TC News: Police hunt for "Liger" stalks Michigan suburb

[Hoover, J.E.]

Thursday September 25 11:00 AM EDT

"Liger" stalks suburb, police set traps

WARREN, Mich. (Reuter) - Police were searching Wednesday for a large
cat, believed to be a lion-tiger mix, that has been stalking a wooded
suburban area, striking fear in the hearts of local residents.

Police have set traps for the so-called "liger," which was first spotted
on Sunday and has been caught on home video tape. The animal was wearing
a red collar, indicating that it had been kept as a pet.

Michael Greiner, press secretary for Warren Mayor Mark Steenburgh, told
residents of the Detroit suburb not to approach the big cat and report
any sightings to local police.

"It's pretty scary. I was going to cut the grass today, and decided not
even to do that," Sue Lacolla told WXYZ-TV. "I'm going to keep my kids
in and the dogs in the garage."

Exotic cats have become a growing problem in recent years in Michigan,
which does not have a law prohibiting their ownership.

Detroit Zoo officials said they are now housing five lion cubs that were
abandoned or confiscated from Detroit homes in drug-related cases in the
past two months.

[Hoover, J.E.]

Here we have a town terrorized by a gruesome, predatory killer. There
is a climate of fear. People are keeping their children and pets
inside, their doors locked, their windows boarded. They venture out
only in groups. The men of the town probably have their guns handy.
The police are out in force, on hair triggers, hunting the killer. The
only difference here is that the killer is an animal.

It reminds me of a great 40s B&W movie about a mountain lion that stalks
a small town. Very tense film, very much like a serial killer movie. I
wish I could remember the title. If anyone knows it, please post. It
also reminds me of a film I saw long ago about an Indian village
terrorized by a man-killing tiger.

cli...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
>
> Uh, excuse me, but could you point out the *true crime* portion of
> this post? I really don't care, I enjoyed the story, but you know some
> people are pretty anal retentive around here.

[cli...@worldnet.att.net]

[maryanne kehoe]

JE Hoover's commets re:
[lion/tiger mix on the loose in
Warren, Michigan]

JE, I am from that area (St. Clair Shores). Part of the problem is that
people go to some of the private breeders and buy these pets when they
are 'little'. All of a sudden, that cure little pet isn't so small and
cute anymore and they are dumped, unfortunately. There also have been
cases where someone has found a gator in the backyard, boa-constrictors
slithering around, and various other exotica wildlife.

Also the woods have been cut down to nothing to build huge
factories--there is a manufacturing plant directly behind my house up
there, where there used to be over 40 acres of woods. This may have
something to do with the imbalance and recent (within the past 5 years
or so) of wild and exotic animals spotted in residential areas in Macomb
County, of which Warren is a part.

Maryanne.