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Tuesday, 14 March, 2000, 16:29 GMT
Vet killed in escaped tiger blunder
Police in Poland have accidentally shot dead a vet who was being mauled by an escaped circus tiger.
The Bengali tiger had been cornered on wasteland in the Warsaw suburb of Tarchomin after two hours on the loose.
The vet had fired a tranquilliser shot to calm the animal down, but the tiger attacked him before the medication took effect.
Police opened fire on the tiger and the vet was hit in the head. Polish TV footage showed the tiger chasing the man, jumping at him from behind and suddenly turning back at the sound of shots. The vet was seen falling down, as if he had stumbled on something.
The animal itself was shot dead by police officers. The vet was called in to recapture the tiger, which had escaped with two others. The other two were recaptured before getting out of the circus, but the third ran out into the street. A circus employee was injured by the tiger, but not seriously. Police had no information about how the tigers escaped, but circus employees told the Polish PAP news agency that someone must have opened the cage. |
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