The National Council of SPCAs has confirmed that it is investigating the circumstances leading up to the shooting and killing of a tiger in Gauteng.
THE NATIONAL Council of SPCAs has confirmed that it is investigating the circumstances leading up to the shooting and killing of a tigress in Gauteng.
Sheba made headlines this week after she managed to escape from her enclosure at a home in Walkerville, south of Joburg.
Following her escape, Sheba attacked a man and several animals.
Gresham Mandy, from the Walkerville Community Policing Forum (CPF), who has been on the front line of the massive search aimed at capturing the big cat, confirmed the sad development.
According to the NSPCA, authorities attempted to lure Sheba back into her enclosure over the past few days but were unsuccessful.
In a post on social media, the council said given that she has attacked people and animals over the past few days, it was decided that it was in the interests of people’s safety to shoot Sheba.
“Neither the local SPCA nor the NSPCA were contacted when Sheba was sighted and shot. This ‘silver lining’ in this very dark cloud is that, at the very least, Sheba will never have to face living her life as a prisoner in a cage again,” the council said.
It added that tigers are not native to South Africa. “They are brought here solely for the entertainment and profit of humans and, at the end of the day, it’s always the animal that ends up paying the price. Wild animals belong in the wild. The SPCA movement remains opposed to the keeping of wildlife in captivity,” the NSPCA said.
