【こぼれ話】米ヒューストン住宅街をトラがうろうろ…１週間後に警察が保護

【ヒューストンＡＦＰ＝時事】米テキサス州ヒューストン郊外の住宅街で先週、民家の庭を悠然と歩き回るベンガルトラが目撃されて住民を恐怖に陥れていたが、警察は１６日までに、このトラを無傷で保護し、動物保護施設に移送したことを明らかにした。（写真は米テキサス州ヒューストンで、当局に保護されたベンガルトラ「インディア」）
　騒ぎは９日、生後９か月のトラ「インディア」が民家の庭をうろうろしているのを住民らが発見したことから始まった。
　ソーシャルメディアに出回った複数の動画には、トラを見つけた非番の保安官代理が銃を構える様子や、飼い主の男がやってきて、リードをつけていないトラにキスし、車に乗せて走り去る様子などが映っている。
　インディアの飼い主、ビクター・クエバス容疑者は１０日に身柄を拘束され、１２日にいったん釈放されたものの、１４日に再び拘束された。同容疑者は過去に殺人容疑で逮捕歴がある。
　ヒューストン市警は１５日夜、インディアの世話を担っていたクエバス容疑者の妻が出頭してきて、引き渡しに同意したと発表した。インディアが約１週間どこにいたかについては明らかにしなかったものの、その居場所は妻が常に把握していたとしている。
　その後、警察は体重約８０キロのインディアが水を与えられたり、なでられたりする様子を撮影した動画を公開。１６日にテキサス州内の動物保護施設に移送されたことを明かした。
　ヒューストン市内ではトラの飼育は違法だが、テキサス州では多くの場所で一定の条件を満たせば飼育許可が下りる。同州は、飼育されているトラが多いことで知られている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/05/18-14:03）

A Bengal tiger last seen a week ago roaming the lawns of suburban Houston and terrifying locals has been found unharmed and was moved Sunday to an animal sanctuary, police said.
We got him, and he's healthy, Houston police commander Ron Borza was seen saying in a video.
The animal, named India, had been in the custody of the wife of its owner, a 26-year-old man seen in social media videos last week kissing the untethered tiger before placing it into his car and driving off.
The man, identified as Victor Cuevas, was arrested Monday, freed Wednesday, then re-arrested Friday. He had faced a past murder charge.
When the incident began May 9, frightened neighbors saw the nine-month-old tiger wandering through their yards in a residential neighborhood.
Videos showed an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulling a gun when he saw the tiger, before Cuevas arrived to take it away.
The animal was recovered by the owner's wife, and she agreed to hand it over to police, Borza told reporters late Saturday.
He did not say where the big cat had spent the week but stressed that the woman had always known its whereabouts.
We are happy to report that the missing tiger seen in a Houston neighborhood last week has been found and appears to be unharmed, city police said.
- Easy to catch a tiger? -
Owning a tiger is illegal within Houston city limits -- though it is permitted in many parts of the state under certain conditions -- but police said Cuevas's wife would face no charges.
Still, Borza told reporters, You should not have that in your home. It's not good for the tiger.
The Houston Police Department released a video of the 175-pound (80-kilogram) tiger being petted and given a drink.
The big cat was transported to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, where it will have its own habitat with half an acre of land (0.2 hectare), including a wooded area and pool.
Our goal is to provide him the best quality of life for the rest of his life, ranch director Noelle Almrud told a press conference.
Almrud told reporters that India would go into quarantine for 30 days before being introduced to its new habitat, although he looked healthy based on an initial visual inspection.
Texas is known for having a large number of tigers in captivity.
Nationwide, the WWF conservation group estimates that there are some 5,000 tigers living in captivity, a number greater than the entire world population of wild tigers.
Borza, in his news conference, thanked the Houston police officers who helped track the animal down.
I think the public thought it'd be easy to catch a tiger, he said. But it wasn't at all.
burs-to/jm