Easy tiger! Stunned residents stumble across male Bengal roaming down the street in suburban Mexico – where they can be bought for as little as $25 online
- A video shows an adult male tiger wandering through a street in the Mexican city of Tecuala on Tuesday morning
- The wild animal was spotted walking over the sidewalk as a resident filmed it
- The wild cat eventually crossed to the other side of the street and sat in front of a truck before a man arrived and led him away with a rope tied to his neck
- It is legal to own wild animals in Mexico, and they can be bought for as little as $25 online
- The Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed a bill on April 29 to ban the ownership and purchase of wild cats. The bill has not been voted on in the Senate yet
Residents of a suburban Mexico neighborhood were left stunned after watching a tiger stroll down the streets after it escaped its owner’s home.
A video of the incident shows a woman hastily walking away from the male Bengal as she films it wandering down a sidewalk in Tecuala, a town about 300 miles south west of Sinaloa with a population of more than 40,000 people, on Tuesday.
In the video, a child can be heard shouting ‘mommy’, before she tells him: ‘Shut up! It’s not going to do anything to you, it’s on the other side.’
A person off camera can be heard warning the pair that the tiger still posed a danger.
It is legal to own wild animals in Mexico, and they can be bought for as little as $25 online.
Residents of a suburban Mexico neighborhood freaked out after a tiger escaped his owner’s home and was left to roam the streets
A video of the incident shows a woman hastily walking away from the male Bengal as she films it wandering down a sidewalk in Tecuala, a town about 300 miles south west of Sinaloa with a population of more than 40,000 people, on Tuesday
It is legal to own wild animals in Mexico, and they can be bought for as little as $25 online. The tiger filmed on Tuesday was eventually taken home by its owner
In a second video of the tiger roaming the streets, taken on Tuesday, the cat can be seen lying on the ground in front of a truck which was parked next to the home it escaped from.
The owner is seen approaching the animal and placing a rope around his neck. Shocked residents are seen watching the scene as the rope comes loose, and falls off as the animal is led away.
Animal activist Antonio Franyuti told Infoabe it’s quite normal to find the wild cats in the backyards, rooftops, basements and garages of homes throughout Mexico because it’s legal for people to own the animals.
A man places a rope around the tiger’s neck after finding it sitting in front of a truck next to a home in the western Mexico city of Tecuela
Ownership of wild animals is currently permitted in Mexico, but the Chambers of Deputies passed a bill on April 19 that would eventually ban the ownership of wild cats, which normally are sold on social media for anywhere between $25 to $35, according to Toluca Deputy Melissa Vargas
On April 29, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill by 463 to 0 votes with one abstention that would ban the ownership of the exotic animals as pets.
The Senate has yet to vote on the proposal that includes a ban on the purchase of lions, tigers, jaguars and panthers while seeking to take action against owners who keep the wild animals locked up, abandoned and abused.
Toluca Deputy Melissa Vargas added its common for people to pay between $25 to $35 for baby wild cats that are sold online.
‘They are very cute, but wild cats are not pets and we have to ensure their well-being,’ Vargas said.
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