Seraphim
07-13-2004, 09:11 AM
Tarzan's Escaped Tiger Eludes Fla. Search
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. - A 600-pound tiger eluded capture Tuesday morning after escaping a day earlier from the home of an actor who played Tarzan, even though officials said the cat had only roamed about 200 yards from his home.
Deputy sheriffs and state game officials set up a perimeter around a search area that was a half-mile wide and 2 1/2-miles long, and started beating the bush again at daybreak, said Willie Puz, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
After "a quiet, uneventful evening," officials hoped the 6-year-old tiger would simply grow hungry and return home in search of food, Puz said.
The tiger was reported missing around 3 p.m. Monday from the home of Steve Sipek, who played Tarzan under the screen name Steve Hawkes in movies made in the late 1960s, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Sipek has raised the tiger since it was a cub.
When the first deputies arrived on the scene Monday, the cat jumped on top of their car, Miller said. Puz said searchers on the ground spotted the cat several times into the evening, but were never close enough to shoot it with tranquilizer darts.
Though law enforcement officers were available to escort nervous residents away from the area, Puz said officials were encouraging people to "go about their normal business."
"The tiger has only roamed about 200 yards from its home, which means it's not out free-roaming all over ... the neighborhood," he said.
Sipek has another tiger, two lions, a black leopard and a cougar on his property, the Palm Beach Post reported. The cats, mostly castoffs from zoos, are usually kept in a mazelike series of interlocking cages.
The 5-acre property is about 15 miles west of Palm Beach. It is bordered by other similar sized estates and mini-ranches, many with livestock. Lion County Safari and the swampy Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge are a few miles away.
In February 2002, a 750-pound tiger mauled a woman who was helping Sipek during a photo shoot at his compound. She was bit on the head.
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. - A 600-pound tiger eluded capture Tuesday morning after escaping a day earlier from the home of an actor who played Tarzan, even though officials said the cat had only roamed about 200 yards from his home.
Deputy sheriffs and state game officials set up a perimeter around a search area that was a half-mile wide and 2 1/2-miles long, and started beating the bush again at daybreak, said Willie Puz, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
After "a quiet, uneventful evening," officials hoped the 6-year-old tiger would simply grow hungry and return home in search of food, Puz said.
The tiger was reported missing around 3 p.m. Monday from the home of Steve Sipek, who played Tarzan under the screen name Steve Hawkes in movies made in the late 1960s, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Sipek has raised the tiger since it was a cub.
When the first deputies arrived on the scene Monday, the cat jumped on top of their car, Miller said. Puz said searchers on the ground spotted the cat several times into the evening, but were never close enough to shoot it with tranquilizer darts.
Though law enforcement officers were available to escort nervous residents away from the area, Puz said officials were encouraging people to "go about their normal business."
"The tiger has only roamed about 200 yards from its home, which means it's not out free-roaming all over ... the neighborhood," he said.
Sipek has another tiger, two lions, a black leopard and a cougar on his property, the Palm Beach Post reported. The cats, mostly castoffs from zoos, are usually kept in a mazelike series of interlocking cages.
The 5-acre property is about 15 miles west of Palm Beach. It is bordered by other similar sized estates and mini-ranches, many with livestock. Lion County Safari and the swampy Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge are a few miles away.
In February 2002, a 750-pound tiger mauled a woman who was helping Sipek during a photo shoot at his compound. She was bit on the head.