Tlajomulco authorities successfully captured a Bengal tiger that escaped from a property in the metro-area municipality’s Guadalupana neighborhood on August 30.
While many people were shocked to see a big cat prowling the street, some neighbors were not surprised. According to reports, this was the third tiger in the last three years to have managed to break free from this particular property that is known to house several big cats.
Tlajomulco Protección Civil and Wildlife Department officers eventually located the 130-kilogram tiger hiding in a local brick-building enterprise. It was sedated and placed in protective custody, and is reported to be in good health.
It is not illegal in Mexico to have exotic animals as pets, as long as they are not endangered. Reforms to the Ley General de Vida Silvestre (General Wildlife Law) approved by the Chamber of Deputies in April 2022 that prohibited the domestication of many species, including all big cats, stalled in the Senate but is expected to be resurrected in the current legislative session that began on September 1.
Unlike the jaguar, the tiger is not considered an endangered species in Mexico, under the relevant Environment Ministry norm (NOM 059-SEMARNAT-2010). However, National Geographic states that over the last 100 years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced tiger populations from hundreds of thousands of animals to perhaps fewer than 2,500.
To obtain a permit to keep a tiger in a private residence in Mexico, owners have to show that the origin of the animal is legal, that there is adequate space to house it, and that it does not represent a danger to the public.