Escaped tiger from flooded Georgia zoo kills man

June 18, 2015 | 11:56

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Police in the Georgian capital are on the hunt for a tiger, which escaped after a zoo in Tbilisi flooded, after it killed a man.

Local residents push a hippopotamus along a flooded street in Tbilisi. Tigers, lions, jaguars, bears and wolves escaped on Jun 14 from flooded zoo enclosures in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the mayor's office said. (PHOTO: AFP/ BESO GULASHVILI)

TBILISI, Georgia: A tiger that escaped from a zoo in the Georgian capital Tbilisi during the weekend's freak floods killed a man in the city centre on Wednesday (Jun 17), interior ministry spokeswoman said.

"A tiger from the Tbilisi zoo killed a man" near the central square, the interior ministry spokeswoman told AFP. "Police special forces were deployed and are hunting down the animal."

Georgian media said the lion had been hiding in a warehouse and escaped the citywide police search for the escaped animals, many of which were shot dead.

Floods hit Tbilisi on Sunday, killing at least 17 people and ravaging the city's central districts including the zoo, where hundreds of animals - including lions, tigers, wolves and a hippo escaped.

Over half of the animals - some 300 species - either drowned in the muddy waters or were killed by police.

AFP

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