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Arrest after tiger found in Texas suburb

Juan A LozanoAAP
"We have plenty of places we can take that tiger and keep it safe," Houston Police's Ron Borza says.
Camera Icon"We have plenty of places we can take that tiger and keep it safe," Houston Police's Ron Borza says. Credit: EPA

A Texas man free on bond from a murder charge has been returned to custody after neighbours found a pet tiger wandering around a Houston neighbourhood.

Houston police tweeted on Monday night that Victor Hugo Cuevas, 26, was back in custody charged with felony evading arrest.

Police had said they believed the tiger had belonged to Cuevas, but his lawyer questioned the accuracy of that belief.

Video of the Sunday night encounter shows the tiger coming face-to-face with armed off-duty Waller County Sheriff's Deputy Wes Manion.

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During the encounter, the deputy can be heard yelling at Cuevas to get the animal back inside.

No shots were fired.

When officers arrived, Cuevas put the animal in a white Jeep Cherokee and drove off, Houston police Commander Ron Borza said during a news conference. Cuevas got away after a brief pursuit, he said.

Police said on Monday the tiger's whereabouts were not known. Borza had said earlier that the main concern was finding Cuevas and finding the tiger "because what I don't want him to do is harm that tiger. We have plenty of places we can take that tiger and keep it safe and give it a home for the rest of its life."

Cuevas' lawyer, Michael W Elliott, said he did not think Cuevas was the owner of the tiger or that he was taking care of the animal. The lawyer also said it was unclear to him if it was Cuevas seen on videos of the incident.

"People are making a lot of assumptions in this particular case. Maybe he might be the hero out there who caught the tiger that was in the neighbourhood," Elliott said.

Cuevas was charged with murder in a 2017 fatal shooting of a man outside a restaurant in neighbouring Fort Bend County and was out on bond.

Elliott said Cuevas has maintained the shooting was self-defence and is innocent of the murder charge.

Cuevas also apparently had two monkeys in the home, Borza said.

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