HOUSTON — "I was just wondering: I have someone I know who has a pet tiger in their house (and) I was wondering if I could make an anonymous call... to get the tiger saved."
And with that, a 311 call unlike any other begins.
The woman goes on to report seeing the tiger in a home in the 9400 block of East Avenue J.
The 350 lb. tiger -- named Tyson -- was soon rescued by BARC Animal Shelter workers and taken to the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch.
Below are key exchanges of the call:
311 OPERATOR: How do you even get a pet tiger?
CALLER: That's what I'm saying because I'm not lying about this, I swear. But, uh so, I was with one of my friends, and we met this guy who knows this guy and, like, and he was, like, "Oh, I need to go to my house to feed my tiger," and he's like, I guess, he sells (inaudible) cause he has money like that. But, uh, he took us to the house. The house is, like, abandoned, like, he's fixing it up right now, but he has the tiger in there. He has it in a cage. I don't know how he moved it there. I don't know how he even got it in there. But yeah, it is there and like the (inaudible), and it's, like, in a small cage. It's pretty big, though. It's not even a baby tiger, like, it's pretty big. But I was wondering, is this going to be, like, an anonymous call?
311 OPERATOR: So if we go there, the house just looks like it's vacant, right?
CALLER: Yeah it's like rundown. It kind of looks like a crack house, I would say, it kind of looks like that. But if it's anything, maybe, the neighbors might have heard something because it makes noise. And he does have it in a little cage in a back room in the back of the house on the left side.
311 OPERATOR: Okay I've gone ahead and made that report.
The caller never came forward, but she led investigators right to the home where Tyson was found.
Tyson's living conditions were less than ideal. He was dehydrated and court records show the tiger was sitting on a small bed of hay and forced to sit in "its own waste".
Earlier this month a judge ruled that presumed owner Brittany Garza could no longer be in possession of Tyson. Tyson is now enjoying life at the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch, a north Texas wildlife refuge. He'll be able to live out his days, safe, happy, healthy and alongside two other rescued tigers.
Listen to the entire 311 call in the video below or here on YouTube.
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