Tiger expert agrees with deputy’s decision to shoot tiger at the Naples Zoo

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Naples Zoo’s Malayan tiger Eko. (Credit: The Naples Zoo)

A Collier County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a tiger that bit a man at the Naples Zoo. A tiger expert in Southwest Florida says the deputy did the only thing that would get the tiger to let go immediately.

​Behind the gate at Kowiachobee Animal preserve in Collier County lives four tigers, but none are Malayan tigers like 8-year-old Eko.

Jonathan Slaby is the Director of Operations at Kowiachobee Animal Preserve. He spoke about Malayan tigers. “There are less than 200 left in the wild. It’s very, very endangered.”

Because of how endangered they are, several people commented on the Collier County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post with the video of Eko being shot, questioning what else could’ve or should’ve been done to stop the tiger.

Slaby said there wasn’t anything else that could be done. “Realistically, what you’re looking at is they would’ve had to shoot him, and unfortunately, here I would’ve probably had to do the same thing.”

Many have asked whether or not a tranquilizer would have got the job done. Slaby said the answer to that question is no.

“No. There wouldn’t have been enough time. You would like to think so. First, you would have to get the equipment out. It’s not always readily available, and you can’t just store it out in the middle of nowhere,” said Slaby. “It takes time to go into effect. It’s not like you can dart and it falls. You have to dart it and wait for it to fall asleep and many times the cat will also go through several states of euphoria. So, it can also make it angry.”

There are times when a tranquilizer works on a tiger, but those situations don’t involve potentially sparing a human life. “Transporting a cat, moving a cat, medical procedures that kind of thing.”

With so few tigers left in the wild, Slaby said it is unfortunate that the world now has one less. “I really feel bad because I know the zoo was very proud of it and they were fortunate to get the tiger.”

The recent situation at Naples Zoo is the reason Slaby’s putting more safety measures in place.

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