Wayward Tiger Back On Display
WATSON ISLAND (CBS4) - Three months after Mahesh the tiger escaped from his enclosure at Jungle Island, and sent visitors scrambling for safety, the big cat will be back on display Wednesday in a beefed up enclosure.
The escape happened on August 28th when the 500 pound tiger jumped over a fence to pursue an 8-year old Gibbon named Watson. The park's staff were able to capture both animals and none of the guests were seriously injured.
Mahesh, along with a liger (part lion-part tiger) named Vulcan and two new female tigers are now on display in a revamped enclosure.
"The new fence surrounding the Tiger Exhibit is now 20 feet tall and made with a 5 gauge wire exceeding state regulation. It even includes a stuffed animal which resembles 'Watson' the monkey that instigated Mahesh's escape from his exhibit space," said Mahesh's owner Bhagavan Antle.
Following their investigation into Mahesh's escape, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) filed two misdemeanor charges against Bern M. Levine, the president of the park, for allowing conditions that resulted in the tiger's escape. Antle was charged with maintaining a captive wild animal in unsafe conditions.
"For a tiger to have gotten out like Mahesh did and be able to go out into the environment where people are, cause no harm, and to able to, just easily in minutes, be reconnected with his handlers and go back into his cage and travel back into his habitat again is incredibly unique. It ends in disaster every other time," said Antle.
Parents didn't seemed too concerned to bring their kids to the new exhibit. Karen Harden and her two children, who reside in Las Vegas, visited the exhibit for the first time.
"I'm not worried at all. My brother surprised us by bringing us here today," said Harden.
Florida Fish and Wildlife authorities said they are considering increasing the height requirement for tiger cages. Currently it is 12 feet. At the time of the escape the height of the fence surrounding the tiger enclosure was 14 feet, an extra safety margin of two feet. However, investigators found nearly two feet of mulch on the inside of the space put its height at the state's limits.
CBS4's Cristina Puig contributed to this report
