Sheba, the tiger shot. Image via Twitter @Orrin417
‘I was shaking with fear’: Sheba’s owner on shooting her
Sheba, the tiger’s owner Rassie Erasmus is broken after shooting his beloved animal and says it’s like shooting your own child.
Sheba, the tiger shot. Image via Twitter @Orrin417
Rassie Erasmus, the owner of Sheba the tiger that escaped from her camp in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg says he was shaking with fear and felt like he killed his own child.
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‘IT WAS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TIGER’
Sheba’s owner Rassie Erasmus had to shoot the tiger after she escaped because vandals had cut the boundary fence on his property.
“It was a completely different tiger from the one I had seen in captivity. She ignored me for some reason or didn’t recognise me or whatever.”
Erasmus also tells the pub that Sheba had just attacked people and he was shaking with fear.
“If I told you I wasn’t scared, I’d be lying. I was shaking with fear. The tiger had just attacked people.”
She attacked a man and killed two pet dogs and a pig. He wanted to anaesthetise Sheba, but he’s not a vet and is not allowed to work with anaesthetic darts.
Erasmus had to hold back his tears as he spoke in the voicemail:
“The closest I could get to her was 80m, you can’t dart at 80m … it was at night [when the search started], it was very difficult [to see anything], it was 3.45 am [when we eventually found her].”
“It was a completely different tiger from the one I had seen in captivity. She ignored me for some reason or didn’t recognise me or whatever.”
“I looked for the dart guns all over the place. If I could have darted her, I would have. I am not allowed to dart – a qualified vet must dart.”
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RASSIE ERASMUS EXPLAINS WHY HE HAD TO SHOOT SHEBA
Erasmus also tells City Press that Sheba fled to an area where there are horses and children because of the drones.
“She would have come in, but then there are fools with drones, with high-pitched drones, who came messing about.”
“You know how much I loved my tiger, but I also had horses that I love very much. I don’t think any owner would want to see his horse mauled by a tiger, or bitten to death.”
He still questions his decision to shoot the tiger and says he had to decide in a split second.
“Did I make the right call? I do not know. Did I have to weigh people’s lives against the tiger’s life? Yes, I had to. Should I weigh the risk and see what will happen? Yes, I had to.”
He is broken over his tigress and compares the feeling to shooting your own child.
“I think the closest one can describe it is probably [if you] have to shoot your own child. How the hell [do you do that]? How do I explain this?”
READ: BREAKING NEWS: All the latest news alerts from around South Africa
READ: BREAKING NEWS: All the latest news alerts from around South Africa
