Bobo, the 600-pound Bengal tiger who had been missing from a South Florida home since Monday morning, was shot Tuesday evening after lunging at an officer, police said.
But Bobo's owner, Steven Sipek, said the officers didn't have to kill the tiger. "Murder is the word," Sipek said. "They murdered a poor helpless animal that only looked ferocious, as any tiger would. But Bobo had a heart of gold."
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"Look at the blood from my Bobo," Sipek said. "They murdered him. They murdered him."
An all-out search for Bobo had been under way since the tiger escaped from Sipek's home in Loxahatchee on Monday.
When the cat escaped, people in the area said they were nervous and concerned. On Tuesday, their concern turned to anger when they heard the tiger had been shot and killed.
"I was around the corner and I heard five shots," Sipek said. "I knew he was dead. I knew. It didn't sound like a tranquilizer gun."
The crowd gathered around Sipek's home on Tuesday night was not letting Bobo the tiger go down without a fight. Sipek's neighbors told NBC 6 reporter Michelle Kosinski that they don't buy the wildlife officer's story. "I'm very angry because I don't think people have respect for the animals," said one woman. "I think this guy just figured he'd shoot the cat and it would be no big deal. Well, it is a big deal for a lot of us," she said.
Wildlife officers, however, say they had no choice but to shoot the animal. "Officers approached the tiger with the intention of actually shooting the tiger and darting the tiger," said Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer Jorge Pino. "As they were doing so, the tiger attacked one of our officers. Our officers unfortunately had no choice but to use lethal fire."
Sipek, covered in the tiger's blood, said Bobo was his favorite. The former actor, who twice played Tarzan on the big screen in the 1970s, said he raised the 6-year-old de-clawed animal from the time it was a cub. He says Bobo scaled a 12-foot fence on Monday, took a swim in a canal and then hid in thick brush, making it hard for officers to get to him.
"They just shot him cold in the bushes where he slept all day," Sipek said.
Sipek said Bobo was gentle and he doesn't understand why officers didn't call him to try to get the cat back home peacefully.
Two years ago, Bobo mauled a woman employed by Sipek.
"It was my mistake, and I paid the price for it," bite victim Carol Pistilli said. Wildlife officers claimed they killed the animal in self-defense.
Meanwhile, officials say they have two investigations on their hands. The first is to figure out how Bobo escaped, and the second is to learn what happened leading up to the tiger's killing.
The tiger has been seized by FWC officers as part of the investigation. A necropsy - an animal autopsy - is expected to be performed in the near future.
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