HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — "India" the tiger was taken to his new home at Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Henderson County on Sunday.
This comes after the tiger was missing for nearly a week.
"People should not own dangerous wild animals as pets," Senior Director of the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch Noelle Almrud said.
She added they were pleasantly surprised to hear from Houston's BARC's Animal and Shelter adoptions because she thought it was unlikely India would ever be seen again.
"We reached out to them again and said, you know, if you need our help, were here, just let us know," Almrud said. "And so they reached out to us a couple of days ago to say, it looks like someone will be surrendering the tiger and how soon can you get here."
"India" arrived at the sanctuary without any problems and has since been put in a small den to make sure he doesn't stress out and can acclimate to his new environment. He'll remain there for at least thirty days before getting the chance to be around other tigers.
Almrud says they see cases like this often because people believe taking care of a tiger is easy.
"Texas has very lenient laws right now," she added. "While most major cities ban the ownership, it's really regulated by the county, and the county often doesn't have the resources to enforce it."
Almrud says they've been pushing for the passing of the Big Cat Public Safety Act. It passed the House of Representatives in early 2020 but has not yet come to a vote in the Senate.