Police shoot escaped tiger: owner is a controversial figure

©Dominik Lückmann via Unsplash

"There is no longer a danger to the population," police reported via the German newspaper Bild. Indeed, an adult tiger had escaped in Schkeuditz, Germany, northwest of Leipzig. Police were called and officers shot the animal dead.

The animal reportedly injured a 73-year-old employee of the owner on Sunday and then escaped. The animal got away from its enclosure and was eventually found several hundred meters away in a garden. Police arrived at the scene and shot the tiger. Police then checked the area intensively with a drone in order to verify that the tiger had not bitten any animals, such as horses or cows. This did not appear to be the case.

The owner and trainer of the escaped animal is no stranger. It is Carmen Zander, who is known as "the tiger queen." She owns several tigers which she uses to put on shows. She keeps her ten tigers in small enclosures in an industrial park and already had to appear before court for performing with her animals despite a ban. Moreover, in early 2025, six small tigers were also born in the same industrial park. According to Zander, this was an "accident". Carmen Zander used to be best known as an animal trainer, but now lives in her own tiger park near Leipzig. Animal protectors and local residents regularly criticize her activities.

In Germany, it is not federally prohibited to perform with wild animals (such as tigers) in circuses. In the Netherlands, however, it has been banned since 2015.

©Dominik Lückmann via Unsplash - illustration image of a tiger