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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Time For a Little Cat Blogging: Nice Kitty. Nice Kitty! Nice Kitty!!!!!!

Time For a Little Cat Blogging: Nice Kitty. Nice Kitty! Nice Kitty!!!!!!

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NPR has the details:

A tiger alarmed a woman who was sneaking into a seemingly abandoned Houston home to smoke marijuana on Monday. Now it has found a new home of its own.

The Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, a sanctuary located about 200 miles north of Houston, announced on Tuesday it was welcoming the tiger, according to Lara Cottingham, spokeswoman for Houston’s Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department, which oversees the city’s animal shelter that had been caring for the animal.

Cottingham told NPR on Tuesday that the tiger was en route to its new home.

If you’re still caught up on the would-be-smoker-stumbling-across-an-actual-tiger-part, let’s back up.

The woman, who is remaining anonymous, told police she had gone into the home in a residential part of East Houston when she came across the unexpected inhabitant, said Houston police spokesman Kese Smith.

Fortunately for the woman, the tiger was locked inside a 4-feet-by-8-feet cage within the garage. She called 311, the city’s nonemergency line, and animal enforcement officers showed up alongside Houston police, who obtained a warrant enabling them to reach the tiger.

Despite its tight quarters the tiger was apparently healthy and seemed to have been fed regularly. Officials just don’t know by whom.

Houston police have launched a criminal probe to find the tiger’s still-unidentified owner.

“It is categorically not legal to own a tiger within the Houston city limits,” Smith said.

Ya think!!!!

Animal cruelty charges could be involved. “We are working to determine who owns the tiger and who owns the property because that may or may not be the same person.” The woman is not in trouble, Smith added.

The animal officers, who are more accustomed to handling dogs and cats of the smaller variety, tranquilized the tiger, loaded its cage into a horse trailer and drove it across town to the city shelter Monday, Cottingham said. The tiger slept off the drugs and seemed in good spirits by Tuesday morning.

Cottingham noted that this Houston tiger’s story has happy ending with its upgrade from a garage cage to the sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, which comes with expert care.

“We are really glad it worked out as quickly as it did,” Cottingham said.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    “It is categorically not legal to own a tiger within the Houston city limits,”

    Maybe it was just rented.

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    Nice to have a story with a happy ending just as I am ready to turn off the phone for the day. Nighty-night all…

  11. 11.

    Ken

    When owning tigers is a crime, only criminals will own tigers.

    No, doesn’t make any more sense than the original.

  18. 18.

    Wallis Lane

    Tiger, tiger caged up tight
    In the carports of the night.
    What ignoble gal or guy,
    Had found thee on Craigslist to buy?

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Turns out you could make a good living selling those in Houston.

    Also, I’m thankful that the random pothead was willing to call animal control before something bad happened to the tiger or anyone else. She could have decided it was none of her business and walked away.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, I found out a random Wisconsin factoid on the “WTF” podcast: not only is actor Tony Shaloub from Green Bay, he inherited season tickets from his father and still tries to go to a few games a year.

  26. 26.

    Brickley Paiste

    If you want to know something absolutely heartbreaking ….

    There are more tigers in captivity in Texas than remain in the wild.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    Well, it sounds like she very sensibly ran away as fast as possible when she first realized that there was A FUCKING LIVE TIGER IN THE FUCKING GARAGE! But she didn’t have to call 311 to report it, and she did, so I’m happy and hope the cops didn’t decide to be assholes and write her a ticket for admitting she smokes pot.

  45. 45.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ll go ahead and check Bootsy’s calendar then to see if I can coordinate anything. I know my favorite guitar player will be around, but he’s not quite as interesting to most of y’all.

  48. 48.

    Leto

    @Jay: I do remember that, but I think that’s a different category. This is more of a “SURPRISE!” Style story.

    @NotMax: Per legal counsel, mums the word.

  50. 50.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Omnes Omnibus: Good memory! It’s my buddy who introduced me to Adrian when they played together in the Bears. I promised him when we were young that he’d always be my favorite guitar player, though he kinda forgot to tell me Adrian is playing here in March, and it sold out.

    I’ll send him his annual valentine anyway, and I suspect I’ll get into the show.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Toto became for the most part, Chilliwack, or vice versa.

    When it was current, it was called Pop.

    When New Wave was current it was called Soft Rock and could be heard on a few AM stations.

    When big vocal females and Celtic took over the Pop category, it was called Muzak and instrumental versions were in malls and elevators.

    Now even Save on Foods plays Beyonce and Adelle.

    Almost like the music has ceased to exist.

    If you are going to sail the Salish Sea, you need something with a bit more oomph to motivate the crew, there’s very little coasting under a spinnaker, lots of beating to weather with the sea washing the deck.

    This was the go to song on my boat:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0xeHKAPOA

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    sounds like the town hall went about as well as we might have expected

    Alex Burns @ alexburnsNYT
    Schultz’s answer on taxes included slaps at both parties (GOP on tax-cut law, Dems on AOC’s proposed hikes) but was just as empty of actual ideas. Said he should pay a higher tax rate, but then wouldn’t even give a general answer to @ PoppyHarlowCNN on *how much* higher.

    Schultz’s answer on climate really captures how he’s approaching 2020: says addressing climate is a top priority and then spends most of the answer slamming the Green New Deal. No policy proposals of his own, fire trained on liberal Democrats.

    anybody watch any of it?

  54. 54.

    TomatoQueen

    No. There was a dog show, and the wire-haired fox terrier won again. Could’ve done a long-haired dachsund, or a gorgeous Boxer, or a Bouvier, or even that stupid Sussex spaniel snore, but noooooo. Also, too, there was some shenanigans poorly explained about the Schipperke who won his group but couldn’t compete further because a judge knew him, so that group wasn’t in the Best in Show but the Schipperke who won was allowed to parade in the group, and then was excused. Very very weird ever since the broadcast went to Fox.

  55. 55.

    Mary G

    What I want to know is why she told the cops she went into the house to smoke dope. Isn’t that still illegal in Texas? She could say something like she heard roaring and was worried.

  57. 57.

    TomatoQueen

    Maybe she was still in that state of shock where the babble switch is stuck in the ‘on’ position?

  61. 61.

    danielx

    I admit to some surprise; this is the kind of incident I associate with Florida Man.

    ETA: Others have had this thought. GMTA.

  67. 67.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I thought they didn’t go for that socialist thing in Texas like pet laws because they claim it leads to homosexuality and worse, like car pooling and dancing. So in Houston you can store toxic wastes in your house, but not live tigers.

  71. 71.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    If anyone is looking for a documentary about nutty tiger owners you need to watch Cat Dancers (2007)—I laughed, I cried, I rethought my life choices and relived the the bedazzled sartorial missteps of the 1980s.

    Plus the full film is available on the Youtubes: Cat Dancers

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:

    Tigers don’t roar, only lions.

    But TomatoQueen is right — she was probably in such a state of panic that she just blurted everything out. Plus she was trying to explain to the cops that she’s wasn’t in the house to rob it.

  78. 78.

    TerryC

    @Mnemosyne: You know, I am random but I am not a “random pothead.” I have competed athletically for 20 years at a world class level, am retired from 25 years in academic publishing, run two successful LLCs and an S Corp, and I smoke 5-6 joints a day.

    IMO, “pothead” should be retired with some of the other words we have been talking about here recently.

Comments are closed.