Escaped tiger kills man in Tbilisi 24 hours after city given big cat all-clear

A tiger has killed a man in the centre of Georgia’s capital, and wounded another person, after escaping from a zoo. The animal, which fled its enclosure in Tbilisi Zoo after it was destroyed by heavy flooding, has been killed by police. It was first thought that the victim had been killed by a lion, but the Interior Ministry later confirmed a tiger was responsible. According to local media, the attack took place in a main square close to the zoo. The tiger eluded a citywide search for escaped animals because it was in an abandoned factory.

The tiger is liquidated.

Interior ministry spokeswoman Nino Giorgobiani

On Tuesday, zoo spokeswoman Mziya Sharashidze had said eight lions, all seven of the zoo’s tigers and at least two of its three jaguars were killed. Only two of the zoo’s 14 bears survived, while nine of its 17 penguins died, she added. Hundreds of homeless dogs at a private shelter near the zoo also died in the flooding, according to staff. At least 19 people were killed and up to 10 are still unaccounted for after the torrential downpours on Saturday.