Relief quickly turned to outrage Thursday when Kenzo, the white Bengal tiger that escaped from a private facility in México state five days earlier, was pronounced dead by Profepa, the same federal environmental protection agency that had reported the animal’s successful recapture under sedation just hours earlier.
According to Profepa, the animal was killed by security forces that accompanied the rescue team when it attacked one or more rescue workers.
“During the sedation and capture operation, the tiger attacked the personnel present,” reads the Profepa statement announcing Kenzo’s death. “Due to the imminent risk this situation posed, the security forces supporting the rescue repelled the attack. The animal received immediate medical attention. Despite these efforts, it died.”
It was unclear how an animal that was supposedly already captured and sedated could launch a potentially fatal attack on a rescue worker.
Some blamed the veterinarians. The newspaper Milenio quoted the Mexican Association of Zoos, Breeders, and Aquariums accusing the vets on duty of being inexperienced and uncertified.
However, one of the vets on duty, wildlife specialist Ivonne Casey, said before the news of the death came out, “The handling was very good.”
Kenzo, a 3-year-old male, fled on the afternoon of Saturday, June 27, from Animal Experience México, a licensed wildlife center about 40 kilometers east of Mexico City in the municipality of Tepetlaoxtoc.
Local officials said the tiger slipped out of his cage during maintenance and construction work on the property.
The escape triggered a multi-day search across scrubland and prickly pear hillsides near the federal highway between Mexico City and Veracruz.
During the search, authorities spotted him at least once by drone in dense scrub and cactus, but said the rugged terrain made it difficult to get close enough to sedate him safely.
Tepetlaoxtoc Mayor Diana Lizbeth Morales first announced that the tiger had been captured, citing coordinated operations involving all three levels of government. Tepetlaoxtoc is a municipality of about 33,000 people in rural México state.
Authorities said the operation used drones, tracking dogs and teams from the National Guard, the state’s public security agency and municipal emergency services.
Kenzo was a white Bengal tiger, a rare color variant of the Bengal tiger species. Their pale fur and blue eyes come from a recessive gene carried by both parents and are uncommon even in captivity.
Adult male white Bengals usually weigh about 200 to 230 kilograms (440 to 510 pounds) and can reach 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) from head to tail. Males often continue bulking up until around age 5, and authorities described Kenzo as a 3-year-old male.
After his capture, Kenzo was supposed to be taken for an initial evaluation to Reino Animal, a wildlife conservation and safari park near Teotihuacán, México state. He then would be transferred to the Zacango Ecological Park in Calimaya, about 30 minutes from the state capital of Toluca, where he was to receive specialized veterinary care and remain under observation.
With reports from El Universal, El Sol de Toluca and Excélsior
