Not quite. The stripes, yeah, the snatches? Nah.
But that’s not the important part of the story. A Bengal tiger has been padding around Houston, Texas, which — if I remember correctly — is a major American city. Give or take serious flooding.
And although the tiger’s…uh…comrade has been nabbed (he is allegedly a murderer), the tiger has not.
In other words, there’s a Bengal tiger on the loose in Houston, Texas.
A few relevant excerpts from the Times article are:
“Anyone with information on the tiger is urged to contact HPD Major Offenders,” the police said in a tweet.
Not clear, though. Is the tiger a Major Offender? Still…
“Obviously, if you see a Cherokee [vehicle] with a big tiger in it, it would be good to call us,” Ronald Borza, a commander with the Houston Police Department, said at a news conference on Monday afternoon before Mr. Cuevas [the tiger’s pal, owner of the Cherokee] was taken into custody.
Mr. Cuevas’s lawyer disputes the description of Mr. Cuevas as the tiger’s owner.
He said that he could not elaborate on Mr. Cuevas’s connection to the animal.
Well, that clears things up.
Let’s get back to Commander Borza, who seems to have a sense of humor:
“You never know when that animal is going to turn on you,” Commander Borza said. “We had plenty of neighbors out here with guns.”
Uh, I’d be worried about the neighbors with guns turning on me; the tiger apparently can take care of itself.
Not so the emergency dispatcher:
Jose Ramos, who lives next door to the home where the tiger was spotted, said that he called 911 after seeing the exotic animal, the television station KPRC reported.
“I mean, I couldn’t believe it,” Mr. Ramos said.
The emergency dispatcher wasn’t exactly sure how to handle the situation, he said.
“Who do you want us to send? The police, the Fire Department, you know, the priest?” Mr. Ramos said the dispatcher told him.
I suspect Mr. Ramos pressed a few too many buttons on his phone and wound up with a New York City emergency dispatcher. I mean, the bon mot?
P.S. Did I mention that as of yesterday the tiger was still free from the eyes of Texas?