been looking for the animal for eight days, using infrared equipment at night. They had set traps with goat meat and chicken.

Federal wildlife service trackers had to shoot to kill because a tranquilizer would have taken several minutes to bring down the animal and the hunters or others could have been in danger.

The hunt began after the discovery of paw prints on a ranch near the library that were far too large for native bobcats or mountain lions. The size of the tracks indicated the animal weighed as much as 600 pounds; officials thought it might even be a lion.

The area has a number of ranches and large estates.

Two weeks ago, authorities removed nearly two dozen large cats, including lions and tigers, from a Moorpark animal sanctuary not far from the library. Bernard said all the animals that had been kept on that property were accounted-for.

The animal's body was removed via helicopter.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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