Tiger 'shot dead' in Paris after escaping from circus
Police have reportedly shot dead a tiger in Paris that escaped from a circus in a western district of the French capital.
News of the tiger's escape came after Paris’ public transport authority, RATP, briefly closed down a tramline in the 15th arrondissement, according to France Info, the public radio that broke the news.
Two eye witnesses told the radio station said they saw the beast descend onto the tracks.
Un tigre s’est échappé du cirque en face de FranceTv. « On a vu le tigre redescendre sur les rails » nous disent Yasmine et Thomas pic.twitter.com/DYzpP85vY0
— MargauxDuguet (@MargauxDuguet) November 24, 2017
"At first, we thought it was a technical incident," said Thomas, a passenger of tramway 3a. "Then the driver told us it was a tiger. Naturally, we wondered what was going on. We were able to leave 15 to 20 minutes later."
In the meantime, armed police and circus staff had rushed to the scene. At least two explosions were reportedly heard.
Il y a plusieurs membres des forces de l’ordre sur place maintenant pic.twitter.com/6A7fcGotBx
— MargauxDuguet (@MargauxDuguet) November 24, 2017
Minutes later, Paris police confirmed that the security alert was over and that "all danger has been averted".
Le tigre se trouve en bas de cette allée. Les pompiers et policiers toujours sur place pic.twitter.com/k7R5ECPQu3
— MargauxDuguet (@MargauxDuguet) November 24, 2017
Several journalists on the scene told France Info that officers had "shot dead" the animal. According to Le Parisien, the tiger's owner shot dead the animal himself near the pont du Garigliano.