Netflix’s Tiger King Star Carole Baskin Weighs In On Escaped Tiger Linked To Murder Suspect

A tiger was recently sighted in Texas, and it ended up being owned by someone on the run from the police. The suspect and the tiger are still being looked for, but there was an incident with the tiger caught on video with a police deputy, though it turned out okay in the end. CNN brought on Tiger King star and Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin to talk about the tiger, and during the interview she addressed the tiger being kept in a home as well as the danger it posed to those nearby if things had gone a different way, and you can view the interview in the video below.

“I am extremely worried about this tiger and the people around it because the people who were involved in buying and selling and owning and transporting this Tiger have proven that they are absolutely reckless individuals with no concern for the people around them or for the animal involved. No tiger belongs in a backyard or basement,” Baskin said.

As for the deputy’s encounter with the tiger, Baskin said “I was so impressed with the deputy that showed up on the scene because he did exactly the right thing and he showed amazing restraint in not shooting that tiger and not emptying his gun into that tiger. He kept eye contact. He backed away slowly. A tiger if you look down, if you turn and run back to his door it just triggers their instinct to kill.”

As for the people nearby, Baskin said it could’ve gone a very different way. “They were in extreme danger, because the video showed that no one knew the tiger had escaped for quite a while,” Baskin said. “That cat was laying around in the front yard looking for what it could get into, and I had heard that there was a children’s birthday party in the neighborhood. Children running and screaming and having fun, that would’ve triggered every instinct in that cat to kill.”

Thankfully that didn’t happen, and no one was hurt by the tiger. Hopefully, that continues to be the case until it is safely captured.