O/T - Liger on the Loose

[juanbenae]

does anyone have a link to a news paper story on this?

[SteveStromberg]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/022205_nw_big_cat.html

[911pcars]

Even the website version of the KABC-TV news isn't too generous with the words are they? Basically, it said, "There's a lion in Simi Valley." They must have copied and pasted the words directly from the 6 o'clock news script.

"I hope the big guy is having fun out there before he has to go back to sitting in a box somewhere."

Let's hope they can do that before the big game wantabe hunters lock and load and begin shooting each other. Let's be careful out there.

Sherwood

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Right, Jeff...or not, maybe? Let's start talking ft. lbs. of muzzle energy...at the very least, 30-06 energy for me when animal weight exceeds 500 pounds. But then, I've always subscribed to the big club theory...00 alternated with slug for self defense? Sounds real cute. Why is it the guides I know seem to prefer .338 Win. Mag as a carry gun caliber, and I've never seen any carrying a scattergun? And yes, bear country...

Not to get this particular "off topic" too far off topic, but I can't resist one more quick comment (can you tell I like to talk guns?). Anyway, foot pounds are a nifty way to compare cartridges when sitting around the campfire, favorite beverage in hand, b.s.'ing with your buddies. As a valid measure for how hard a given caliber hits, it doesn't mean much. Velocity, when squared in the equation, unfairly and unrealistically weighs in more than it really does in real life. I have personally shot any number of animals with large bore muzzle loaders and 19th century cartridge arms with, by modern standards, truly "inadequate" muzzle energies. They go down apparently just as hard hit as if I had used my .375 H&H or .458 Win Mag (I obviously agree with your "big club" theory...). In loading the shotgun now, please check my post again; I believe you may have missunderstood. You do not alternate slugs/buckshot; the first two rounds out are both slugs, followed by the buckshot. You are assuming if you need them, whatever it is that is after you is getting pretty close. Anyway, this friendly little debate has raged in the hunting world longer than you or I have been around, and it will continue long after we are gone; it's a part of the fun. The real point is, if the big kitty is after you and you smack him with either of our choices, I bet you win.

[Superman]

I also think this 600-lb cat thing is BS. And for a change I pretty much agree with the rest of what Paul says here. Frankly, I'd rather have a .357 pistola than any scattergun, regardless of whether it has buckshot or plastic pellets or rifled slugs. And for large animals, I've seen it too and the big rifles have stopping power and penetrating power the other firearms can only envy. If I went looking for the mythical California Liger, I'd want a .30-06 or better, and I'd take the .357 in a shoulder holster. In fact, the handgun is just not a bad idea in any cat country. Again, I sure would not want to run into a 600 lb cat and only have a scattergun in my hand. It would probably work, but I'd be pretty nervous.

[KevinG]

Well - the story ends.

It's on the news now that they got the tiger. They had to kill it because it was too close to an elementary school in Moorpark. It appears to be a full grown tiger - orange with black stripes. My wife says the picture she's seeing shows the cat filling the back of a pickup truck - it was huge.

Sad that it was so close to a school so they couldn't take a chance with tranquilizing it.

A sad ending for a magnificent animal.

[Drago]

Yeah, but what kind of round did they use?!?!

[Jeff Higgins]

It's really too bad they had to kill it, all my gun-related comments aside. It seems if they had it located, they may have been able to evacuate or keep people out of the immediate area long enough to tranquilize it. Granted, I have never seen a big kitty shot in the arse with a dart so I don't have any idea what they do or how long they can do it, but surely they can't stay awake for long. It's equally too bad that folks are allowed to keep these animals; that's the real root of the problem. We have long since established which animals are domesticated and play well with us and which ones don't. It seems too many people cross that line and the animal pays, not the clown that kept it. Oh, and Supe, I don't know about you, but I would be nervous with a .577 nitro in my hands with that kind of critter closing on me... hopefully neither one of us ever has the chance to test our preferences. Peter Capstick once said that shooting a charging lion presents many of the same problems to solve (and about the same amount of time to solve them) for the rifleman as shooting flushing quail does for the shotgunner. The consequences of missing are just a little different... Anyway, too bad about the kitty. I hope they go after the schmuck responsible for him getting out.

[ckcarr]

Why do people even keep those animals anyway?

-------------------------------------------------

Today: February 23, 2005 at 9:14:33 PST

Man Charged After Tiger Carcasses Found

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A self-proclaimed animal rescuer was convicted of animal cruelty after investigators raided his compound and found dead tiger cubs stored in a freezer and dozens of tiger carcasses strewn about the property.

John Weinhart, 62, was found guilty Tuesday on 56 of 61 charges, including animal cruelty and child endangerment. He could face more than 14 years in prison when he is sentenced March 22.

Weinhart was arrested following an April 2003 raid on his property in Riverside County, where state fish and game officials had been told he was keeping two young tigers and two alligators without permits.

Investigators allegedly found 11 newborn tiger and leopard cubs living in an attic space, 58 frozen tiger cub carcasses and the rotting or mummified carcasses of at least 30 exotic cats scattered around the property, some tied to abandoned cars.

Investigators also found Weinhart's 8-year-old son in the trash- and feces-strewn home, where alligators were kept in a bathtub and syringes and powerful animal tranquilizers were stored in an unlocked refrigerator.

Weinhart's partner, 49-year-old Marla Jean Smith, pleaded guilty last month before her trial was scheduled to begin. She is to be sentenced March 10.

Weinhart denied the allegations against him during the trial, saying he had never mistreated an animal during more than 40 years of working with them.

His attorney, Addison Steele, said the conviction was "a great injustice" by "a group of city folks asked to judge what happens on a farm." He also said Weinhart's son was never in danger.

Weinhart founded his Tiger Rescue business at his Glen Avon home in 1972. The compound, which eventually grew to house 90 tigers, was intended to be a retirement facility for animals that appeared in films, commercials and TV shows. For $20, visitors could have their photo taken with a baby tiger.

In 1997, neighbors' complaints about bad smells and other problems led to a lawsuit, and Weinhart opened another site a few miles away, though he continued to keep exotic cats at his home. A few months before the April 2003 raid on his home, a routine inspection had found problems at the new site, as well, authorities said.

--

[motoyoyo]

Well, end of story.

Turned out to be a male tiger. Shot and killed this morning near Moorpark.

[Superman]

No doubt, Jeff. The frontal view of a charging tiger may be the world's most effective laxative. And anyone who could calmly drop one in that situation, with any firearm, has got large beans. No doubt.

'course, I've heard that tigers rarely charge. They sneak up behind you. In either case, you're not likely to find me picknicking in tiger country.

[lendaddy]

[Steve Carlton]

Looks like 600 pounds to me...

[masraum]

another good one for size



http://www.tigers-animal-actors.com/about/liger/liger.html

The liger is the world's largest big cat. An average male liger weighs over 900 pounds and standing almost 12 feet tall.

The reason that they are called a liger is because the father was a lion and the mother was a tiger. If the situation was reversed and the mother was a lion and the father was a tiger, he would be called a tigon, and would be a dwarf instead of a giant. A fully grown tigon is usually less that 350lbs. Ligers are not sterile, and they can reproduce. If a liger were to reproduce with a tiger, it would be called a titi, and if it were to reproduce with a lion, it would be call a lili.