TIGER ESCAPES

Grey River Argus, 19 November 1946, Page 4

TIGER ESCAPES

In Sydney Zoo

PEOPLE RUN IN FRIGHT

ANIMAL CORNERED AND SHOT

(Rec. 9.40). SYDNEY, Nov. 18. Men, women and children ran in fright at the Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney, to-day, when they were warned, over loud-speakers: “Take cover! A tiger is loose!” Zoo officials cornered, and shot, the tiger before it had a chance to injure anybody in the interval. Riot squad police piled into cars with tommy-guns and .303 rifles, but they were not needed. The zoo officials have not been able to discover how the tiger, which, they said, was tame, escaped from its cage—an all-steel and concrete structure. Zoo trucks, driven by keepers, picked up people in the zoo, and drove them to places of safety. The, keepers drove the tiger to within a few feet of its cage, and they were about to drive it inside, when it slipped on wet ground. It became frightened, and then it bolted. The, keepers cornered it again, and then it attempted to jump the zoo wall. The officials thereupon decided that, in the public interest, they had no choice but to shoot it. The animal was worth at least £5OO.