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Have You Seen My Tiger? Orange-Black Stripes, Can’t Miss Him

by Steve Balm••43

Now for a bit of the bizarre.  When police went to arrest a man in Houston, a huge Bengal Tiger escaped into the neighborhood.  The deputy drew his gun when the tiger approached him but the tiger turned back and he did not have to shoot it.  The deputy called for the man to get the large cat inside.

Owner of tiger seen prowling Texas neighborhood arrested, but big cat is still loose, police say

The owner of a tiger that was spotted taking a Mother’s Day prowl through a Texas neighborhood was arrested Monday, but his big cat remains on the loose, police said.

Hugo Cuevas was charged with evading arrest after police said he put the tiger in an SUV and drove off when cops arrived at the west Houston community to investigate reports that the jungle cat had hopped a fence and was stalking the streets.

Police said Cuevas, 26, who was out on bond following a 2017 murder charge, was being held at a jail in Richmond, Texas. His attorneys told TODAY he’s not the owner of the tiger.

Police also said they still don’t know where the tiger is.

The wild scene has caused an uproar among animal rights activists.

But wait, it gets weirder…

Houston’s Weird Tiger Story Gets Even Weirder

(NEWSER) – “The whereabouts of the tiger are not yet known.” It’s not your typical line in a big-city police department update, but it applies in Houston. The strange tiger tale began Sunday night, when residents of a city neighborhood spotted a loose tiger and called police. When officers arrived, a man fled with the animal in an SUV and eluded capture. On Monday night, police said they had arrested 26-year-old Victor Hugo Cuevas, who it turns out is out on bond on a murder charge, reports CNN. They caught him in a home in Fort Bend County, but they still don’t know where the tiger is. Cuevas has been charged with evading police in the tiger incident, and he could have his bond revoked in the murder case.

“The last we know of, the tiger was very safe and unharmed,” says his attorney, Michael Elliott, per the Houston Chronicle. He provided no more details but said his client planned to lead police to the animal. It wasn’t clear whether Cuevas owned the tiger—his attorney doesn’t think so—but police suggested he had been taking care of it, along with two monkeys, in a residential home. Keeping a small monkey is legal in Houston, but keeping a tiger requires a license for exotic animals, per the AP. Violation of that is a misdemeanor offense. The murder charge, meanwhile, dates back to 2017. Authorities say Cuevas shot a man to death outside a restaurant, and attorney Elliott maintains it was a case of self-defense.

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43 thoughts on “Have You Seen My Tiger? Orange-Black Stripes, Can’t Miss Him”

  3. We need common sense jungle cat control. Nobody needs a 500 pound apex predator.

      1. I had a client who had one for several years until it was confiscated by fish and game cops. He said it was the best house cat he ever had. He had a mouse and rat problem until he got the bobcat kitten.

      2. Dick “Wait. Germany isn’t Vietnam?!” Blumenthal wants to ban 80% tigers.
        Crims be milling them at home, or something.

  4. “MISSING: Large Cat, orange with black stripes, weighs approximately 500 pounds, call BR549”

  5. It’s not his tiger but he put it in his SUV and drove off with it.

    Yeah, I don’t see a problem with that.

  7. That deputy did well not to fire his gun… unless a VERY good/lucky shot is made, the time for the tiger to die is ‘way longer than the time it needs to turn the shooter to corned cop hash.

      1. Green Thumb,
        I just spit up hot tea on your TLM. Thanks.
        Good thing the 2 pet monkeys didn’t escape and attack anyone.
        Try turning THAT into an acronym, or a cause.

    2. Tigers are pretty bad ass. A few years ago when 700lb Tiger got loose (along with a whole bunch of other dangerous animals)it took more than 50 rounds of pistol, 5.56 and buckshot to put it down.

    1. Or should I say “Too bad the get-away vehicle wasn’t a GTO with an Exxon sticker)?

      That way all the bases are covered./s

  9. It was reported that the perp recently watched “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

  10. So the popo in Houston are looking for some loose pussy? Sounds like real monkey business to me.

  11. I hate cats. Especially girlfriend cats.
    Found one of my ex GF cats dead in the outhouse
    at my camp while shooting clays with a friend.
    We looked at each other, grinned and then my
    friend said “pull”………

  12. From another news report:

    Tiger - Deputy

    Yesterday a contraband tiger got loose in Houston, a few houses down from a family Mother’s Day party with multiple children in attendance. An off-duty cop and other neighbors tried to corral the tiger.

    The owner, realizing the tiger was loose, came outside and yelled “Don’t shoot my tiger!”

    Direct quote from the off-duty cop:
    “Fuck you and your fucking tiger.”

    Stay gold, Texas. Stay gold.

  13. The tiger is still missing.

    Police are asking anyone with information on the tiger to contact Houston Police Department Major Offenders at (713) 308-3100.

  14. “Police said Cuevas, 26, who was out on bond following a 2017 murder charge…”

    This is problem number 1.

    1. Sparks,
      Doesn’t anyone in Houston question how a 26-year-old
      can afford a $250,000 bond on a murder charge,
      live in upscale ‘burb digs,
      and pay for keeping a tiger and a pair of monkeys?
      Is his GF that loaded?

      Or, did his fleeing act just prove to be like another episode of COPS?

      Or, is this just me, with politically incorrect profiling?

    2. The DA in Houston is infamous for letting perps go.

      Montgomery Co has been having to clean up her trash – sometimes permanently.

  16. Having grown up in Houston – there are a lot of places a tiger can hide.

    It’s a jungle out there.

  20. There are more Tigers in Captivity in the US than there are in the wild.

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