| Chewbacca |
10-05-2003 01:22 AM |
A tiger and a crocodile!!!
Article
Quote:
To the sounds of enormous jungle roars, a police sniper rappelled down the side of a Harlem apartment building yesterday and fired tranquilizer darts through an open fifth-floor window to subdue — seat belts, please — a 350-pound Bengal tiger.
The daring, and creative, bit of sharpshooting helped end an episode in which the New York Police Department, unaccustomed to bagging big game, nonetheless managed to sedate the beast. Officials planned to send the tiger, temporarily being held at the Center for Animal Care and Control on 110th Street, to a conservancy in Ohio.
What the tiger, along with a four- to five-foot reptile called a caiman, was doing inside a cluttered apartment in the Drew Hamilton Houses at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 141st Street remained a mystery yesterday.
In a news conference at the scene, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the police became involved in the case on Wednesday when the apartment's resident, Antoine Yates, called to say he had been bitten by a pit bull. When the police went to investigate, Mr. Kelly said, Mr. Yates met them in the lobby. He went to Harlem Hospital with bites on an arm and a leg.
On Thursday, the police got an anonymous tip saying a wild animal was somewhere in the city. On Friday, another call directed them to the exact address. On Friday night, the police found no one home, but talked to a neighbor who complained of large amounts of urine and a strong smell coming through the ceiling, Mr. Kelly said. The neighbor said her daughter had seen the tiger.
Yesterday, the tiger's existence was confirmed. after a hole was cut in the apartment door.
Mr. Yates checked out of Harlem Hospital early yesterday, prompting an inquiry into his whereabouts. But investigators said last night he had been located in Philadelphia, where he was being treated at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. How Mr. Yates got to Philadelphia and the nature of his injuries were unclear. The police said he faced charges of reckless endangerment.
The caiman also was taken to the Center for Animal Care and Control shelter, the police said.
"This is an only-in-New-York story," Mr. Kelly said.
Getting to the tiger, a male, was no simple task. From an apartment on the fourth floor, the police first eased a pole-mounted camera out the window to keep track of him. Meanwhile, on the seventh floor, they prepared a team to rappel down so they would have a clearer view when firing tranquilizer darts to subdue him.
The police also called in animal experts, including Dr. Robert A. Cook, head veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo. Dr. Cook, visibly angry over the cramped conditions in which the tiger prowled, said keeping the creature in such a setting was "crazy."
"If he had escaped it would have been a very bad thing," he said.
It was shortly before 4:30 p.m. when the police sniper, Officer Martin Duffy, armed with a dart gun and a rifle with live ammunition, began to rappel down toward the window. He fired one dart a few minutes later, which drew a knee-shaking roar from inside the apartment.
After a few more minutes it was determined that the tiger had been hit, the police said, but was not yet fully sedated. So Officer Duffy fired another dart.
As hundreds of onlookers gathered on the street, some began to wonder if this urban big cat would get along so well in the less cosmpolitan reaches of Ohio.
"My concern is that the city cat won't make it in the country," said Lynnette Braxton, 49. "He's going to have no jazz, no hip-hop. He's going to miss the Harlem Renaissance."
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[ 10-05-2003, 02:08 AM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ] |
